One Track Mind: Jeff Lynne, “Stream of Stars” from American Hustle (2013)

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Jeff Lynne’s first new music in ages isn’t another ode to Beatle-y goodness, or another orchestral maneuver with ELO. Instead, it’s a soundtrack instrumental for American Hustle. Listen in here!

A journey of episodic weirdness, “Stream of Stars” begins with a patented late-period Lynne cadence, then adds a melancholy surf guitar before swerving into a carny ride middle eight, and then back again.

It’s a fitting set piece, no doubt, for the David O. Russell project, which promises a gritty look into the ABSCAM operation undertaken by the FBI at the turn of the 1980s. The film opens on December 20, 2013, with the accompanying soundtrack — also featuring songs from Elton John, Wings, Tom Jones and, yes, the Electric Light Orchestra — following via Song Legacy on Christmas Eve.

Lynne has been busy of late, though primarily with reissues. He undertook retrospective looks at his lone solo effort, 1990’s Armchair Theatre, as well as a pair of ELO projects in Zoom and ELO Live. He also released Long Wave, though that focused on favorite songs from his youth, and executed a series of ELO re-recordings.

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Nick DeRiso