Electric Light Orchestra is actually a very good band. They wrote a lot of really good music. But, I really haven't been a avid collector of their 70s material. But, starting with Xanadu, Time, Secret Messages, and finally Balance Of Power, I really took a liking to their sound. Basically, because it sounds like great 80s music.
Balance Of Power is my favorite album probably because they stripped all of their classical instrumentation out, and replaced it with keyboards and synths. It, along with George Harrison's Cloud Nine, The Traveling Wilburys and Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever really captured what was left of that Classic Rock sound from the 70s and turned it into something relevant and in great quality. I know that the Moody Blues and the Grateful Dead also released more material during that time, but I wasn't to fond of any of it.
I know that ELO officially released this collection nearly 10 years ago. But, they left off one of the b-sides A Matter Of Fact. I also didn't care for how they arranged the bonus material, as they had alternates and demos intermixed before and with the b-sides and unreleased tracks. That's a no-no in my book. I always include the b-sides in with the album proper before I start including demos and remixes. So, with the inclusion of the one extra track and rearranging, that's all I did.
I would like to point out that the melody of the songs Caught In A Trap and In For the Kill are EXACTLY the same. No difference AT ALL. But, the lyrics are completely different, and the subject matter is different as well. It's cool how they were trying to find the best lyrics, and then settled for Caught In A Trap as the official b-side. Listen to the two and compare....