Album review: JULIANA HATFIELD – Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO

American Laundromat Records [Release date 17.11.23]

Juliana Hatfield has been making music since 1986, which has included a stint in the Lemonheads, along with numerous solo albums since 1992 and this, her third album of cover songs, following on from tributes to Olivia Netwon-John in 2018 and The Police in 2019.

As to why she chose the music of ELO she says, “ELO songs were always coming on the radio when I was growing up. They were a reliable source of pleasure and fascination (except for “Fire On High” which scared the heck out of me). With this album of covers I wanted to get my hands deep into some of the massive ‘70’s hits but I am also shining a light on some of the later work (“Ordinary Dream” from 2001’s “Zoom” album, “Secret Messages” and “’From The End Of The World”, both from the ‘80’s).”

Interestingly Juliana doesn’t mimic Jeff Lynne and ELO with strings, as she explains, “Sonically, ELO recordings are like an amusement park packed with fun musical games with layers and layers of varied, meticulous parts for your ears to explore; production curiosities; huge, gorgeous stacks of awe-inspiring vocal harmony puzzles. My task was to try and break all the things down and reconstruct them subtly until they felt like mine. Overall, I stuck pretty close to the originals’ structures while figuring out new ways to express or reference the unique and beloved ELO string arrangements.”

In true Jeff Lynne style Juliana Hatfield played all the instruments herself, bar drums and bass which were done by Chris Anzalone and Ed Valauskas. Of the ELO hits ‘Can’t Get It Out Of My Head’ is simply wonderful, giving the song a whole new lease of life. Like the original ELO songs, Juliana adds lots of layers and effects, such as the off the hook phone signal on ‘Telephone Line’ or the gentle guitar and vocal arrangements on ‘Strange Magic’.

As a lifelong ELO fan Juliana’s version of ‘Ordinary Dream’ is better than the original – sorry Jeff! This and ‘Bluebird Is Dead’, are not obvious choices for ELO covers and the more obvious ones of the likes of ‘Mr Blue Sky’ and ‘Diary of Horace Wimp’ have been avoided, which strengths the album’s selection.

Loving the drums on ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’, where this version goes less on the original’s bombast, although those divine harmony vocals on the chorus are still kept. ‘Secret Messages’ is played with more speed than the original, stripping it off the original’s electronic 80s sound.

Proof, if any were needed, that ELO songs are timeless and Juliana Hatfield really puts her love and passion into these versions she has recorded. Hopefully it will introduce a new set of listeners to the ELO originals and provide further exploration of her extensive back catalogue (the Police covers album is a good starting point). Pop perfection. ****

Review by Jason Ritchie

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