Promo Videos and Films

 

Jeff Lynne Related Promo Videos and Films

An in-depth look at the visual promotional tools


Introduction

This page examines the various promo videos, movies and commercials directly related to Jeff Lynne's music over the years. This page does not examine TV appearances (e.g. The Midnight Special, Supersonic, Top Of The Pops, etc.) except maybe where the promo videos were used. And this page does not examine movies or commercials where the music was used as incidental music or to promote a non-artist project (e.g. ELO music in the 1977 Joyride film or Mr. Blue Sky to promote Volkswagon Beetles).

A few definitions are key to understanding items mentioned on this page.

Promo Video - A short film or video that accompanies a complete song. Used to promote the song. Also known as a "Music Video". Some sources refer to these as a "promo clip", although technically that terminology is mostly incorrect as a "clip" refers to something clipped out of a larger work.
Promo Movie - Similar to a promo video, a promo movie typically involves more than just a film to a song. It may also include announcers, interviews and/or special performances not always accompanied by music. Used to promote a song, album, project or artist.
Electronic Press Kit (EPK) - A promotional press kit in electronic format (videotape, DVD, CD, download, etc.). This page concentrates exclusively on EPKs of the video variety, ignoring audio only items. The nomenclature of EPK became popular mid-1980s, however all promo movies prior to the 1980s could be considered early EPKs.
Commercial - A television commercial produced for promoting a specific song, album, project or artist.

The Impact of MTV

When examining music videos and everything surrounding them, they can readily be separated into two eras: Pre-MTV and Post-MTV. This is because before MTV, music videos and promo films were primarily shown only on music related TV programs such as Top Of The Pops and The Midnight Special, during television interview segments, or as filler during TV broadcasts. As such, these items were rarely seen and not all songs had promo videos made for them. The camera work and effects were often primitive and there was never a care of who directed or produced the video.

With the launch and subsequent popularity of MTV in 1981, music videos became an essential part of an artist's promotional toolbox. Promo videos were getting regular rotations on MTV, much like a radio station plays music, while these videos and promo films continued to be used in the traditional ways as well. It became important to hire a quality director and to produce a slick, movie-like video. Simultaneously, with the growth of multimedia tools, promo movies transformed from the odd TV promotion of the pre-MTV era into EPKs of various formats (video, DVD, CDROM, downloads, etc.) that were then distributed to the press and music retailers as a promotional tool.

Due to copyright issues, full versions of video material described on this site cannot be provided. However, YouTube and other links to online content for these videos has been provided where it is available. As this site and anyone associated with it do not maintain these videos, no guarantee of working, complete or accurate videos or links is made.

The ELO Era

10538 Overture promo videoUK enhanced Electric Light Orchestra CD featuring the 10538 Overture videoThe first ever Jeff Lynne promo video is for ELO's lead single, 10538 Overture. Harvest records commissioned the video (which has an unidentified director) and it was distributed to various TV studios to promote the band. In the video, the band mimes to the full album version of the song. Roy Wood plays cello while wearing a long blond wig. Jeff plays guitar and sings while wearing a strange outfit that seems to reflect some of Roy's stage theatrics: a long trench coat, a sea captain's hat, and an eye patch over his left eye. Jeff also mimes all of Roy's singing parts (even though the audio is clearly Roy's voice). During this period of ELO's career, there was a frequent change of members, especially the string players. Due to the absence of cello players in the band at the time of the video production, non-cellists Trevor Smith and Phil Copestake (respectively, the sound man and roadie for the band) donned pig masks and mimed the cello for the video. This video has only seen official commercial release once, as the bonus material on the UK-only enhanced Electric Light Orchestra album, first issued in November 2001 and on the 40th anniversary Electric Light Orchestra CD/DVD issued in March 2012. The 10538 Overture promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Roll Over Beethoven promo videoThe second promo video ever for Jeff Lynne is the Roll Over Beethoven video from 1973. This video is somewhat unique in that it is a rare instance of the audio track being a live performance, rather than the album or single track. This video, filmed in London's Rainbow Theatre on March 23, 1973, features the band on stage in front of a live audience playing the full ELO 2 LP version of the song, running approximately eight minutes and 30 seconds total. The video starts with a cartoon marquee introducing the band and for about the first minute or so, the band is shown with various negative/positive camera effects. It features the band at the time, including violinist Wilf Gibson (in red shirt and yellow cape) and cellists Mike Edwards and Colin Walker. In a few moments of rock 'n' roll madness, cellist Mike Edwards performs some stage antics during the long instrumental bridge of the song by simultaneously playing Colin Walker's cello (imagine two bows on one cello), pretending to wipe sweat off of Jeff Lynne's brow during the guitar solo, and eventually reaching up between Jeff Lynne's legs to play the guitar using his cello bow. This video has never been released officially and is very rarely seen on TV-- probably due to the eight minute running time. The Roll Over Beethoven promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Showdown promo videoShowdown film distributed to TV stationsThe promo video for Showdown features the band on an old jetty on the banks of the Thames river in London. The bank they are on is unidentified, but they are on the south side of the river, across from St. Paul's Cathedral, of which the dome of the cathedral is the focus of the opening and closing shots of the video; it is thought that they may be where the Founders Arms pub is today. It is a mimed performance to the full UK single version of the song, running 4:11 total. The video was filmed after cellist Colin Walker left the band but before the hiring of cellist Hugh McDowell. As a result, ELO's sound man, Rick Pannell steps in and mimes the cello for the video shoot. This video is available for purchase and download from iTunes. The Showdown promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Eldorado TV SpotIn the US, a 30 second TV spot was created for the Eldorado album. Produced by Braverman Producitions out of Los Angeles, it features a voice-over stating: "Music at the speed of light from ELO-- Eldorado" and a portion of Can't Get It Out Of My Head (strangly, playing too fast) while showing various images of the band, then a marquis type of ELO/Eldordo banner. This is followed by an image of the Eldorado album cover while a red spark effect is shown on the shoes while the voice-over states: "Eldorado, the brilliant new music of the Electric Light Orchestra-- it's magic."

 

Can't Get It Out Of My Head promo videoThe Can't Get It Out Of My Head promo video features the band miming to the single version of the song. It was filmed at the "Forshaw Heath Social Centre Hall", which was the Scout Hut" where the band rehearsed at the time. It starts off showing the exterior of an English building on Forshaw Heath Lane in Birmingham, then zooms into a small building beside the main building that the "Forshaw Heath Social Centre Hall" and fades to show the band playing inside. It's a very small, crowded room and there is no room for the band to move about. Each band member except Hugh McDowell is wearing a t-shirt with a logo for Avro's Toppop; Bev and Richard's are red while all the others' are yellow. For unknown reasons, Hugh is instead wearing a blue long sleeve shirt, but an Avro's Toppop sticker is clearly attached to his white cello and it gets several close-ups in the video. Avro's Toppop was a TV show from the Netherlands, modeled after the UK's Top Of The Pops, and presumably they were the sponsors of the video. Both Jeff and Kelly are wearing black shirts over their t-shirts, with Jeff's also having a print of large white wings across the chest and shoulders, which would make an appearance many more times in the following years. It's the first appearance of Mik Kaminski playing his famous blue violin and it's also the first appearance of a quite nervous looking Kelly Groucutt in the band. No other videos in support of the Eldorado album were produced. The Can't Get It Out Of My Head promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Evil Woman promo videoThe promo video for Evil Woman features the band on an unidentified concert stage miming to the UK single version of the song (missing orchestral intro and fade slightly early). Jeff is wearing the same black shirt with white wings on the shoulders that was seen in the Can't Get It Out Of My Head video. He is also wearing a brown newsboy hat and his infamous dark sunglasses. No other videos in support of the Face The Music album were produced. The Evil Woman promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Livin' Thing promo video Tightrope promo video
Telephone Line promo video Do Ya promo video
For the 1976 A New World Record album, several promo videos were produced; they include Livin' Thing, Tightrope, Telephone Line, Rockaria! and Do Ya. Clearly these were all produced at the same time as they are all the same basic style with the exception of Rockaria!. All feature the band on a small stage performing the songs and each band member is wearing the same clothes in each video: a white shirt for Jeff, a dark green shirt and blue scarf for Kelly, a silver shirt for Hugh, etc. Presumably the videos were produced around the time of the A New World Record album's release with the intention of using the videos to promote potential singles. Indeed, each song was a single in the UK and/or USA with the exception of Tightrope. As an added effect, the Do Ya video has a smoky atmosphere to it. The promo videos for Tightrope, Livin' Thing and Do Ya can be seen HERE, HERE and HERE.

With the exception of Rockaria!, all videos from the A New World Record album are mimed to the album versions of their respective songs. All videos, again with the exception of Rockaria!, show the band on a small stage performing the songs, with Livin' Thing making heavy use of a revolver lens focusing on Mik's blue violin, Hugh's silver and white cello, and Jeff Lynne singing with Bev in the background. Also, the Telephone Line video tends to focus on close-ups of Jeff and Kelly singing. For the Livin' Thing video, the stage is brightly lit, but for Tightrope, Telephone Line and Do Ya, it is dark.

 

Rockaria! promo video - Version #1
Rockaria! promo video - Version #2
The Rockaria! promo video is the unique video from the bunch; added to this, there are two different versions of the video. Both videos, instead of using the album version, use what would become the UK single version (cutting the opera singer's "oops" at the song's beginning). And instead of being filmed on a small stage as the other A New World Record videos had been done, the Rockaria! videos feature the band on a large, spacious stage with plenty of room for the band to move about. Indeed, Hugh McDowell performs several theatrics with his cello, dancing and throwing the cello about. They also intercut footage of the band in white suits, playing not in a rock band, but in a classical group as if playing for the opera singer. The videos also make heavy use of camera tricks to divide the screen into four quadrants-- the upper left shows primarily the string section; the upper right shows primarily Jeff Lynne alone; the lower left shows primarily the band in white suits playing for the opera singer; and the lower right shows random images. Finally, both versions feature a blond woman playing the role of the opera singer (and singing during the appropriate parts) who is seen sometimes standing at a prop window over her orchestra (the band in white suits) or standing at the front of the stage with her orchestra behind her.

Where the Rockaria! videos differ is in the arrangement of the footage of the opera singer and footage of the band during the first chorus. For the opera singer at the beginning: in the first video she is shown at the window balcony and the camera zooms out to show the band in white suits on stage; in the second video she is shown on stage and the camera zooms in (instead of out) to show a close-up of her. For the first chorus: in the first video the band is shown on stage in regular camera frames; in the second video, they video continues to use the four quadrant images. For the opera singer after the first chorus: in the first video she is shown on stage and the camera zooms out to show the stage; in the second video she is shown at the balcony window and the camera zooms in. And for the opera singer after the second chorus: in the first video she is again shown at the balcony window and the camera zooms out; in the second video she is shown on stage and the camera zooms in. Other than these differences, the videos are identical. The first version of the Rockaria! promo video can be seen HERE.

 

A New World Record promo movieIn addition to the promo videos produced for the album, an A New World Record promo movie was also produced. It's a sort of electronic press kit (EPK) before the phrase was invented. The movie starts with an unidentified announcer, presumably a NASA engineer, introducing the band, and stating: "Here is a group I would like to personally introduce. If there are things about contemporary music that sometimes embarrass you, this is the group of which you should be the most proud. I am referring to that great fusion of contemporary and classical music, the Electric Light Orchestra." This then cuts to the image of a discus player throwing a discus with the ELO logo on it, while the intro to ELO's Tightrope is heard. When it lands, it's the USA issue A New World Record record album (with the ELO logo label facing up). Two sporting judges run up to the record with a tape measure as if measuring the discus throw. One of the announcers, played by actor/musician Slim Pickens, looks into the camera and declares "it's a new world record!" Then the promo video of Livin' Thing is played almost in its entirety. Near the end of the song, footage of a NASA Saturn V rocket launch is shown while NASA engineers are seen humming along to the song. Presumably this represents the "launch" of the A New World Record album. The very end extends the Livin' Thing song by about 15 seconds with the fade-out intercutting choruses from other parts of the song onto the end while a slowly receding earth is shown (as if from the point of view of the rocket as it flies away). Finally, a voice-over announcer states: "With the launching of the 1977 season, a new era dawns for United Artists records-- a new thrust and incentive, a circle of sound surrounding and ever widening." The video is credited as "An Image Factory Production" at the very end. The first part of this movie (before the music video) can be seen HERE.

 

The promo videos for Tightrope, Telephone Line, Livin' Thing and the first version of Rockaria! were released in a 1991 UK VHS videotape entitled The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra: 13 Classic Videos (Telstar TVE 1033) with a large yellow graphic added to the beginning of each track to announce the song. There has been no other release of these videos.

 

The Out Of The Blue videos are of particular interest because of the numerous variety produced. They were made for the songs Turn To Stone, Sweet Talkin' Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Wild West Hero and It's Over, however, there are several variations of these videos.

Out of the Blue movie distributed to TV stationsTo promote the Out Of The Blue album, several videos were prepared. The videos were known to have been filmed in Los Angeles in January 1978, just before the band left for a tour of Australia. Bev noted that during the filming of the videos, the band became increasingly drunk. These promo videos included the songs Turn To Stone, Sweet Talkin' Woman andMr. Blue Sky, all of which eventually became singles. Each video features the band miming the songs on stage, wearing the same stage clothes in each video-- Bev in a white sleeveless shirt, Kelly in a blue satin shirt, Jeff in a black shirt, etc. Although each video is basically a stage performance with each some unique features.

 

Turn To Stone promo videoFirst, the promo video for Turn To Stone is mimed to an edited version of the song. It is the full single/album version, but with a later fade-in that cuts the first eight seconds of the song as well as a slightly sooner fade-out that cuts the last three seconds. The video performances is a simple standard stage performance, but it does feature the band being very active on stage. Hugh is seen using a regular wood panel cello, rather than his white and silver cello, and he throws it about like mad on stage, lifting it over his head and twirling it several times. At the song's instrumental ending, the band wanders around stage (except, of course, Bev on drums) and for a moment, twirl in circles around Jeff's microphone. Bev Bevan states: "The last thing [video of the set] we did was Turn To Stone which was pretty loose [as they were drunk]; it really was. But it didn't really matter. That film won't be used that much except in countries where the single has just been released." The Turn To Stone promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Sweet Talkin' Woman promo videoSweet Talkin' Woman film distributed to TV stationsThe video for Sweet Talkin' Woman is another mimed stage performance, but it features several blue laser effects across the stage, as would later be seen on the Out Of The Blue spaceship tour. During the first chorus and briefly before the final vocodor part, there are several split camera tricks, showing four or eight duplicate images. This video is also unique in that it uses the regular album version of the song but mysteriously cuts the first half of the fifth chorus (starting directly with the guitar backing only line "Hold on, sweet talkin' lover..."). This odd edit may be a result of the video being reviewed from the Out Of The Blue promo movie (more on that below) only. It remains uncertain if the regular video truly had this edit as the as the regular promo video for Sweet Talkin' Woman is not available for review. The Sweet Talkin' Woman promo video, as extracted from the Out Of The Blue movie, can be seen HERE.

 

Mr. Blue Sky promo videoNext, the Mr. Blue Sky promo video again shows the band performing on stage. It uses several screen graphics to paint the words "Mister Blue Sky" on the screen during the vocoder parts following the first "Hey there mister blue, we're so pleased to be with you..." bridge. In some amusing moments, Hugh McDowell acts out some of the lyrics by running across the stage with his cello during the "running down the avenue" line; and he also sneaks up behind Jeff and puts his hand on his shoulder during the "now his hand is on your shoulder" line. In addition, during the choral ending, the camera cuts away from the band on stage and instead shows scenes from the point of view of flying through the clouds way up in the atmosphere; just as the drum part ends, the scene changes to show a distant sunset way up in the clouds and then this fades to show a screen graphic on a black background that writes "Mister Blue Sky" during the ending vocoder part. A note about this screen graphic at the song's end: It has been verified by various official sources that the vocoder says "please turn me over" to tell the listener to turn the record over as Mr. Blue Sky was the end of side three on the Out Of The Blue album; therefore the screen graphic uses the wrong words and may be a source of many years of misunderstanding by fans and critics over exactly what the vocoder is supposed to be saying. The audio track for the video is almost the full album version including the rain and radio intro, but it cuts a short orchestral section at the song's end, between the ending of the drums and before the vocoder part. Therefore, the audio track is unique. The Mr. Blue Sky promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Wild West Hero promo video - Version #1In February of 1978, a video for Wild West Hero was filmed in Australia during the Australian leg of the Out Of the Blue tour. This video features an intro with old western movies scenes of cowboys on horseback chasing and capturing several Indians in the American desert. This quickly cuts to the band on a large stage playing the song. At first the band looks perfectly normal, but during the first chorus, they are all suddenly wearing western clothes and cowboy hats, which they wear for the rest of the video. During the song's second guitar solo, a cowboy on a horse rides on stage. During the second chorus, the cowboy begins twirling his lasso about and after the chorus, in a particularly amusing moment, he lassos Jeff! Jeff actually breaks character for a moment, laughing at his being lassoed. The scene then returns to footage from old western films, including a cowboy and Indian shootout on horseback, a fist fight on the top of a train, and finally a long and wild saloon brawl that totally destroys the saloon. After song's end, the band is shown on stage again, shooting guns into the air. [Editor's Note: if there was an audience, they'd have to watch out for falling bullets as the band is shooting just over their heads!] The audio track for the song is simply the standard album version of the song, but it includes western movie noises at the song's beginning and end, as well as the gunfire after the ending. Another quite subtle edit is that just after the second chorus and before the guitar bridge, two seconds of the strings are cut. This Wild West Hero promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Out Of The Blue promo movieAfter the creation of the above videos, a promo movie (again, a sort of early EPK) to support the Out Of The Blue album was prepared using the above promo videos with additional added footage and edited footage. This promo movie is sometimes referred to as the "Out Of The Blue Video EP." Added footage includes cartoon images of the ELO logo zooming into frame that precedes each video (except Wild West Hero) while portions of The Whale and the "Concerto" thunder from Standin' In The Rain (but not the "for a rainy day" bit) play over it; and it also attaches to the end of each video (except Wild West Hero) an animated ELO spaceship, as seen on the Out Of The Blue album cover with a space plane flying into the dock (but stopping before it completely enters) while more excerpts from The Whale play. Other than the intro and outro additions, the videos for Turn To Stone and Sweet Talkin' Woman are unchanged from the above standard promo videos. The version of Wild West Hero is completely unchanged with no intro/outro added and there is some doubt as to whether it is really part of the promo movie at all. The version of Mr. Blue Sky in the promo movie has several distinct elements. These include a cut of the first half of the first vocal bridge ("hey there mister blue, we're so pleased to be with you") and different footage of the band during the vocoder bridge (in the promo video it shows the string players over the first vocoder part, the string players and Bev on the second vocoder part, and Bev and Jeff on the third vocoder part; in the promo movie, it shows Jeff and Kelly on the first vocoder part, Richard and Bev on the second vocoder part, and the same Bev and Jeff footage on the third vocoder part). Other edits include different footage of the band near the main song's end before the choral ending (in the promo video it shows footage of Bev only, but in the promo movie, it first shows Richard on keyboards for a brief moment), and even more edits over the song's choral ending, thus cutting the cloud flying part significantly. Again, the animated ELO spaceship and space plane are shown with The Whale excerpts after the video, but this part is extended to include the promo movies closing credits.

 

As seen in the promo movie's credits, it was directed by Jerry Kramer and produced by Jerry and Rena Kramer. The film was distributed by Cinema Concepts, Inc. and copyrighted by Jet Productions, Inc. in 1978. It is the first music video for ELO and Jeff Lynne where the director is actually identified. It's not entirely clear why this promo movie was produced so late into the release of the Out Of The Blue album, but it is thought to be related to the change of Jet Records distribution from United Artists to CBS Records in the spring of 1978.

 

Again, as previously stated, the edit found in Sweet Talkin' Woman in both the promo video and promo movie is a little uncertain. Only one promo video has been found and it was actually lifted from the promo movie, complete with the cartoon images of the ELO logo and spaceship at the song's beginning and end (and audio from The Whale). It is unclear if a "complete" promo video without this edit exists for Sweet Talkin' Woman.

 

Wild West Hero promo video - Version #2A second Wild West Hero video was produced later in 1978. This new video is another and different mimed stage performance to the standard album version of the song, but has several cartoon elements added. It starts with the point of view of someone standing in the back of a movie theater when a movie starts playing. The ELO logo is shown on the curtain, which lifts when the film begins and the full cartoon film fades in to fill the screen. The cartoon movie shows several desert mesas with large buttes that are shaped as the heads of cowboys. This fades to nighttime, then it transitions to show the band on stage performing the song. It uses several extreme close ups of the performers, including split screens of Jeff and Kelly's faces during the vocal harmony parts. During the piano and guitar bridges, the cartoon of the nighttime mesas is shown again where a large ELO spaceship is seen flying over the mesas toward the camera. At the very end, the footage of the band performing the song fades again to show a cowboy on horseback at the top of one of the mesas. The horse rears up and suddenly sprouts wings. Thus, the cartoon cowboy and winged horse fly into the night sky and vanish into the stars. It is unclear why the second completely different video was produced, but it likely had something to do with the Jet Records distribution deal having changed from United Artists to CBS Records. Note that Wild West Hero was the first Jet/CBS single released in the UK, being released in June of 1978. This Wild West Hero promo video can be seen HERE.

 

It's Over promo videoThe final video for the Out Of The Blue album is for It's Over. It was clearly produced much later than all the other videos, about the time that It's Over was released as a USA single. It shows the band miming to the album version of the song while performing in a darkened sound stage. It uses mostly backlit images of the band, making them difficult to see. And it makes heavy use superimposed images, such that Bev on drums (in a sparkly red shirt), Richard on keyboards and the string players are all mixed together on screen, often with Jeff Lynne in a white suit and playing acoustic guitar super imposed over the whole jumble of images. It takes rather amusing advantage of Jeff and Kelly's big 1970s hair by backlighting images of both Jeff and Kelly, some of which show only the backlit hair and no face while other images are superimposed over it. This It's Over promo video can be seen HERE.

 

The promo videos for Turn To Stone, Mr. Blue Sky, and the first Wild West Hero (the Australian cowboy-on-stage version) were released in a 1991 UK VHS videotape entitled The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra: 13 Classic Videos (Telstar TVE 1033) with a large yellow graphic added to the beginning of each track to announce the song. The video for Turn To Stone on this videotape is mysteriously sped up-- using the regular 3:38 video version, but running faster so that it has a 3:24 running time. The rest of the videos on the collection are at normal speed, so this speed up of the Turn To Stone video must have been intentional. Interestingly, there was a European version of this same video released (Eurostar 39810128) that erroneously listed the Sweet Talkin' Woman video on the front cover, but it was not actually on the video. It is rumored, but unconfirmed, that Telstar released a promo version of this videotape, under the title The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra: 14 Classic Videos that included the Sweet Talkin' Woman video, but that remains unconfirmed. There has been no other commercial release of these promo videos.

 

Out Of The Blue TV commercialWhen Jet Records distribution deal changed from United Artists to CBS Records, a TV commercial was produced to promote the Out Of The Blue album. It was inspired by Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, the hit Steven Spielberg movie of the Christmas 1977 season. The commercial shows a young couple in formal attire (as if coming from a high school prom) kissing in the front seat of a pickup truck while Mr. Blue Sky is playing on the radio. The girl declares she loves the song and pauses kissing long enough to turn up the radio. Suddenly a bright light shines over the truck and things on the truck's dashboard begin moving about on their own, including the glove compartment opening on its own and papers flying about, the rabbit's foot on the rear view mirror swinging wildly, and the burger and soda on the dashboard flying away on their own. The young couple looks quite frightened of the whole affair when suddenly there is a bang on the truck's roof. The girl asks, "What was that?" The boy reaches out the window and pulls down from above the Out Of The Blue album. He proceeds to show it to the girl and declares: "It's Out Of The Blue, the ELO album!" A graphic of the album's artwork with the same animation as seen in the promo movie is shown while a voiceover announcer states: "Electric Light Orchestra on Jet records and tapes. Distributed by CBS Records." This Out Of The Blue TV commercial can be seen HERE.

 

The Big Night TV commercialA special one minute TV commercial was created for the The Big Night tour in support of the Out Of The Blue album. It shows a nice animation of the jet spaceships flying into the ELO spaceship, then the spaceship flying toward Earth and landing in a concert stadium while an announcer states "Once in a lifetime, there comes an event so big that it eclipses everything that came before it-- the Electric Light Orchestra in concert-- The Big Night." A portion of the Mr. Blue Sky and Sweet Talkin' Woman are played as the announcer continues to tout the tour. At the end, the animated spaceship flies away from the stadium and off into space, leaving the ELO logo and the text "The Big Night" floating in space. This TV commercial can be seen HERE.

 

Shine A Little Love promo video - Version #1The first promo video produced in support of the Discovery album is a Shine A Little Love video. The video features the band, minus the string players, miming to the song in their recording studio, Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany. The band mimes to the single version of the song (without the choral intro). The primary features are images of Jeff and Kelly singing the song together at the studio microphone and Richard on keyboards. There are also occasional shots of Bev on drums, Jeff and Kelly playing the song on guitar, and a few images of backlit hands clapping at the appropriate parts. Some parts also use a revolver lens to show various studio equipment, including an opening shot of the microphone. This Shine A Little Love video can be seen HERE.

 

Following this Shine A Little Love video, the band did something unprecedented-- they made videos for every single song on the Discovery album, including a new video for Shine A Little Love. It's not entirely clear why this was done, but it is presumed that it was because the band was not touring in support of the album and the singles to be taken from the album (other than Shine A Little Love) were not yet decided. Thus this set of complete videos could be used to promote the singles and album rather than a tour. The string players, Mik Kaminski, Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale were included in the videos despite not playing on the album. They were dismissed from the band just after these videos were made. It was their last appearance ever with the band, except for Mik who would go on to make a few more album appearances and the Time tour. Although the videos were filmed together, each video is elaborately staged and adds cartoon elements. The band goes through several wardrobe changes in all of the videos, except Richard Tandy, who is wearing the same white satin shirt in all videos. Jeff is wearing a red shirt in all videos but Last Train To London and Wishing, where he is wearing a white shirt. Kelly is sporting a nice ELO logo necklace in all videos as well. All videos but The Diary Of Horace Wimp (due to the composite video elements) are shot with a shin-high fog obscuring the floor. All songs were mimed to the album versions except Last Train To London which fades ten seconds early. Detail descriptions of these Discovery videos are as follows:
Shine A Little Love promo video - Version #2Shine A Little Love - During the choral intro, the camera pans across an Arabian-style room (as on the Discovery album cover) and eventually finds and zooms in on a treasure chest with the ELO spaceship sitting on top. As the main part of the song starts, this fades to a quick distorted view of the band playing the song. During the song's first verse and chorus, a black and white image is shown of Jeff Lynne's glasses while color footage of the band playing the song are shown in the left lens only. Throughout most of the rest of the song, the band is shown playing the song on a soundstage dressed up to look like a desert landscape. All these images are shown with a slight sepia tone, enhancing the desert imagery. During the song's repeated ending, the black and white image of Jeff's glasses with the band seen playing in the left lens only is shown again. The video ends by fading back to the Arabian-style room and another zoom in to the ELO spaceship on top of the treasure chest. This segues to the intro of the Confusion video. This Shine A Little Love promo video can be seen HERE.
Confusion promo videoConfusion - Picking up where the Shine A Little Love video left off, the Confusion video starts with footage of a turban-wearing man in the Arabian-style room sneaking out from his hiding place in a large vase in room's corner. He jumps out, picks up the ELO spaceship from the treasure chest, then turns and strikes the same pose as seen on the Discovery album cover. This fades to show the band again playing on a soundstage set. This set is decorated with large silver crystals on a white background. During the song's short instrumental bridge parts with the Yamaha CS-80 keyboard (which is prominent on the Discovery album), the camera focuses on Richard playing the song on this keyboard. As a transition between shots, there are negative camera tricks to show the transition. The video at the end of the song fades (with the negative effects) to the star field seen at the beginning of the Need Her Love video. The Confusion promo video can be seen HERE.
Need Her Love promo videoNeed Her Love - The song title text "Need Her Love" is written at the bottom of a cartoon star field. With each keyboard note that starts the song, a portion of this text flashes and vanishes until it is all gone. Then an animated ELO spaceship flies overhead and fades into a cartoon face of a resting woman. Then a close-up of Jeff playing the guitar intro is superimposed over images of the ELO spaceship flying out of a cartoon of a woman's mouth and a woman's eye. Throughout the rest of the video, the band is shown on a soundstage performing the song. However, it is very difficult to see the soundstage due to the band being seen mostly through fractured mirror images that yield a montage effect. During all the lead vocal parts, the camera focuses on close-ups of Jeff's face often superimposed over various footage of the band performing the song. During the guitar solo, it again focuses on Jeff's guitar being played superimposed over more footage of the band. Mysteriously, Kelly Groucutt does not feature in this video at all. The Need Her Love promo video can be seen HERE.
The Diary Of Horace Wimp promo videoThe Diary Of Horace Wimp - The video loosely tells the tale of Horace Wimp through several cartoon images. It starts with a cartoon nighttime scene of the rolling hills of some farmland. The song title is displayed while an animated ELO spaceship flies overhead and dips below the horizon. The sun rises over the horizon and the sun quickly transforms into the head of the Horace Wimp character (with a momentary clock face) as he sits up in bed, wherein the farmland becomes his blanket for his bed. This fades to a close-up of Jeff singing the song on the first verse. For the rest of the first verse, there are alternating shots of the band playing the song on a cartoon landscape, close-ups of Jeff singing, and the animated Horace Wimp sitting up in his bed/countryside. During the first chorus the video shows a cartoon of Horace standing in the countryside watching the ELO spaceship rise over the horizon. This ELO spaceship soon transforms into a blazing sun. The second verse shows the band playing on more cartoon landscapes and close-ups of Jeff's face. The second chorus shows the cartoon Horace watching the spaceship again, superimposed over shots of the band on the cartoon stage and close-ups of Jeff's face and Richard's keyboards. The third verse again shows the band on the cartoon landscape and Jeff's face. On the third chorus, an image of Horace and his new bride are shown watching the spaceship fly away. During the repeated ending (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.), wavy footage of the band swaying and miming the words is shown superimposed over more images of Horace and wife watching the spaceship fly away. During the whispered "Horace Wimp" parts, it further superimposes and extreme close-up of Jeff Lynne's mouth saying the words. Finally, all this fades and it ends with a cartoon image of Horace and wife looking across the countryside at a church that is floating over the horizon. The The Diary Of Horace Wimp promo video can be seen HERE.
Last Train To London promo videoLast Train To London - The video starts with an animated image of moving down yellow neon-like train tracks on a black background. The song title is shown floating above the tracks. This fades and over the tracks is superimposed footage of the band on a soundstage performing the song. An ELO spaceship flies overhead and down the tracks to vanish at a golden city that rises over the horizon. This fades and most of the rest of the video is the band on the soundstage performing the song. The soundstage walls are dark; however, the band is lit with very bright and flashing lights, giving a strong contrasting club-like appearance. The fog rolling across the floor is also brightly lit by these lights, reflecting on the band from below. The imagery alternates between various long shots of the band performing the song and close-ups of various members, particularly Jeff Lynne singing and playing. During many of the echo parts of the song, repeated images of Jeff that fade into the distance are shown. The song ends with the images of the yellow train tracks again. As the song fades, the train tracks transform into a road for the start of the Midnight Blue video. All the Discovery videos uses the full album versions of the songs for the audio track except Last Train To London, which of unknown reasons, fades 10 seconds early on the video. The Last Train To London promo video can be seen HERE.
Midnight Blue promo videoMidnight Blue - The video starts with the point of view of traveling down a cartoon road, faded in from the train tracks of the Last Train To London video. The song title is superimposed over the road. Footage of Richard Tandy playing the keyboard intro is superimposed over this. Then this fades to a blue halo and a close-up of Jeff singing the song. The entire rest of the video is seen through this blue halo and features various footage of the band performing the song on a soundstage. Interestingly, this soundstage is the same soundstage used for the second Shine A Little Love video, complete with desert backdrop and fog on the floor, but this time it is lit with a blue tint throughout. The video ends with an image of the ELO spaceship flying overhead and vanishing on the horizon. The Midnight Blue promo video can be seen HERE.
One The Run promo videoOn The Run - The video starts with an animated pinball intro, with a ball bouncing that hits the bumpers to the beat of the song's intro. The name of the song is momentarily printed in bright letters over this intro. This fades to a close-up of Jeff singing the song, then the band on a totally white soundstage (with fog on the ground) performing the song. Other than when the camera is focused on a close-up of Jeff singing, a handheld steady cam is used and it is very active, with the camera operator walking all about the stage with quick movements-- it rarely stays still. During the song's instrumental break and at the song's slowed down ending, camera effects are used to show odd negative outline effects such that on the beats, the image of the band playing is temporarily frozen while a white negative outline continues to move. The video ends with a superimposed image of the ELO spaceship moving across a star field and going below the camera's view leaving just a star field, which leads to the the start of the Wishing video. The On The Run promo video can be seen HERE.
Wishing promo videoPicture sleeve for the The Diary Of Horace Wimp UK singleWishing - The video starts with cartoon fireworks exploding over a star field, with the song title shown at the bottom of the screen. This fades to show Richard Tandy playing the rest of the song's keyboard intro. The rest of the video shows the band performing the song on a soundstage featuring a solid white background, fog on the ground, and large plastic rainbows all around the band. (Strangely, the rainbows are only five colors and are missing violet from the rainbow spectrum). On the vocal bridge between the final verse and chorus, the animated ELO spaceship is shown moving across the star field again and vanishing at the bottom of the screen. Over the song's instrumental ending, the cartoon fireworks are superimposed over the footage of the band performing the rest of the song. The band also apparently did some publicity photos while making this video. The band, wearing the exact same clothing as in the Wishing video, is seen on the cover of the UK The Diary Of Horace Wimp 7" single and the inner sleeve of the Xanadu album (sans the string players).
Don't Bring Me Down promo video version #1Don't Bring Me Down - The video starts with a cartoon of a majorette dancing to the drum intro. It then shows a marquee that spells out the name of the song, for which each letter is changed to a star on the beats of the song. Then it shows a cartoon of a glowing neon hotdog (yes, a hotdog!) over footage of the band playing the song. This fades and most of the rest of the video is of the band alone, performing on stage, however because the song has no string elements, the three string players are playing madly on various keyboard instruments instead. The set features the same large crystals as seen in the Confusion video, however, this video's band footage is all filtered with red overtones, giving the video a hellish look. Briefly, during the song's third verse ("What happened to the girl...") the cartoon of the majorette is shown again. And on the beginning of verse five ("You're looking good...") the neon hotdog is shown again. Just after the end of the fifth verse, the view changes to a cartoon of the ELO spaceship flying out the window of a hall full of jukeboxes, followed by it flying out of the image of an eye towards the camera. From Verse six to the end of the song, more footage of the band playing on the soundstage is shown. At the very end of the song-- the final echoes and the door slam part-- the view changes to a burning fire that engulfs the screen and the Discovery album title text is shown. Although not explicit, the video seems to invoke a sense of fire and brimstone hellishness, with its heavy red tint and the fire shown at the end. Perhaps this is intentional given that the song's lyrics are about "don't bring me down" as in down to hell. This Don't Bring Me Down promo video can be seen HERE.
As seen in the credits for the complete (or nearly complete) airings and releases of these Discovery videos, the animation was done by Jerry Hibbert (who later worked on the 1981 Heavy Metal film). The video was produced and directed by Mike Mansfield, the same director who had directed the band's Fusion concert from 1976. It is known that the videos were broadcast in full on a USA syndicated TV show called The Blue Jean Network in 1981, including the full Don't Bring Me Down, with the credits rolling over footage from the first (at Musicland Studios) Shine A Little Love video.

 

Don't Bring Me Down promo video version #2There is a different version of the Don't Bring Me Down video that was used as part of the Discovery video bonus feature on the Out Of The Blue Tour - Live At Wembley video and DVD releases. This version uses the same basic footage at the standard album version, but it has an even deeper red overtone, applied to the point of oversaturation. Also, the end of the video stops showing the band performing on stage and instead uses different footage to show the films credits. From verse six onwards, the view changes to a close-up of the hands holding the spaceship from the cover of the Discovery album while the promo movie's credits roll. The video ends with a brief view of the Discovery album cover, the Jet log, and then a copyright notice of "1979 C.B.S. INC."

 

The Discovery videos for Need Her Love, Wishing, Shine A Little Love (the desert version), Confusion, Last Train To London and The Diary Of Horace Wimp were also released on the 1991 The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra: 13 Classic Videos videotapes, with large yellow graphics to announce the song inserted over those songs that did not already have the song titles attached.

 

Making Xanadu TV specialThe Xanadu album had no promo videos prepared for its songs. The only real promotion that Jeff Lynne did for the band was an appearance on an approximately 24 minute TV special called Making Xanadu which aired on ABC in America in August of 1980. The special mainly focused on the film's choreography and how the film was produced, including several dance sequences, behind the scenes bits, and interviews with Olivia, Robert Greenwald, Larry Gordon, Gene Kelly and Michael Beck. It uses snippets of most songs from the film, including ELO's All Over The World, I'm Alive, Don't Walk Away and Xanadu. The use of All Over The World is a short section of an early cut of Gene Kelly dancing in a fancy clothing store to an early, instrumental version of All Over The World. About two-thirds of the way through the special there are a couple of interview segments about the music, filmed on the set with Olivia Newton-John, John Farrar and Jeff Lynne. In this section, Jeff talks only briefly about the challenges of creating the music for the film. He also acts a clown in some spots (he needs more ice in his drink or calling out "Hi, Mom!" to the camera), making Olivia laugh uncontrollably at his antics. The special ends with the cast and crew at the wrap party, dancing to Michael Jackson's Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough. The crowd at the wrap party includes several celebrities, but there is no sight of Jeff Lynne or anyone from ELO. The Making Xanadu special was produced by Olivia's then-boyfriend and manager, Lee Kramer. Portions of this Making Xanadu special can be seen HERE.

 

Hold On Tight promo videoPicture sleeve for the Twilight UK singleFor Hold On Tight, the first single off of the 1981 Time album, there was a somewhat elaborately staged promo video produced (although still primitive by today's standards). The video plays as a take-off of serial B-movie trailers, featuring a man sitting in a theater watching several trailers on the screen. These trailers, although involving many different scenes, often mix in the band playing or singing the song during the scenes. The band is now down to a five piece, with the two cello players gone from the band and violinist Mik Kaminski only shown singing or miming guitar. All this plays over the single version of the song. The video uses mostly black and white footage of actors acting out various B-movie action scenes, including a plane crash, gangsters kidnapping a beautiful blond woman, a man struggling against closing spiked walls, and a Ming-the-Merciless type character torturing a woman on a table with a futuristic death ray device. At one point, the hero is identified as "REX RIGHT" and the damsel in distress is identified as "LANA WIMP" (perhaps in a nod to The Diary Of Horace Wimp). Many of the scenes are overlaid with dramatic screen text as seen in old movie trailers, declaring "DEATH DEFYING", "HEART STOPPING", "VOO-DOO BEACH BUNNIES" and more. Mixed in with these scenes is footage of the band on a stage made up to look like a mock rooftop (with a large clock in the background) playing to nightclub audience. A color image of the band from this stage in this video is used for the picture sleeve of the UK Twilight single. There are occasional cuts back to the man in the theater watching the movies and he even boos the screen when the Ming-the-Merciless character threatens Lana Wimp on the table. The middle of the video features an extended color section showing women dancing on a large, overgrown platform in the jungle (while screen text declares "JUNGLE LUST") and jungle men swing across the scene on hanging vines. As the camera pans back, the band is seen in white suits standing in a row to the side, singing the lines. The song's French language lines ("Accroches-toi a ton reve...") play during this section and in a bit of humor, the lyrics are subtitled at the bottom of the screen in Japanese Hiragana language symbols; however, the translation is incorrect. The producers of the film probably attempted to transcribe some Japanese writing they found somewhere, not knowing what it meant, because the writing it nonsense, is poorly written and is in the incorrect order. The writing says "Australia umareno visual art ni okeru new violet tachi," which means "New violets on visual arts from Australia." In another black and white scene, the band is on stage playing the song when a motorcycle crashes through the wall and rides across a long table to the surprise of the nightclub audience. And in another, the band is shown lounge singing off of the stage in the nightclub when a police car races through the scene and a woman sitting on the trunk of the car quickly steals a drink from the bar. Near the end of the video, the video shows a fight in the nightclub, followed by the Rex Right character saving the Lana Wimp character from the Ming-the-Merciless character's deathtrap and they race away on a motorcycle with a sidecar. At the very end, the man sitting in the theater is shown again while the text "COMING SOON TO A DRIVE-IN NEAR YOU" is shown on screen. The motorcycle and sidecar then crash through the screen into the theater itself. The Hold On Tight promo video can be seen HERE.

 

The Hold On Tight single was released in the US in July of 1981, just one month before the launch of MTV. It remains unclear if the video was produced before or after the launch of MTV or if it was produced with the idea of promoting it on MTV in mind. It was reported that the video cost £40,000 to produce and was the most expensive and innovative music videos ever produced up to that point. The production value for this ELO video exceeded many of the MTV music videos shown at the time and the song got heavy rotation on the music channel at that time.

 

Twilight promo video
Ticket To The Moon promo video
Promo videos for Twilight and Ticket To The Moon were obviously filmed at the same time and in the same manner as their look uses the same features and the band is in the same clothing. Both feature the band on stage miming to the single versions of the songs. Violinist Mik Kaminski is miming viloin in the Ticket To The Moon video, but is missing completely from the Twilight video. The Twilight video starts with some cloud footage, then shows the band on stage with a lot of heavily backlit blue lights regularly blinking in a hazy fog, giving everything an eerie blue glow. There are three particularly tight beams that often shine up like lasers behind whoever the camera is focusing on. In some parts of the video, particular band members are shown in split frames and move about the screen. The Ticket To The Moon video uses the same blue lights and smoke effects to create the eerie blue glow. In this video, however, the smoke is swirled about behind the band members during many shots, giving the effect of a blue whirlpool. The camera focuses mainly on Jeff singing, while sometimes circled, fisheye images of other band members float about the screen. Towards the end of the video, various imagery of spacewalking astronauts is superimposed over the band. The video ends with in image of Jeff singing the song superimposed over more spacewalk footage. The Twilight and Ticket To The Moon promo videos can be seen HERE and HERE.

 

Here Is The News promo videoThe promo video created for Here Is The News is a fun video, featuring the band acting out the song as if they are all newsroom and TV reporters that are gathering and reporting the news with Jeff as the star news anchor, all the while assisted by beautiful female assistants. Other than Jeff occasionally singing the lyrics into the camera, the band is mostly just ignoring and acting over music. No one is shown playing any instruments at all except a few brief scenes showing everyone, including Mik Kaminski and Bev Bevan, playing keyboards. In the video, over the song's keyboard intro, the band and their assistants are shown in a frozen state except Jeff, who is reeling out a ticker tape. As the drums start, everyone begins moving about frantically, as if working quickly to gather, review and prepare the news. Eventually, Jeff is shown being the news anchor for a TV news broadcast, with various people helping him prepare, and then later he is shown reading the news (speaking the song's lyrics). Intermixed with all this are occasional shots of the band in a dark room playing on keyboards as well as old news footage including Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev signing the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a Saturn V rocket launch, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell putting their handprints in cement in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and the crash of the Hindenburg airship in 1937. Starting with the final verse ("somebody has broken out of satellite two") which Jeff sings into the camera as the news anchor, the rest of the video is seen through a faux television screen. Following the final verse, Jeff is seen leaving the news studio while being mobbed by several people wanting his attention, including the female assistants, paparazzi and adoring fans asking for autographs. He walks out of the building and steps into the back seat of a white Rolls Royce. The video ends as the car drives away. The song, as heard in the video, is the standard single version but is very slightly edited, fading about eight seconds early. This was probably done specifically to coincide with the long shot of Jeff leaving the building and driving away at the video's end. This video is available for purchase and download from iTunes. The Here Is The News promo video can be seen HERE.

 

It's also interesting to note that although Ticket To The Moon and Here Is The News were issued as a double A-side single in the UK, the video for Here Is The News was created at a later date. This implies that Ticket To The Moon was always considered for an A-side, but it was a late decision to make the single a double A-side and the band had to rush to get the Here Is The News video made.

 

Rock 'n' Roll Is King promo video The first single and accompanying video to promote the Secret Messages album was Rock 'N' Roll Is King which features the band performing on stage (including Richard Tandy on guitar) at a 1950s style sock hop dance, complete with a dance floor full of dancers. The video shows the band miming to the UK single version of the song. And the dance hall parts of the video were filmed somewhere in Kentish Town, London. The video is prefaced with a cartoon of a building with a marquee marked "THE CABARET", then live footage of dancers opening the doors and rushing in (as if coming to the dance in the cabaret building), followed by another cartoon of a mouse jumping on an old fashioned phonograph player and playing a phonograph with its tail and opening its mouth to let the music come out. Most of the video is a mix of footage of the band (with Kelly having shaved off his mustache) on stage performing the song and the dancers on the floor dancing to the song. Although Mik Kaminski does not feature on the sock hop stage, he does make a brief appearance during the song's violin bridge, naturally playing the violin, but with both Richard Tandy and Jeff joining in on violin as well. Also, during the "listening to the radio" verse, Jeff is shown sitting at a table with a cup of drink and calmly "listening to the radio" until one of the female dancers comes and drags him out to the dance floor (although we never see him actually dance as the camera cuts away before that). Near the end of the song, the dancers are shown moving out into the night time street to dance. The video ends with another image of the cartoon mouse cranking up the phonograph with its tail, then footage of the dancers in street before a car drives away. This video is available for purchase and download from iTunes. The Rock 'n' Roll Is King promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Secret Messages promo videoThe Secret Messages video has a strange science fiction theme with spacey and mystical alien landscapes full of beautiful women. It starts with an image of a space nebula, with a rotating rectangle containing various images of the space women while the repeated text of "secret messages..." rolls across the screen. This fades to an image of the band, standing and performing the song in a grassy field with a large radio dish sometimes visible in the background behind them. This changes to images of the space women in a alien city, mostly made up of white cloth haphazardly draped about, giving the city a sort of tent and drapery look. After this there are frequent cuts between images of the band playing in the field, the space women walking through their city gazing into strangely decorated mirrors (supposedly where the "secret messages" are found), cartoons of the Voyager spacecraft moving past Saturn, Jeff standing alone in a field with the radio dish behind him, a close-up of Jeff with fast moving clouds behind him, and Jeff sitting in a neighboring building with the radio dish seen out the window behind him. Sometimes these images are seen in the rotating rectangles over the space nebula background. During the "whisper in your ear" parts of the chorus, one of the space women is shown whispering into the ear of another space woman. Near the end of the video, the images of the space women changes from daytime to nighttime and they all leave their tent-homes and begin to converge outside with their strangely decorated mirrors. The video uses the standard UK single version of the song. And bassist Kelly Groucutt is making his last appearance ever with ELO in this video. This video is available for purchase and download from iTunes. The Secret Messages promo video can be seen HERE.

 

To support the Secret Messages album, only these two videos were produced. It does seem somewhat strange that in this age when promo videos were becoming such an important tool for song/album/artist promotion, not more videos were made, especially for Four Little Diamonds which was a single in many countries, including the UK and US. This may be a result of the beginning of the band's implosion, with Kelly Groucutt leaving the band, Jeff Lynne's waning interest in the band, a lack of a tour to support the album, and the beginning of the demise of Jet Records.

 

Calling America promo videoThe first video to promote the Balance Of Power album in 1986 is Calling America and it is directed by John Beug and Jane Simpson. This video shows an even greater sophistication in music video production, reflecting the ever importance of music videos. The general theme of the video is of some unidentified person in France (presumably Jeff, although not explicit) having difficulties communicating with a woman seen in a house (presumably in America), thus it loosely follows the song's lyrics. It was filmed mostly (if not entirely) in and around Paris France, probably in part because that's where Jeff Lynne was living at the time. The band, now as a trio only featuring Jeff, Bev and Richard, is shown performing on the street outside of the historic Pompidou Centre complex in Paris where they are miming to the standard album/single version of the song-- although there is a short segment of the sound of wind attached to the song's beginning that fades into the opening "somebody" lyric. The video starts with the American woman looking to the sky and the wind and opening "somebody" lyric. This is followed by several aerial shots that imply an air flight from America to Paris, with images of flying about various landscapes (with a brief shadow of an airplane visible on the ground) before eventually coming to aerial views Paris. After this, there are several cuts between the woman in America walking about her house, the band performing the song on the street in front of the Pompidou Centre complex, moving camera views of daytime Paris, including a subway and the Arc de Triomphe, several quick simulated pull-back shots that zoom from the Pompidou Centre complex to a view of the city from space (implying the "call" going from the complex to the satellite) and early uses of some computer graphics, including a blue electric image of a woman's head (with little bolts of electricity zipping about) and a mosaic of a woman's face that breaks apart and scatters about the screen. Eventually, the American woman is shown walking down a street and the daytime shots of Paris and the band are replaced by nighttime shots instead, thus implying the passage of time. The video ends with an extended point-of-view shot of a plane landing on a runway at night. This video is available for purchase and download from iTunes. The Calling America promo video can be seen HERE.

 

So Serious promo videoThe So Serious music video again shows some sophistication well beyond many prior ELO videos. It is directed by Peter Christopherson of the well known UK design group Hipgnosis. It visually tells three stories that roughly asks "Can it really be so serious?" from the song's lyrics. Images from these stories are intermixed with black and white footage of the band, all wearing black leather, on a soundstage performing the song. Interestingly, the band is shown as a seven piece again, with Martin Smith on bass, Mik Kaminski on violin, and Louis Clark and Dave Morgan miming cello. The band is shown performing these string parts, despite the fact that the song doesn't feature strings at all! This is Martin Smith, Louis Clark and Dave Morgan's only appearance in any ELO video. And this would be Mik Kaminski and Bev Bevan's last appearance ever in Jeff Lynne's ELO. The video has an extended intro, showing a woman driving 1974 Pontiac Bonneville convertible at night on some old, country roads. She eventually tries to cross some railroad tracks when the car stalls on her. Just as the crossing arms begin to come down, the song proper starts, such that the siren intro to the song is the sound of the alarm for the crossing arms. After the opening footage of the band, the woman is seen desperately trying to get the car started before the train arrives. This then cuts to a scene of a swim meet, all shown through odd primary color filters. Several swimmers are shown practicing, then racing while others watch on the sidelines. The race ends and one swimmer is shown getting an award with the despondent loser holding his head in his hands while a split camera shot shows Jeff, Richard and Bev looking down and singing "serious, so serious" to him. This cuts back briefly to the woman still stuck on the train tracks trying to start her car. The next sequence shows a man in a suit encountering a ghostly woman in a railway station (again seen through strange, primary color filters). He tries to catch her, but can't. He boards the train and goes on his way when she appears again and comes to sit in front of him, seemingly becoming real. On the song's "Hey!" shouts at that bookend the third chorus, the full band is shown briefly shouting the lyric at the camera. Finally, following the third chorus, the train arrives at the woman in the Pontiac stuck on the train tracks, but instead of smashing the car, it magically passes through. After it passes, the woman looks around confused, unsure of what happened. Overlaid this is Jeff, Bev and Richard looking down from above and singing final "serious, so serious" line to her. The car suddenly starts and she safely drives away. Finally, animation is used to assemble the ELO logo as seen on the UK So Serious single on the screen, with images from each of the stories seen in each letter: the 'L' flies into screen while showing the woman on the train tracks, followed by the 'E' flying in and showing the railway ghost woman, and finally the 'O' flies in and the swim meet is seen. As the logo settles on the screen, the song fades. All this is to the standard single/album version of the song, but for the extended car driving scenes attached at the video's beginning and the sound of the starter gun firing at the start of the swim race. The Calling America promo video can be seen HERE.

 

Balance Of Power TV commercialThere was a 30 second TV commercial produced to promote the USA release of the Balance Of Power album. It features the back of the album (the backwards logo) when the "O" in the logo turns into a moving, animated frame with parts of the Calling America music video playing in it. This image wanders around the screen before finally settling back into the inside of the "O" just as the album image then changes to the front. Through all of this, the chorus of Calling America is playing and an announcer is promoting the band and their album. It ends with a graphic of the LP, cassette and compact disc in a composite image.

 

Heartbeat 86 promoThe BBC presented a short promo (there may have been more, but this one survives) to promote the Heartbeat 86 concert. What survives is a 10 second clip showing a few scenes from the concert, followed by a listing of the shows to be played that night (showing that the concert was broadcast at 11:05 in the evening). This clip can be seen HERE.

 

The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra TV commercialThe Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra TV commercialThere were two versions of a 30 second TV commercial produced to promote the UK release of the 1989 Telstar collection called The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra. The first shows a nice animated graphic of the ELO logo flying into screen and forming on the album cover while an announcer announces the ablum. It shows snippets of videos for Livin' Thing, Hold On Tight and Calling America as well as a brief excerpt from ELO's performance on The Midnight Special in 1977, all while various song titles fly onto screen and various snippets of songs (not necessarily matching the video) are played. It ends with the same flying ELO graphic forming on the album cover while the announcer plugs the album. The second video is very similar with the same audio track, but the video of Livin' Thing and the The Midnight Special footage is replaced with footage from the 1978 Wembley concert.

 

The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra TV commercialThere was another 30 second TV commercial to promote the UK release of the 1994 Dino compilation entitled (remarkably) The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra. This commercial is rather simple, showing the ELO spaceship logo zooming to the top of the screen and a simple blue bordered frame. Within the frame, footage from ELO's 1978 Wembley concert is shown while various song snippets are played and rough attempts are made to match up lip movement to the songs being played (although in reality there is no relation). Various text promoting the collection is shown at the bottom of the frame while an announcer touts the collection. By the end, the album cover zooms into frame.

 

The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra TV commercialThere was another 30 second TV commercial to promote the Australian release of the 1994 Columbia compilation entitled The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra. It starts with an animated version of the album cover, then a collage of clips from the Don't Bring Me Down, Confusion and Rockaria! music videos as well as footage of the 1978 Wembley Arena concert, while several song titles scroll up the screen. It ends with the album zooming into frame while footage of orbiting the earth is shown. Throughout, an announcer touts the album and ends, encouraging viewers to buy it on cassette and CD.

 

Zoom EPKAn EPK (Electronic Press Kit) was prepared and supplied to various media outlets to promote the release of the Zoom album. After a montage of photos while Alright plays, a series of questions are presented to Jeff about ELO and the new album, with him sitting in the studio answering the questions. The latter half has Jeff talking about his inspiration for the songs Alright, Moment In Paradise, State Of Mind, Just For Love, and Stranger On A Quiet Street. He ends by talking about plans for the tour.

 

Alright promo videoMany years later in 2001, there was a promo video created for Alright from the Zoom album. Gone were the efforts to create an elaborate movie-like video. This performance was lifted from the Zoom Tour Live recording, filmed in May 23 and/or 24, 2001 on Stage 36 at CBS Television City, Los Angeles, California. Although this was the exact same performance broadcast on PBS later that year and released on the Zoom Tour Live video and DVD, the promo video attaches song information labels at the beginning and end of the song. It is a simple stage performance, in the new ELO spaceship stage, with heavy blue lighting throughout. The only ELO members of old are Richard Tandy and Jeff himself, with other band members being the musicians that Jeff had hired for the tour (including his then-girlfriend, Rosie Vela on backing vocals). Harkening back to the early days and the Roll Over Beethoven video, rather than use the audio track from the Zoom album or single, this video uses the audio from the actual concert itself, minus the song introduction by Jeff.

 

All Over The World: The Best Of Electric Light Orchestra TV commercialIn 2005, a TV commercial to promote the All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra album was produced for use in the UK and USA (and possibly other countries as well). It shows the ELO logo flying over the earth, then the spaceship assembling itself via computer graphics. The spaceship flies around the solar system while large graphics of the ELO song titles float by. The commercial ends with a picture of the album floating in space. The mix of songs that play in the ad are Shine A Little Love, Livin' Thing, Mr. Blue Sky, Hold On Tight, Don't Bring Me Down and All Over The World. This All Over The World: The Best Of Electric Light Orchestra TV commercial can be seen HERE.

 

All Over The World: The Best Of Electric Light Orchestra Danish TV commercialFurther, there was a unique TV commercial for the European All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra album that was different than the previous one. It uses simple graphics of the ELO spaceship flying through space and past other spacecraft and planets (with Saturn and Jupiter most recognizable) as well as the CD sometimes flying into frame, all while an announcer announces the album. Some, although not all, songs played during the commercial are presented with text on the screen. Near the end, the ELO spaceship is shown flying toward Earth as if it's about to land, when the CD flies onto screen once more. Songs played include Livin' Thing, Shine A Little Love, Telephone Line, Evil Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Sweet Talkin' Woman, Hold On Tight and All Over The World.

 

All Over The World: The Best Of Electric Light Orchestra Danish TV commercialIn 2007, the cash in on the popularity of Mr. Blue Sky in France due to it's use in the SFR (a French mobile phone company) ad campaign, a 11 second TV commercial was created to promote the All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra album. Note the heavy notation in the ad about SFR. The ad shows the banner of "vous l'adorez" (you love it), then mentions Mr. Blue Sky, then finally the full album, all while Mr. BLue Sky plays and a voiceover touts the song and album.

 

Out Of The Blue remaster TV commercialFor the 2007 Out Of The Blue remaster album a TV commercial to promote it was produced. In this commercial, an animated ELO spaceship is shown flying about in space while song titles are shown at the bottom of the screen and snippets of Mr. Blue Sky, Turn To Stone, Sweet Talkin' Woman and Wild West Hero are played and an announcer speak over it all, touting the album and the songs. At the end, as the spaceship flies off into the horizon, an animated version of the album cover is shown and the announcer states that the album is "out now."

 

The Best Of Electric Light Orchestra TV commercialIn 2011, the All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra album was reissued as simply The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra, and a new TV commercial to promote it was produced. This commercial shows images in and around the ELO spaceship as seen on the album cover, which is an ELO spaceship with a city growing out of the middle of it while smaller ELO spaceships fly about. The commercial shows the point of view of flying through the interior of the city spaceship and escaping out of one of the ports to reveal that it's an ELO spaceship. Then there is flying through the buildings of the city while various neon marqees announce the names of the songs. All this is while an announcer announces the ablum. At the end, the point of view flies outward to settle at the images seen on the album cover. Songs played during all this include Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing, Evil Woman, Don't Bring Me Down and All Over The World. This The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra TV commercial can be seen HERE.

 

Mr. Blue Sky (New Version) promo videoIn September 2012, to promote the Mr. Blue Sky The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra album, a promo video for the new recording of Mr. Blue Sky was created. The video, directed by Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger is completely animated, featuring dancing objects (the sun, clouds, flowers, cups, people and animals), people moving about a city, and a cartoon Jeff singing the song. Similar to the song itself, it's a very frenetic, constantly moving video. It was made at USC School of Cinematic Arts in southern California by students. The "artist" for the song again demonstrates the great uncertainty for whether it should be credited to Jeff Lynne or Electric Light Orchestra. Clearly it's a Jeff Lynne solo effort and the Mr. Blue Sky The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra album release is unclear who the artist the song should be credited to. In any case, this video credits the song to simply "ELO" only. This video can be seen HERE.

 

Frontiers German promotionTo promote the Frontiers releases of Long Wave and Mr. Blue Sky The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra a German language TV commercial was produced. The footage is straightforward, with an audio play of Don't Bring Me Down while an announcer introduces the band. Then a short segment of the Mercy Mercy video is shown while the announcer talks about Long Wave, followed by a bit of the new Mr. Blue Sky video while the announcers touts the new best of album. It ends with the Frontiers logo and more of Mr. Blue Sky.

 

Frontiers Unknown promotionTo further promote the Frontiers releases of Long Wave and Mr. Blue Sky The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra an English language TV commercial was produced for European broadcast. The footage shows the Mr. Blue Sky music video while an announcer touts the album, all while a graphic of the albbum cover and title are dropped in and the Frontiers logo is shown. This cuts to the Mercy Mercy music video and similar album, title and logos for the Long Wave album, all while the announcer touts it as well.

 

When I Was A Boy audio video When I Was A Boy lyric video When I Was A Boy promo video
Several videos for When I Was A Boy were created and released through Vevo on YouTube and other online video outlets. The first, released on September 23, 2015 was simply the static Alone In The Universe album cover with the song as the soundtrack. This was a means to initially release the song to the public. Shortly after this, on September 25, a lyric video was released that featured various images of the ELO spaceship floating around in various space settings while the song's lyrics played across the bottom. Finally, on October 27, the official promo video, directed by Warren Fu, was released. This video shows a near constant moving camera, moving from right to left, showing a young boy growing up and playing out the song's lyrics. It starts with the image of a blue sky and a paper airplane floats by when showing "Jeff Lynne's ELO" and the song title. The camera then pans down and shows a curly headed young boy as the song starts; the young boy represents Jeff Lynne as a boy. Then a series of images move across the camera, many representing events in Jeff's life. These include: a city street (reminscent of 1960s Birmingham) where shown are playing children; dancing teens; a rock band heading to a gig; various musical playback devices (including Jeff's B&O recorder); a young man lying on a couch listening to music on headphones while an ELO spaceship floats above him; a silhouetted rock band with a string section on stage; a band in the studio (clearly recalling the Traveling Wilburys); and finally Jeff himself on a stool in an empty room playing guitar. As the guitar solo starts, the camera pans to the sky. Throughout this montage, the paper airplane from the beginning is seen from time to time floating by. Near the end of the guitar solo, the paper airplane floats into view and the young boy from the start reaches up to catch it. The camera focuses on the boy's face to the end of the song, when the director credit is shown. The video is unusual in that it is in 21:9 aspect ratio, which is somewhat unusual for music videos. The audio video can be seen HERE, the lyric video can be seen HERE and the full music video can be seen HERE. There was also a behind the scenes short video with director Warren Fu where he explains the video and how it was made; it can be seen HERE.

 

When The Night Comes audio video When The Night Comes lyric video
Two videos for When The Night Comes were created and released through Vevo on YouTube and other online video outlets. The first, released on October 15, 2015 was simply the static Alone In The Universe album cover with the song as the soundtrack. This was a teaser for the album only. Shortly after this, on October 22, a lyric video was released that featured general images of nebulae as if seen while floating in space or various aurora while the song's lyrics play across the screen. There was no formal promo video produced and the song is not considered a single release. The audio video can be seen HERE and the lyric video can be seen HERE.

 

One Step At A Time audio video A simple audio only video for One Step At A Time was released through Vevo on YouTube and other online video outlets on October 29, 2015. Like the prior two videos like it, it was simply the static Alone In The Universe album cover with the song as the soundtrack and was released as a teaser for the album only. This audio video can be seen HERE. The remaining audio videos were released on November 13, 2015 to coincide with the album release.

 

Ain't It A Drag video The music video for Ain't It A Drag was released through Vevo on YouTube and other online video outlets on April 1, 2016. It features a stop motion animation of a red heart and a blue brain, fighting over various things, representing the struggle between the heart and the mind. They are seen fighting over what to watch on TV, playing chess, and dancing. Also feature is a chess board with lighted, animated pieces. This video can be seen HERE.

 

Alone In The Universe TV Ad A 30 second ad for the Alone In The Universe album was produced and broadcast on various TV stations around the UK (and probably Europe too) as well as online. It features an animated version of the the Alone In The Universe album cover. It starts with the album cover and the spaceship taking off into the sky and floating around over the earth. Eventually, the spaceship moves toward the viewer and a port on the side of the ship opens, taking the viewer inside, through the ship and to a window where the album cover is visible again. Throughout, the song When I Was A Boy is played except at the end, when the viewer is at the window and One Step At A Time plays; also voice-over announcer announces the album. It was produced by RCA Label Group UK and first available on November 11, 2015. This ad can be seen HERE.

 

Alone In The Universe Tour TV Ad A 30 second ad for the Alone In The Universe UK tour was also produced and broadcast on various TV stations around the UK as well as online. The add features footage from the Septemer 2014 Hyde Park performance, including clips of Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing, Turn To Stone and Don't Bring Me Down. It includes several animations of the ELO spaceship moving about, often used as a swipe to change songs. Thoughout, the dates of the tour are flashed across the bottom of the screen and an announcer announces the tour. It's ends with a graphic of where to get tickets before the spaceship flies away into the "O" of ELO. The ad was produced by Live Nation and was first broadcast on November 13, 2015. This ad can be seen HERE.

 

Alone In The Universe EPK This is a simple three minute Electronic Press Kit (EPK) for the Alone In The Universe album put out by VEVO on YouTube and other digital outlets to be used to promote the album. It features short interview segments with Jeff in his home studio as well as several scenes of him miming to the album tracks, as if in the process of recording them. It starts with Jeff talking about the idea of the "Alone In The Universe" title while an instrumental loop of The Sun Will Shine On You plays in the background. It then shows Jeff singing about When I Was A Boy in his home studio, followed by a short statement about the song. This is repeated for The Sun Will Shine On You. Then Jeff is seen singing When The Night Comes but there is no following statement from Jeff. Instead, the announcement of "ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE - The all new album from Jeff Lynne's ELO" is shown will a segment of All My Life plays. This EPK wsa first available on November 14, 2015. This ad can be seen HERE.

 

All Over The World: The Best Of Electric Light Orchestra TV commercialIn early 2016, to correspond with the release of Alone In The Universe and the scheduled tour in late spring, All Over the World: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra was repackaged again (this time returning to the orignal title) and another commercial was made. This used the same voiceover as the previous The Very Best Of Electric Light Orchestra commercial, but used new graphics and the beginning and end to show the new packaging. It is believed this was used for some UK TV ads, but it is only known to have appeared online via the Amazon UK site. It can be seen HERE.

 

Jeff Lynne's ELO in Sheffield 2017 commercialA 30 ad for TV and online promotion was created to promote sales of the June 21, 2017 concert in Sheffield, UK. On November 24, 2016, Live Nation UK released the ad on YouTube and other outlets promotion the tour. It shows some ELO animations and several clips from the Live In Hyde Park concert, using ELO animations to wipe the screen between scenes, all while featuring audio clips of Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing, Turn To Stone, and Don't Bring Me Down. Of all this, an announcer in touts the show as a one night only event. It can be seen HERE.

 

2017 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony for HBO commercialHBO in the US produced a 65 second online and TV add promoting the upcoming broadcast debut of the 2017 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Going online on April 15, it presented the inductees, pretty much in order of induction, thus ELO was presented first. After a few quick cuts of the inductees, Dhani Harrison is seen and heard saying "ELO", followed by several quick cuts of Jeff Lynne's ELO performin on stage, Jeff accepting his award, then hugging Roy Wood. Following this, the other honorees are shown, including Joan Baez, Yes, Tupac Shakur, Journey, Nile Rodgers, and Pearl Jam. Then the presenters and guest appareances are mentioned, followed by HBO announcing the upcoming broadcast on April 29th. It can be seen HERE.

 

Jeff Lynne's ELO at Wembley 2017 Commercial commercialA 30 ad for TV and online promotion was created to promote sales of the June 24, 2017 concert at Wembley Stadium in London. On May 23, 2017, Live Nation UK released the ad on YouTube and other outlets promotion the tour. Note this is the same video and the same annoucer that was used for the Live Nation UK ad for the June 21, 2017 Sheffield concert, but with a different voiceover and different screen graphics adversiting the show. It shows some ELO animations and several clips from the Live In Hyde Park concert, using ELO animations to wipe the screen between scenes, all while featuring audio clips of Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing, Turn To Stone, and Don't Bring Me Down. Of all this, an announcer in touts the show as a one night only event. It can be seen HERE.

 

Out Of The Blue online commercialOn October 10, 2017 on Jeff Lynne's Facebook page, a 1 minute promotional animated film was released, touting the successes of the original Out Of The Blue album. It was released to promote the November 24, 2017 release of the album on picture discs, but curiously, the ad never mentions the picture disc set at all. It shows various slowly moving close up images of the album's artwork, while various messages flash across the screen, touting the facts and successes of the album. Throughout, the songs Mr. Blue Sky, Sweet Talkin' Woman and Wild West Hero are played. It can be seen HERE.

 

Turn To Stone Wembley audio video Turn To Stone Wembley video Xanadu Wembley audio video Telephone Line Wembley audio video Evil Woman Wembley audio video
To promote the soon-to-be-released Wembley Or Bust multimedia release, several songs and clips were released before the full official release on November 17, 2017. These included both video clips from the concert and audio only clips (showing the album cover on the video) with the concert audio. Before the release, the videos were: (1) an audio only release of Turn To Stone on October 5; (2) a concert video release of Turn To Stone on October 16; (3) an audio only release of Xanadu on October 26; (4) a concert video release of Telephone Line on November 3; and finally (5) a concert video release of Evil Woman on November 10. On the album release day, audio only versions of all songs were release to streaming services. Thus, only the songs Turn To Stone, Telephone Line and Evil Woman had full video clip release. These pre-release videos can be seen HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

 

 

Jeff Lynne's ELO in Stockholm 2018 Commercial commercialTo promote sales of the September 12, 2018 concert in Stockholm, Sweden, on November 15, 2017, Live Nation Sweden released a 30 second online (and possibly TV) ad on YouTube and other outlets promotion the tour. It shows some ELO animations and several scenes from the Wembley Or Bust concert, while featuring audio clips of Don't Bring Me Down, Evil Woman, Mr. Blue Sky, Livin' Thing and Telephone Line, all while an announcer in English touts the tour and the Wembley Or Bust album. It can be seen HERE.

 

Jeff Lynne's ELO From Out Of Nowhere audio videoTo promote the upcoming release of the From Out Of Nowhere album, an animated video of From Out Of Nowhere was released on September 26, 2019. This simply featured a floating image of the newly designed ELO spaceship flying in and out of frame while the song played. It can be seen HERE.

 

Jeff Lynne's ELO Time Of Our Life music videoThis video for Time Of Our Life features various clips from the Wembley Or Bust video recording. It starts with the long shot of Jeff (although likely an actor) walking through the park, then pans up to show Wembley Stadium in the distance. This is followed by a montage of clips, thenn ends with a clip of Jeff saying "thank you" to the audience. The audio is the same as the studio album recording, but extra audience cheering is added during the Telephone Line bit of the song as well as the end and Jeff's "thank you" bit. It can be seen HERE.

 

Jeff Lynne's ELO From Out Of Nowhere commercial videoThis 15 section TV commercial spot to promote the From Out Of Nowhere album came out in 2019. It features an announcer touting the "unmistakable sound of ELO" and announcing that they album is out and now available. The video shows the Jeff Lynne's ELO graphic writing across the screen over a space background, then the logo attaches itself to the From Out Of Nowhere spaceship and begins to fly through space. Text graphic is quickly shown of the album title, followed by more of the spaceship flying, and finally the album floating in space with a "pre-order now" graphic. It can be seen HERE.

It is certain that the above identifies all the promo videos produced by ELO over the years. However, it is very likely that not all the TV commercials produced are properly identified here. Sometimes these TV commercials are regionally produced and not always easy to track down. If anyone has information on missing commercials or other corrections, please send them in to the email address listed at the bottom of this page.

To reiterate, all promo videos and movies used a standard album or single version of the song for the audio track, except for a few titles. Those that used altered audio tracks and are therefore unique to the video are as follows:
SongAudio Variation from album or single
Roll Over BeethovenThis is an actual live performance, recorded in an English hall or studio.
Livin' ThingFrom the A New World Record movie, the repeated ending is extended and various rocket launches and announcers play over it.
Turn To StoneThis fades in later, cutting the first eight seconds; it also fades out three seconds earlier.
Turn To Stone (Fast)This is a fast version of the regular video version, making the audio track 14 seconds shorter.
Sweet Talkin' WomanThis cuts the first half of the fifth chorus.
Mr. Blue SkyFrom the standard video, this cuts a small portion from the choral ending, between the end of the drum part and the vocoder part.
Mr. Blue SkyFrom the Out Of The Blue movie, this cuts the first half of first vocal bridge and several edits that greatly shorten the choral ending.
Wild West HeroThe cowboy-on-stage video includes western movie noises on the songs beginning and end. It also cuts two full seconds of strings after the second chorus and before the guitar bridge.
Last Train To LondonThis fades about 20 seconds early.
Here Is The NewsThis fades about 8 seconds early.
Calling AmericaThis includes wind sounds over the song's opening.
So SeriousThis includes extra "car driving" sounds (to accompany the video) at the song's beginning and the sound of the starter gun at the start of the swim race in the video.
When I Was A BoyThis includes a bit of a rumble noise (as if hearing a city from far away) at the start and end, blending briefly with the song.
Time Of Our LifeThis includes additional audience cheering added at the "Telephone Line" bit and an added bit at the end when Jeff says "thank you" and there is additional cheering.

UK enhanced Electric Light Orchestra CD featuring the '10538 Overture' video
There have been only a few of these ELO music videos released commercially. The 10538 Overture video was released in QuickTime movie format as part of the bonus material for the enhanced UK Electric Light Orchestra album release in 2001. Videos for Livin' Thing, Mr. Blue Sky, Wild West Hero (the cowboy-on-stage version), Need Her Love, Wishing, Turn To Stone, Shine A Little Love (the desert version), Confusion, Last Train To London, Tightrope (mistitled as Tight Rope), Telephone Line, The Diary Of Horace Wimp and Rockaria! (the first version) were released in 1991 on the The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra: 13 Classic Videos VHS videotapes (Telstar TVE 1033 (UK) and Eurostar 39810128 (Europe)), although there are unconfirmed reports of a promo videotape called The Very Best Of The Electric Light Orchestra: 14 Classic Videos that also included a video for Sweet Talkin' Woman. On these videos, a large yellow graphic with the song title was superimposed over those songs that didn't already have the song title as part of the video. The complete Discovery videos were released on VHS videotape in the UK (Eagle Rock ERE057) and Australia in 1999. Finally, the complete Discovery videos, featuring the screen credits version of Don't Bring Me Down, have been released several times as bonus material on the 1998 to 2004 Out Of The Blue Tour - Live At Wembley/Discovery concert releases, including VHS videotapes (Image Entertainment ID4561ER (USA)) and DVD (Eagle Rock Entertainment EREDV 058 (UK), Image Entertainment ID4562ERDVD (USA) and Eagle Vision 801213008292 (USA)). It is interesting to note that the covers these videos and DVDs of the Discovery videos includes a picture of the band that is taken from the Rock 'n' Roll Is King music video, which has nothing to do with the release.

iTunes (UK and/or USA) sells downloadable videos for Showdown, Here Is The News, Rock 'N' Roll Is King, Secret Messages and Calling America. There have been no other commercial releases of ELO videos although many can be found for free on sites such as YouTube, AOL Video and Yahoo Music.

The Other-Than-ELO Era

This section contains information and descriptions of Jeff Lynne related videos that are not by the Electric Light Orchestra.

Editor's Note: After writing all of the above material, I'm a bit burned out on reviewing videos. Rather than delay the publishing of this page or getting sloppy on this section, I am providing a simple table view with simple descriptions. I will fill out this section to look like the above at a future date.

Slipping Away promo video Artist: Dave Edmunds
Song: Slipping Away
Year: 1983
Type: Promo video
Song Version: This version is unique to the video. It fades about 20 seconds early.
Description: Dave singing and playing in a car shop interchanged with images of a frustrated female go-cart racer trying to work on carts and be taken seriously as a girl amongst men.

 

Information promo video Artist: Dave Edmunds
Song: Information
Year: 1984
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Information album version.
Description: Dave singing on a sound stage with 1950's style dancers behind him.

 

Something About You promo video Artist: Dave Edmunds
Song: Something About You
Year: 1984
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD.
Description: Dave singing and playing in a neon lit airport terminal and pretending to find information on a girl he wants to meet.

 

The Story Of Me promo video Artist: Everly Brothers
Song: The Story Of Me
Year: 1984
Type: Promo video
Song Version: E.B. '84 album version.
Description: A woman moves around a mansion, while the Everly Brothers stand around and sing.

 

Video! promo video Artist: Jeff Lynne
Song: Video!
Year: 1984
Type: Promo video
Song Version: This version is unique to the video. It includes Jeff announcing "Okay, ready to roll" at the beginning, followed by an engineer confirming. It also includes the sounds of fireworks following the final chorus.
Description: Jeff in a studio recording a music video with a frantic engineer trying to deal with things going wrong; interspersed with scenes from the Electric Dreams film.

 

One Way Love promo video Artist: Agnetha Fältskog
Song: One Way Love
Year: 1985
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD.
Description: TBD.

 

Tower Of Babel promo video Artist: Sumo Giants
Song: Tower Of Babel
Year: 1986
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Tower Of Babel single version.
Description: Band in various settings attempting communication.
SEE IT ON
See it on YouTube.

 

Got My Mind Set On You #1 promo video Artist: George Harrison
Song: Got My Mind Set On You (Version #1)
Year: 1987
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Cloud Nine album version.
Description: This video is in a machine box setting, where George and band (featuring Jeff on bass) are playing in the cogs of a machine, while on the outside a girl and boy are flirting with each other as they play with a picture box and prize machine.

 

Got My Mind Set On You #2 promo video Artist: George Harrison
Song: Got My Mind Set On You (Version #2)
Year: 1987
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Cloud Nine album version.
Description: George alone in a library with a myriad of moving objects moving in time to the music.

 

When We Was Fab promo video Artist: George Harrison
Song: When We Was Fab
Year: 1988
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Cloud Nine album version.
Description: George performing before a wall while many strange things go by, including Ringo Starr and Jeff Lynne doing various amusing things.

 

This Is Love promo video Artist: George Harrison
Song: This Is Love
Year: 1988
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Cloud Nine album version.
Description: George performing on a rocky shore, gardens and an outdoor gathering of friends and family.

 

It's Money That Matters promo video Artist: Randy Newman
Song: It's Money That Matters
Year: 1988
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Unknown - This video is not available for review.
Description: Unknown - This video is not available for review.

 

Falling In Love promo video Artist: Randy Newman
Song: Falling In Love
Year: 1988
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Unknown - This video is not available for review.
Description: Unknown - This video is not available for review.

 

Handle With Care promo video Artist: Traveling Wilburys
Song: Handle With Care
Year: 1988
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Unknown - Volume One album version.
Description: Unknown - Band performing around a microphone in a warehouse.

 

End Of The Line promo video Artist: Traveling Wilburys
Song: End Of The Line
Year: 1988
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Unknown - Volume One album version.
Description: Unknown - Band performing the song on a moving train. A chair with only a guitar is used to represent the recently passed away Roy Orbison.

 

Whatever Wilbury Wilbury promo movie Artist: Traveling Wilburys
Song: Whatever Wilbury Wilbury
Year: 1988
Type: Promo movie
Song Version: Unknown - N/A
Description: This is a faux documentary meant to promote "Warners Convention!@#" on !@#. It features various videos of the band recording the Volume One album while songs play from the album. It starts with a Monty Python-esque video of George Harrison welcoming folks to the "Warner's Convention" followed by faux film credits. Recording clips present each band member under their Wilbury name while Handle With Care plays. Additional clips are of Jim Keltner on the refridgerator (Rattled plays); the group around microphone singing (Dirty World plays); and the band's photo shoot (End Of The Line and Last Night plays). Finally, End Of The Line plays again while faux film credits roll, ending with "Thanks Mo!" on the screen.

 

You Got It promo video Artist: Roy Orbison
Song: You Got It
Year: 1989
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Unknown - Mystery Girl album version except the intro is faded in with crowd cheering and cheering noises are added at song's end.
Description: Unknown - Roy in concert at Diamond Career awards ceremony in Antwerp, Belgium. It was his only live performance of the song (despite the studio version of the song playing in the video) and Roy's last live performance before his death.

 

California Blue promo video Artist: Roy Orbison
Song: California Blue
Year: 1989
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Unknown - Mystery Girl album version
Description: Unknown - A myriad of outdoor scenes from California.

 

Full Moon Fever EPK Artist: Tom Petty
Song: Full Moon Fever EPK
Year: 1989
Type: EPK
Song Version: N/A
Description: Q&A

 

I Won't Back Down promo video Artist: Tom Petty
Song: I Won't Back Down
Year: 1989
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: Tom, Mike Campbell, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on an empty and dark soundstage performing the song. Occasional shots of the band against flying backgrounds or a disco ball and Ringo Starr drilling into a globe and looking into the hole, watching the band inside.

 

Runnin' Down A Dream promo video Artist: Tom Petty
Song: Runnin' Down A Dream
Year: 1989
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: Black and white cartoon images of Tom in a fantasy land.

 

Free Fallin' promo video Artist: Tom Petty
Song: Free Fallin'
Year: 1989
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: The video follows a girl that loosely follows the song's lyrics, while Tom comes in and out of the scenes, while singing and playing. The choruses show Tom singing and playing while riding escalators.

 

A Face In The Crowd promo video Artist: Tom Petty
Song: A Face In The Crowd
Year: 1989
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: Tom singing and playing alone on a sound stage, mixed with images of people wandering around.

 

Yer So Bad promo video Artist: Tom Petty
Song: Yer So Bad
Year: 1989
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: Tom singing and playing in various settings that reenact the lyrics of his sister and ex-brother-in-law.

 

Walk Away promo video Artist: Del Shannon
Song: Walk Away
Year: 1989
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Walk Away single version
Description: Del on stage performing the song. The studio recording is dubbed over the live audio.

 

Every Little Thing promo video Artist: Jeff Lynne
Song: Every Little Thing
Year: 1990
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Armchair Theatre album version
Description: Jeff singing and playing in cartoon world. Some parts show Jeff tied to an armchair. Also features Tom Petty in some cameos.

 

Lift Me Up promo video Artist: Jeff Lynne
Song: Lift Me Up
Year: 1990
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Armchair Theatre album version
Description: Jeff singing and playing in a cartoon world as well as flying about in a cartoon airplane.

 

Armchair Theatre EPKThere was an EPK produced to promote Jeff Lynne's Armchair Theatre album in 1990. It's a simple, but clever video featuring an interview with Jeff. Bookended by short snippets of Every Little Thing, it shows Jeff sitting poolside in the chair from the Armchair Theatre album cover. He is asked various questions about his music and the new album by a reporter who is only seen from the shoulders down, although his voice is easily reconizable. At the end, Jeff finally asks "Aren't you Tom Petty" and, of course, it is and he is finally seen on camera.

 

Nobody's Child promo video Artist: Traveling Wilburys
Song: Nobody's Child
Year: 1990
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Nobody's Child single version
Description: Animated children's crayon drawings of the band performing and sad children, interspersed with images of Romanian orphans.

 

TravelingWilburys press video kitThere was an EPK (described as a "press video kit" produced to promote the Traveling Wiburys' Vol. 3 album in 1990. It features a set of interviews with George Harrison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne about the band and the new album, intercut with snippets of music videos of She's My Baby and Handle With Care as well as a short play of Wilbury Twist with the band humorously acting out the dance moves.

 

She's My Baby promo video Artist: Traveling Wilburys
Song: She's My Baby
Year: 1990
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Vol. 3 album version
Description: Band in a large room performing the song with Jim Keltner on drums. Occasional shots of the band in a stage car (with Jeff Lynne behind the wheel) and a flashing Traveling Wilburys sign, pretending to drive.

 

Vol. 3 TV commercial Artist: Traveling Wilburys
Song: Vol. 3
Year: 1990
Type: TV Commercial
Song Version: N/A
Description: Old black and white footage of dubbed with shouts of "The Wilburys are coming!" followed by select scenes from the She's My Baby video and announcement for the new album.

 

Nobody's Angel promo video Artist: Miss B Haven
Song: Nobody's Angel
Year: 1990
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Unknown - This video is not available for review.
Description: Unknown - This video is not available for review.

 

Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 TV commercialThere was 30 second USA based TV commercial to promote the 1990 Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 album. It shows various old black and white footage of people rushing about while a voiceover announces "the Traveling Wilburys are coming!". The various scenes from the She's My Baby is shown, before a graphic of the vinyl LP, Cd and cassette is shown and a voiceover announcement about its current availability is announced.

 

Inside Out promo video Artist: Traveling Wilburys
Song: Inside Out
Year: 1991
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Vol. 3 album version.
Description: Band performing on a theater stage with a fake forest background.

 

Wilbury Twist music video Artist: Traveling Wilburys
Song: Wilbury Twist
Year: 1991
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Vol. 3 album version.
Description: Band performing in various settings where famous people attempt to dance the Wilbury Twist, including John Candy and Milli Vanilli.

 

I Drove All Night music video Artist: Roy Orbison
Song: I Drove All Night
Year: 1991
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: Starring Jason Preistley and Jennifer Connelly, the video shows images of Jason "driving all night", interspersed with him remembering his love for Jennifer. The video ends with them being reunited and driving off together. Roy appears to be singing the song in periodic shadowy images.

 

Into The Great Wide Open TV commercial Artist: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Song: Into The Great Wide Open TV ad
Year: 1991
Type: TV ad
Song Version: N/A
Description: Featuring various songs from the album.

 

Learning To Fly music video Artist: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Song: Learning To Fly
Year: 1991
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Into The Great Wide Open album version.
Description: Band playing the song on a field of airplanes. Mostly black and white footage. Includes various scenes of women seducing young men.

 

Into The Great Wide Open music video #1 Artist: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Song: Into The Great Wide Open
Year: 1991
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: ideo of the story of Johnny joining a band and going "into the great wide open", interspersed with images of Tom and the band playing on a school desk.

 

Into The Great Wide Open music video #2 Artist: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Song: Into The Great Wide Open
Year: 1991
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: Shorter version...

 

King's Highway music video Artist: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Song: King's Highway
Year: 1991
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: live...

 

Night Calls music video Artist: Joe Cocker
Song: Night Calls
Year: 1991
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Night Calls album version.
Description: Black and white scenes of Joe singing the song on a street corner, interspersed with scenes of lovers in rooms having emotional interactions.

 

Heartbreak Radio music video Artist: Roy Orbison
Song: Heartbreak Radio
Year: 1992
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: Images of a look-a-like of Roy that is highly backlit to obscure that it's not Roy on the stage of a nightclub. Video features Pierce Brosnan and Sean Young in a sexy lover's spat in the nightclub. Also includes Jeff on guitar and cards running across the screen.

 

Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go music video Artist: Ringo Starr
Song: Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go
Year: 1992
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Time Takes Time album version.
Description: Ringo on stage singing the song, interspersed with footage of Ringo wandering backstage.

 

Time Takes Time TV ad Artist: Ringo Starr
Song: Weight Of The World
Year: 1992
Type: TV ad
Song Version: N/A
Description: A very short TV ad was produced to promote Ringo Starr's Time Takes Time album in 1992. It declares that "Ringo is back", then shows a portion of the Weight Of The World music video. It states that this song is taken from the album Time Takes Time, which shows Ringo's head forming into the album cover, while the Jeff produced Don't Go Where The Road Don't Go plays.

 

Julianna Raye EPKThere was an EPK produced to promote Julianna Raye's Something Peculiar album in 1993. It features a series of interviews with Julianna about her musical style, songs from her new album, and her live touring band. This is intercut with various clips from a live stage performance with her band. Curiously, although much of the talk is about her new album, no actual studio tracks are played from the album, rather they are the live performances only. The entire EPK runs 11 minutes and 30 seconds and includes clips of the songs Something Peculiar, Laughing Wild, Limbo, Better Things (the Kinks song), another unknown cover song, I'll Get You Back, and a repeat of Something Peculiar. It ends with an image of the Something Peculiar CD.

 

I'll Get You Back music video Artist: Julianna Raye
Song: I'll Get You Back
Year: 1993
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Something Peculiar album version.
Description: Julianna in a cartoon landscape singing about her cartoon boyfriend and who she will "get him back."

 

Free As A Bird music video Artist: The Beatles
Song: Free As A Bird
Year: 1995
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: Everything is shown from a bird's point of view, as if it is flying about a city. Several scenes feature images of the Beatles and things related to the Beatles that come in and out of the frame.

 

Real Love music video Artist: The Beatles
Song: Real Love
Year: 1996
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Real Love single version.
Description: Alternating images of flying musical instruments, old Beatles footage, the three surviving Beatles in the studio recording the song, and each of the Beatles with their respective wives. Also features some images of Jeff Lynne in the studio with the Beatles.

 

The World Tonight music video Artist: Paul McCartney
Song: The World Tonight
Year: 1997
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Flaming Pie album version.
Description: Several images of Paul and Linda McCartney playing with a yellow and white umbrella in several locations.

 

Little Willow music video Artist: Paul McCartney
Song: Little Willow
Year: 1997
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Flaming Pie album version.
Description: Paul alone on a sound stage singing and playing guitar. Images tell a story of a family with small children where the mother dies and leaves the children and father alone.

 

Beautiful Night music video Artist: Paul McCartney
Song: Beautiful Night
Year: 1997
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Flaming Pie album version, except it cuts the "Lordy, Lordy" part at song's end.
Description: All in black and white, the video includes images of Paul in some sort of control room watching various people's lives in a city, as well as controlling power to their homes. Also features Ringo Starr on drums. By songs's end, it is daytime and the band is playing outside while people throw television sets out the window.

 

Any Road music video Artist: Georg Harrison
Song: Any Road
Year: 2002
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Brainwashed album version.
Description: Several images of George traveling and scenes from his past, including music videos, movies, television and stage performances.

 

Lizard Love music video Artist: Aerosmith
Song: Lizard Love
Year: 2003
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

Saving Grace music video Artist: Tom Petty
Song: Saving Grace
Year: 2006
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

Highway Companion online adIn a cartoon version of the Highway Companion album cover, the astronaut is driving a red truck through the desert with the chimpanzee in the passenger's seat. They eventually get out, put headphones in their helmet and ears, and walk together toward the rocket ship, recreating the album cover. This then shrinks to show a banner, advertising that the album will be out on July 25. Tom Petty's Saving Grace plays throughout the clip, with a voiceover at the very end, as the banner appears, stating that the album will be released soon.

 

The Wilburys Are Coming commercialTraveling Wilburys 'Sound System' commercialTraveling Wilburys 'Drummer' commercialFor the 2007 release of the The Traveling Wilburys Collection on Rhino, there were several TV and Internet commercials created to promote it. These include a very short 10 second segment to be used to announce the coming of the remasters. It shows silent film era film footage of the Traveling Wilburys, followed by a pacard stating "The Wilburys are coming June 12th". There is no audio, reflecting the silent film theme. This is an imitation of the 1990 era campaign to promote the Volume 3 album which also used the "The Traveling Wilburys are coming!" line. Another was a short 30 second ad called "Sound System" which simply shows sepia toned old-style footage to tell the story. First, a placard showing the Traveling Wilburys is shown, followed by footage of a man examining electronic equipment and gazing into the glass of a doorway to observe excited scientists dancing around a sparking horned phonograph, then shaking his head disapprovingly. Through this, an announcer tells of Phil Wilbury pioneering a new sound system, while She's My Baby plays in the background. The footage ends with a placard stating "The Wilburys are coming June 12th." And another was a short 30 second ad called "Drummer" which simply shows old-style footage to feature Buster Sidebury's quest for the perfect percussion sound. Buster Sidebury is, of course, the alias for Jim Keltner. It shows a baby bouncing in a moving room, men in another room practicing drums and people running around a shaking home, as if the percussion sound is shaking the entire house. It shows a man breaking a large block on the head of the other, yeilding the perfect snare drum sound. The footage ends with a placard stating "The Wilburys are coming June 12th." These commercials can be seen HERE, HERE and HERE.

 

Wilbury Twist music video #2 Artist: Traveling Wilburys
Song: Wilbury Twist
Year: 2007
Type: Promo video
Song Version: Vol. 3 album version.
Description: TBD

 

Regina Spektor Far EPKThere was an EPK produced to promote Regina Spektor's 2009 Far album, containing several Jeff Lynne produced songs. The production starts with audio plays of Two Birds and Machine (no Jeff relation) while various cartoon animations of the Far artwork introduce the EPK. This is followed by simple song sample previews of all songs on the album (including all the Jeff Lynne produced songs), showing simply the album cover for all songs that did not have music videos prepared. It ends with encouragement to buy the album on its June 23rd release, promoting her website and several press photos of Regina.

 

Regina Spektor Far EPK #2A second EPK of sorts was also produced for Reginal Spektor's Far album. This one was produced by Adria Petty (Tom Petty's daughter) and is in the form of a short 11 minute film. It starts with a short bit showing Regina messing about on a tiny keyboard, then features short, incomplete music video type footage for the songs Blue Lips (Jeff produced), Dance Anthem Of The 80's, Genius Next Door (Jeff produced), Machine, Two Birds, and Man Of A Thousand Faces. It ends with a return to Regina on the keyboard from the beginning and fades. Not once does it mention the Far album or have any text to define what it is. Because of this, it is thought that it is not truly an EPK used by the record company in any way, but rather an art film by Adria, who was a friend of Regina. It only appeared on Adria's website.

 

Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison TV commercialLet It Roll: Songs By George Harrison Olivia TV commercialFor the release of Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison in April 2009, two promo ads were created. They were first known to have appeared on the Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison microsite created on georgeharrison.com. First, a 30 second ad was created, to be used on TV and online. It features various static images of George moving across the screen while snippets of songs from the album are played and an annoucner talks about the album. It end with the album cover flying into the center of the screen and an announcer stating "out now". Songs played are Got My Mind Set On You, My Sweet Lord, Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth), Here Comes The Sun and Let It Roll. The second, running five minutes, features an interview with Olivia Harrison, talking about putting together the compilation and choosing the songs. This is mixed and intercut with various film, concert and music video clip featuring George. These Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison ads can be seen HERE and HERE.

 

Analog Man music video Artist: Joe Walsh
Song: Analog Man
Year: 2012
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

Wrecking Ball music video Artist: Joe Walsh
Song: Wrecking Ball
Year: 2012
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

One Day At A Time music video Artist: Joe Walsh
Song: One Day At A Time
Year: 2012
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD and Jeff Lynne makes a brief appearance.

 

Mercy, Mercy music video Artist: Jeff Lynne
Song: Mercy, Mercy
Year: 2012
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

California Blue (Studio Demo) music video Artist: Roy Orbison
Song: California Blue (Studio Demo)
Year: 2014
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

You Belong To Me music video Artist: Bryan Adams
Song: You Belong To Me
Year: 2015
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

Brand New Day music video Artist: Bryan Adams
Song: Brand New Day
Year: 2015
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

Get Up TV/online ad Artist: Bryan Adams
Song: You Belong To Me/Brand New Day
Year: 2015
Type: TV Ad
Song Version: TBD
Description: Includes portions of the You Belong To Me and Brand New Day music videos, with red lines running across the screen during transitions, and ending with a shot of the album cover.

 

Brand New Day behind-the-scenes Artist: Bryan Adams
Song: Brand New Day
Year: 2015
Type: Behind the scenes short
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

Don't Even Try music video Artist: Bryan Adams
Song: Don't Even Try
Year: 2015
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

Do What Ya Gotta Do music video Artist: Bryan Adams
Song: Do What Ya Gotta Do
Year: 2016
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

That's Rock 'n' Roll music video Artist: Bryan Adams
Song: That's Rock 'n' Roll
Year: 2016
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

The True History of The Traveling Wilburys trailerThis is a two minutes and 40 second trailer for the full The True History Of The Traveling Wilburys documentary first appearing on the 2007 DVD in the The Traveling Wilburys Collection set. This trailer, however, did not get produced until the 2016 Concord Bicycle reissue of the same set. The video uses film and voiceovers from 1988 to tell the story of the forming of the Traveling Wilburys, then features footage from the Handle With Care music video, while showing "starring" text for each member of the band. This trailer can be seen HERE.

 

Buster Sidebury aka Jim Keltner shortThis is a short 40 second promotional clip promoting 2016 release of The Traveling Wilburys Collection via promoting the drummer for the Traveling Wilburys, Jim Keltner. It shows various garage recordings of Jim playing drums and percussion for the Traveling Wilburys while Tom Petty gives a voiceover about his work for the band and how he got the Sidebury label. This short can be seen HERE.

 

Jeff and Tom on Traveling Wilburys the Wilbury namesJeff and Tom on Traveling Wilburys writing with Bob DylanJeff and Tom on Traveling Wilburys the bonus tracksJeff and Tom on Traveling Wilburys writing, recording and touringJeff and Tom on The Traveling Wilburys Collection set
For the re-release of The Traveling Wilburys Collection in 2016, there was a new interview done with Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty to promote it. This interview was edited into five different short videos and posted on the official Traveling Wilburys YouTube channel on June 1, 2016. The videos cover the funny Traveling Wilbury names and the recording process; writing the song Tweeter And The Monkey Man with Bob Dylan; the bonus tracks for The Traveling Wilburys Collection; writing, forming, recording and touring; and The Traveling Wilburys Collection set and The True History Of The Traveling Wilburys documentary on the set. They can all be seen HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

 

Making Of Devil's Been Busy from The Traveling Wilburys Collection shortTo promote the 2016 release of The Traveling Wilburys Collection, a short video was produced that discusses the song The Devil's Been Busy. It shows several bits from the home video recordings while a small portion of New Blue Moon is played. This continues while Tom Petty gives a voiceover about the recording of the second album and George Harrison delivers a voiceover about the writing of The Devil's Been Busy. A faux music video for The Devil's Been Busy is shown for about a minute, combining various footage of heavy industrial polution and down trodden children are shown while some footage of the Traveling Wilburys' Wilbury Twist music video is shown (making it seem that the band is playing The Devil's Been Busy). The end of this "video" includes a voiceover with George talking about the meaning of the song. Finally, an archive video interview with George talking about the song is shown. This short can be seen HERE.

 

The Making Of Wilbury Twist from The Traveling Wilburys Collection shortTo promote the 2016 release of The Traveling Wilburys Collection, a short video was produced that discusses the song Wilbury Twist. It shows a short archive interview clip with George, Tom and Jeff doing a fun little example of the silly Wilbury Twist lyrics, followed by behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of the Inside Out music video while the song Wilbury Twist plays. Then some of the home video recordings are shown while Wilbury Twist continues to play and Tom gives a voiceover about the recording of the song. A portion of the 2007 version of the Wilbury Twist video is then shown to the song's end, when a final bit of the behind-the-scenes filming of the Inside Out video is shown again. The way the Inside Out video filming is shown, it implies that the footage is for the recording of the Wilbury Twist song. This short can be seen HERE.

 

Ultimate Love lyric video Artist: Bryan Adams
Song: Ultimate Love
Year: 2017
Type: Lyric video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

I Drove All Night (Orchestral Version) audio video Artist: Roy Orbison and Ward Thomas
Song: I Drove All Night (Orchestral Version)
Year: 2017
Type: Audio video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

A Love So Beautiful (Orchestral Version) audio video Artist: Roy Orbison
Song: A Love So Beautiful (Orchestral Version)
Year: 2017
Type: Audio video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 

My Sweet Lord 2021 video Artist: George Harrison
Song: My Sweet Lord
Year: 2021
Type: Promo video
Song Version: TBD
Description: TBD

 


This page is intended to be a complete record of information on the Electric Light Orchestra's promo videos and movies (and to a lesser extent, Jeff Lynne's non-ELO songs). If you notice any errors or omissions, please contact me at jefflynnesongs@gmail.com and let me know. I strive for accuracy.

Robert Porter
October 2023