Electric Light Orchestra - Face the Music

Face the Music is the sound of Electric Light Orchestra hitting their stride, the 1975 album where Jeff Lynne's grand ambitions finally met hooks big enough to carry them.

By this point the band had grown from an experimental offshoot of The Move into a full-blown orchestral rock machine. Lynne produced the album at Musicland Studios in Munich, overdubbing strings in London, and new bassist Kelly Groucutt joined Bev Bevan's drumming to give everything a tighter, punchier swing.

"Evil Woman" was written quickly near the end of the sessions and became one of the band's biggest hits, a strutting slab of piano-led pop with a chorus that refuses to leave. "Strange Magic" floats on shimmering, dreamlike strings, while "Fire On High" opens the record as a thundering, mostly instrumental showpiece with a backmasked message hidden in its eerie intro. "Poker" hands lead vocals to Groucutt for a rare change of voice.

It is lush without being stuffy and ambitious without losing its pop sense, and every song feels built for good speakers and a comfortable chair, preferably with the lights down low.

For anyone who loves the cinematic side of seventies rock, this is a key piece of the ELO story and a natural place to start exploring their catalog.