The Electric Light Orchestra (album)
The Electric Light Orchestra is the debut studio album by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released in December 1971. In the US, the album was released in early 1972 as No Answer, after a misunderstood telephone message made by a United Artists Records executive asking about the album name. The caller, having failed to reach the ELO contact, wrote down "no answer" in his notes, and this was misconstrued to be the name of the album.
Recording
The album is focused on the core trio of Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne, and Bev Bevan who were the remaining members of rock group The Move. The Move were still releasing singles in the UK at the same time as this project was undertaken, but interest was soon to be abandoned in Wood's former band. The sound is unique on this recording in comparison to the more slickly produced ELO albums of the subsequent Lynne years, incorporating many wind instruments and replacing guitar parts with heavy, "sawing" cello riffs, giving this recording an experimental "Baroque-and-roll" feel; indeed, "The Battle of Marston Moor" is the most baroque-influenced track on the album. On this track, Roy Wood, in addition to playing virtually all the instruments, had to provide the percussion as well because Bev Bevan, normally the group's percussionist and drummer, refused to play on the track because of his low opinion of it. However, the overall musical connection to The Beatles (it had been stated by the bandmembers that ELO was formed to "pick up where The Beatles left off...") is quite apparent in this album.
No Dice
Beneath the midnight caller
She thinks of paper green
You never hear them calling her name
They just know where they've been
You never hear her holler
The tears no longer come
She reads her daily book of the past
That shows of everyone
Gray years that show in her hair
Can't be, but don't seem to care
She unlocks the door
And there's no one there
She sees a daytime stroller
Walk from the night before
And though she paints a smile on her face
He won't be back no more
She's got no saint to follow
She's got no place to go
Too proud to ask an old friend for help
Too proud to let him know
Gray years that show in her hair
Can't be, but don't seem to care
She knocks the door
And there's no one there
Nobody
(Nobody)
Nobody
(Nobody)
Nobody's gonna help you now