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Oct 28, 2015Alone In The Universe is a triumph of songcraft and studio invention, one that trounces notions of soft rock and guilty pleasures. He might be a man alone, but he’s got the whole world, potentially, in his hands. Again.
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Nov 16, 2015There is only one misstep--the clumsy, Whitesnake-worthy lyrics to Dirty to the Bone are rooted a little too firmly in the 70s--but otherwise this is an excellent return.
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Nov 16, 2015Lynne’s melodic sparkle, as ever, acts as ELO’s warp drive. He expertly gives tired old genres shots of refreshing stardust.
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Nov 9, 2015This is your echt ELO in all its familiar state of sub-Beatlesy woe.... Whether his form of “properly” meets with your approval will, of course, depend on your capacity to perceive virtue in the familiar and the sentimentally melancholic (and in brevity: Alone in the Universe clocks in at roughly 35 minutes’ duration).
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Nov 6, 2015The predictability of Alone In The Universe is its strongest suit, these are all cast-iron songs that will sit on an ELO retrospective beamed down from that spaceship in 10538 and nobody would imagine they were released 40 years after their golden age.
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Q MagazineOct 28, 2015Alone In The Universe is warm-hearted, consummate, just about perfect. [Dec 2015, p.110]
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Oct 28, 2015The definitive elements of this bijou gem are the author's own. [Dec 2015, p.86]
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UncutOct 28, 2015This is a seasoned master of what he does operating in his comfort zone, and doing it very well indeed. [Dec 2015, p.66]
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Dec 11, 2015Few of the new tracks reach that level of greatness [of his classic hits], and flimsy lyrics mar a couple. But several worm their way into the ear endearingly.
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Dec 3, 2015The shortcomings of this DIY approach sometimes show up in the lyrics. In contrast to ELO's early prog-rock sprawl, Alone is bracingly succinct both in words and music.
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Nov 16, 2015At 32 minutes, Alone in the Universe is remarkably devoid of excess--notably, it's just five minutes longer than his breezy 2012 covers album Long Wave--but it doesn't feel shrugged off, nor does it feel especially attached to its time.
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Nov 11, 2015A perfectly pleasant, largely successful return to form that’s a delight for existing fans yet ultimately missing a bit of the “je ne sais quoi” that made the best ELO music so timeless and classic.
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Nov 10, 2015While some of it falls short of past greatness, the core of the album shows Lynne hasn’t lost his mad genius after more than a decade of silence.
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Nov 13, 2015There’s a gauzy thinness to the sound, an inescapable two-dimensionality that occasionally hinders Lynne’s mission. Still, this is a fine addition to their catalog, perhaps not as consistent as 2001’s Zoom but much better than these late-career revival albums tend to sound.
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Nov 19, 2015Alone in the Universe bobs along pleasantly, but you can’t help but notice the lack of any song as strong as Mr Blue Sky, Don’t Bring Me Down or Livin’ Thing.
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Dec 15, 2015The best of these 10 tidy songs are fun and uncannily recognizable, even the first time you hear them, as songs by Lynne. The worst are still uncanny, but less hooky, and earn the biggest insult you can throw at any ELO song: They're colorless.
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Nov 11, 2015Four-and-a-half decades on from the original band’s formation, Lynne’s voice is as warm and comforting as ever, his ear for a hook still sharp and his production is as shiny and gorgeous as a celebrity model’s hair from a shampoo advert. But still, there’s something missing.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 32
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Mixed: 2 out of 32
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Negative: 4 out of 32
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Nov 25, 2015
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Nov 19, 2015
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Nov 19, 2015