“Strange Magic” by Electric Light Orchestra

"Strange Magic" comes from Face the Music, ELO's 1975 album, and it's Jeff Lynne's baby from top to bottom: he wrote it, sang lead, played guitar and produced it. The sound hides a neat switch. It's keyboardist Richard Tandy who supplies that weeping guitar lick, while Lynne runs a 12-string acoustic through a phase shifter, and the whole thing floats off toward psychedelia. Tandy also works piano, clavinet and Moog; Kelly Groucutt plays bass and joins a backing chorus that includes Ellie Greenwich; Bev Bevan drums; and Mik Kaminski's violin and the cellos of Melvyn Gale and Hugh McDowell bring the strings.

It went out as a single in 1976, following "Evil Woman", in two different cuts: a more heavily edited American version and a British one that kept the album take but dropped its orchestral intro.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.