The lean, tune-focused
Zoom was the Electric Light Orchestra album that Jeff Lynne should have put out at the turn of the 80s, as he dialed back the I Am the Walrus -era Beatles obsessions while retaining all of his trademark hooky songcraft. I think I d gone about as far as I could go in that direction, Lynne told the
Daily News in 2001. Everything got bigger and bigger. Back at that time, I had to find out what it was like to have the most of everything.
Unfortunately, when
Zoom arrived on June 12, 2001, there wasn t exactly a huge demand for what this underrated LP had to offer. Even the appearances of George Harrison and Ringo Starr couldn t stoke up much interest. The first album issued under the ELO banner in 15 years disappeared so quickly that a planned tour was quickly scrapped.