The number one record Jeff Lynne was “tricked” into working on
Jeff Lynne has produced, written, or worked on a litany of legendary albums over the course of his illustrious career, but only one of them arose from deceit, and at the hands of one of his closest musical comrades, at that.
From Lynne’s very first flirtations with the world of songwriting, he has always maintained an utter devotion to the discography of The Beatles – as all great songwriters should. With his Electric Light Orchestra, for instance, he aimed to “pick up where The Beatles left off” (although it was actually his bandmate, Roy Wood, who made that rather bold claim), and the group certainly seemed to carry forth the torch of the Fab Four’s ambitious late-period studio innovations and songwriting experiments.
Inevitably, as ELO’s musical empire grew exponentially, Lynne ended up crossing paths with The Beatles, who seemed to return his affections for the most part. John Lennon adored Lynne’s output so much, in fact, that he dubbed the songwriter the “son of the Beatles”, while George Harrison wasn’t quite so gushing in his declaration that Lynne was a Beatles “copycat”.
Nevertheless, even the rather cynical Harrison could appreciate the mastery of Lynne’s craft enough to work alongside him on a multitude of occasions. Not only did the pair share writing and production credits on various projects, but they also formulated one of the greatest supergroups of all time in the form of The Traveling Wilburys. As it turns out, though, none of that would have happened were it not for a clever bit of trickery from the former Beatle.
During the late 1980s, when formulating plans for the album that would eventually become Cloud Nine, Harrison knew instinctively that Jeff Lynne was the prime candidate for the album’s producer. However, rather astutely realised that asking Lynne to produce an album for one of his ultimate heroes might be a tall order, both because of the intense pressure and scrutiny, and also as a result of that “copycat” allegation years prior.
At the time, Harrison told Entertainment Weekly, “I tried to get Jeff Lynne, because he knew about…Okay, most people knew about the Beatles, but he really knew about ’em. And I was looking to work with somebody who would know my past and not disregard that, but who I would also respect, as a writer and producer.”
Eventually, Harrison managed to connect with Lynne through a mutual friend – Dave Edmunds – and spent months building a rather strong friendship. Initially, Harrison asked the ELO songwriter to help with a few things here and there on Cloud Nine but, as he told Guitar Player, “Eventually, I sort of tricked him into producing the thing [chuckles].”
It’s a good job that Harrison was successful in his deceit, too, because Lynne’s production work on that 1987 record helped to make it one of Harrison’s greatest solo records, as well as inspiring the initial formation of the Wilburys.
What’s more, without the success of Cloud Nine, Lynne might never have been recruited to produce The Beatles Anthology the following decade, so it seems as though Harrison isn’t the only person who owed the ELO songwriter a debt of gratitude.
