![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Roy-Wood-quote-Jeff-Lynne-resented-more-than-his-ELO-departure-22Where-The-Beatles-left-off.22-F.jpeg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ United Artists Records and Tapes)<\/p>\n
Fri 21 November 2025 20:00, UK <\/p>\n
Spending months cooped up on a sweaty tour bus or a claustrophobic recording studio, steadily building resentment for the musical comrades you once considered your closest friends; being in a band is certainly no picnic, and it often doesn\u2019t take very long before \u2018musical differences\u2019 begin to kick in \u2013 something that Jeff Lynne<\/a> found out the hard way. <\/p>\n Although Jeff Lynne\u2019s entire existence within the musical realm is often \u2013 understandably \u2013 viewed as being inseparable from the output of the Electric Light Orchestra, it was actually Roy Wood who first vocalised his desire to blend orchestral arrangements with rock music. When ELO first emerged, though, its backbone was formed by the partnership between Wood and Lynne, along with Bev Bevan on drums. <\/p>\n Ultimately, though, the early period of ELO was not a particularly harmonious one. Despite the trailblazing genius of \u201810538 Overture\u2019<\/a>, the 1972 debut single, which perfectly laid out the group\u2019s sonic manifesto, their output was otherwise struggling to keep up with ideals. Their live performances during those early years, for instance, were pretty disastrous. Given that they were attempting something entirely new, there were no real blueprints to follow, and the result of that was poor sound quality and a chaotic mess of instrumentation. <\/p>\n In the end, that first incarnation of ELO didn\u2019t last very long. Only a few months after their inaugural concert, and mere weeks after the release of that debut single, the inter-band tensions had already become too harsh to handle, and Roy Wood left the band<\/a>, quickly forming Wizzard in their wake. However, the songwriter\u2019s parting gift to Jeff Lynne and ELO was to give them a virtually insurmountable quote which would follow them throughout the decades. <\/p>\n According to many music historians, Lynne once claimed that the inherent aim of ELO was to \u201cpick up where [The Beatles\u2019] \u2018I Am The Walrus\u2019 left off.\u201d Given that The Beatles altered the course of musical history forever, and that 1967 classic is among their most experimental and far-out tracks of all, that quote almost appears to be setting ELO up to fail. As it turns out, though, Lynne was just as uncomfortable with its promise as everybody else.\u00a0<\/p>\n