L.I.N.D.A. plays ELO, meets the Absorbaloff on BBC's Doctor Who

So I’m talking to my fellow Whovian, Jon Langford, about the next season of “Doctor Who,” because that’s what grownups do at the office. It leads to a discussion of the merits of the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, compared to the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, who I think we can all agree is the Proper Doctor. This of course leads to notes on our favorite episodes, and the second season’s “Love and Monsters” is mentioned. Which just reminds us of the Doctor-hunting L.I.N.D.A. and Elton Pope’s favorite band: the [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Electric Light Orchestra.[/lastfm] Were the seeds of the current ELO renaissance planted six years ago in the fertile soil of the BBC?

As with the recent reassessment of Hall and Oates, lately we’ve seen some of our favorite musicians giving ELO and co-founder Jeff Lynne another look. We hear strains of that singular sound resonating in newer music from artists like Wilco and St. Vincent. The recent Scorsese documentary on George Harrison jogs fond memories of The Traveling Wilburys and the production that followed the end of ELO proper.

So what started as an academic survey of our favorite Doctors ended as a come-to-Jeff-Lynne moment, at least for me and Jon, and for a number of XRT listeners we’ve been hearing from of late. The time has come, my friends, to enjoy a bit of the ELO.