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ELO Forever Forum :: :: Jeff Lynne Talk :: Doin That Crazy Thing.
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AuthorTopic: Doin That Crazy Thing. (Read 338 times)
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Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Thread Started on Sept 3, 2009, 11:35am »
I found the cover for this rare oddity(or odd rarity) , and boy I can see why Jeff never talks about it!
[image]

The song itself is sort of fun, but that cover!! WTF were they thinking??
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Erchie
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #1 on Sept 3, 2009, 1:25pm »
I have that single. It rather looks like a joke to me.
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #2 on Sept 3, 2009, 4:09pm »
Yeah... 'don't much care for this North American artwork, nor the UK sleeve, but I've always loved the song nonetheless.

Jeff should start doin' more of those kind of crazy things again... and forget about rockabillyish stuff and the Wilburys, IMO.

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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #3 on Sept 3, 2009, 11:04pm »
Doin That Crazy Thing is shite... sorry but no!
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #4 on Sept 3, 2009, 11:25pm »
DTCT and Going Down To Rio are fun disco excursions. Sure they're silly as hell, but what's wrong with having some fun now and then? :)
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #5 on Sept 4, 2009, 9:14am »
Man, that cover just screams "1977". I do enjoy the song, though. The guitar solo is great, and it's always a treat to hear Jeff get a bit funky.
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #6 on Sept 11, 2009, 6:05am »

Sept 3, 2009, 11:04pm, beachboy wrote:
Doin That Crazy Thing is shite... sorry but no!


Yes 'Doin' That Crazy Thing' & 'Goin' Down To Rio' are shite, so why do I love them so much?!

They certainly have that '77 feel but I can't think of anything that sounded quite like it.....

So, almost certainly doomed to failure, but they're so much fun. What strikes me the most is that Mr. Lynne wrote this between (IMO) his two greatest works.
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #7 on Sept 12, 2009, 10:48am »
I know that you guys may like these tunes and think theyre fun and I know that Jeff can do whatever he wants... But is it any wonder why Jeff was never taken seriously as a rock musician by so many over the years? When I heard these tracks for the first time I thought, "what the bloody hell was he thinking?" Releasing poncey tunes like that did nothing to help his cred at a time when disco and corporate rock was on the nose and its taken nearly 30 years to undo...


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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #8 on Sept 12, 2009, 5:56pm »

Sept 12, 2009, 10:48am, beachboy wrote:
is it any wonder why Jeff was never taken seriously as a rock musician by so many over the years?


I think 'Xanadu' did more damage than either of these songs.
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #9 on Sept 12, 2009, 6:05pm »

Sept 12, 2009, 10:48am, beachboy wrote:
But is it any wonder why Jeff was never taken seriously as a rock musician by so many over the years?

I have no idea what you are referring to here. Who are these many people who never took Jeff seriously as a rock musician over the years?

Quote:
Releasing poncey tunes like that did nothing to help his cred at a time when disco and corporate rock was on the nose and its taken nearly 30 years to undo...

Few people other than hardcore ELO fans are even aware of the songs. If DTCT had damaged Jeff's credibility, it would have affected OOTB. OOTB's sales were better than any previous ELO album, and I'm not aware of any review of OOTB that even mentioned DTCT.
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #10 on Sept 13, 2009, 6:09am »
Bob... You've never read an article, spoke to people who shitcanned ELO for being pretentious corporate pop?

All I'm saying is that in my opinion DTCT is hardly a work that would have convinced nay sayers that Jeff is a credible rock musician...

By the way... I dont know what happened overseas but that single was released here in Australia with the Three Light Years Box Set.. So no Bob it wasn't just for the die hard ELO fans it was commercially released.





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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #11 on Sept 13, 2009, 7:48am »

Sept 12, 2009, 10:48am, beachboy wrote:
But is it any wonder why Jeff was never taken seriously as a rock musician by so many over the years? When I heard these tracks for the first time I thought, "what the bloody hell was he thinking?" Releasing poncey tunes like that did nothing to help his cred at a time when disco and corporate rock was on the nose and its taken nearly 30 years to undo...


That may be so but he really wanted to have a bit of fun, and he actually told us and the music press so back then:


Quote:

You've got it sussed out now what makes a hit record. You even did that disco record under your own name ('Doin' That Crazy Thing', on Jet Records).
That was just a bit of fun. I played everything and I had a great time doing that. I'm the best disco drummer you've ever seen, steady as a rock. What happened with that was that I was in Hawaii with David Arden, our manager, and we were in this disco, dancin' and boozin' and I thought. "I'm going to nick one of these records because that's one of the best drum beats I've heard." Then I went home and wrote this silly little tune.
I'm going to do more solo stuff, but forget about a solo career – that's just a sideline. It would be like you writing for the Beano, you know what I mean? It's just a release for me and it also happens to be a lotta fun, while the stuff I do for ELO will be taking a slightly new direction.
ELO are taking a new musical direction?
Yeah, but I don't know what it's going lo be yet. There are so many ideas floating about in me head at the moment.

Source: Themes and Variations on ELO. Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 27 May 1978


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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #12 on Sept 13, 2009, 5:54pm »

Sept 13, 2009, 6:09am, beachboy wrote:
Bob... You've never read an article, spoke to people who shitcanned ELO for being pretentious corporate pop?

Yeah, I have read criticisms like that, but not many pre-OOTB when DTCT was released. And not specifically slagging Jeff's musicianship.


Quote:
All I'm saying is that in my opinion DTCT is hardly a work that would have convinced nay sayers that Jeff is a credible rock musician...

Well no, but it wasn't meant to do that. It was a fun project, like the Wilburys. And I've read a few critics who said that the Wilburys would have been better if they had taken it more seriously. That misses the point.


Quote:
By the way... I dont know what happened overseas but that single was released here in Australia with the Three Light Years Box Set.. So no Bob it wasn't just for the die hard ELO fans it was commercially released.

It was released in Canada and the USA as a single in 1977. Then a one-sided DTCT was added to the USA 1980 box set "A Box of Their Best" (the US equivalent of Four Light Years). I didn't know it was part of 3LY in Australia. That doesn't seem like a natural addition.

I didn't mean to say it wasn't commercially released. But hardly anyone noticed it, any more than Jeff's contribution to All This And WWII. If a song is released and nobody hears it, will it be criticized?
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #13 on Sept 13, 2009, 11:59pm »
I'm sure it was 3LY.. Is that the one with the green box and a picture of Jeff in a USA tank top? i cant remember now.. Dont have the box anymore.

I'm sure DTCT wasnt a one sided single here.. I have to go find it but I'm sure it had something else on the other side.

Anyway.. I'm only stating my opinion about the song.. if people get pleasure out of it then who am I to begrudge them. :)
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #14 on Sept 14, 2009, 8:52am »

Sept 13, 2009, 11:59pm, beachboy wrote:
I'm sure it was 3LY.. Is that the one with the green box and a picture of Jeff in a USA tank top? i cant remember now.. Dont have the box anymore.

The green box was A Box of Their Best, with ANWR, OOTB and Discovery. 3LY was a blue box; 4LY was a red box.
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #15 on Nov 7, 2009, 10:49am »
Maybe it was strange that Out of the Blue and Doing That Crazy Thing were released nearly at the same time ! But I think that single was a therapy for Jeff Lynne. It was like football for him during the ELO recording sessions. To clear your head for a while !
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Re: Doin That Crazy Thing.
« Reply #16 on Nov 7, 2009, 3:17pm »

Nov 7, 2009, 10:49am, 64starbo wrote:
Maybe it was strange that Out of the Blue and Doing That Crazy Thing were released nearly at the same time ! But I think that single was a therapy for Jeff Lynne. It was like football for him during the ELO recording sessions. To clear your head for a while !
That's a good way to put it. A lighthearted side project does a mind some good!
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