Aus dem Melody Maker, Mai 1978:
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. …
Well, not exactly, I’ll gradually build up ideas. We’re got nothing absolutely positive yet, but I think I want to do something strange. I’ve got this feeling that I should to do something strange. I’ve been working on these really weird chord progressions since I’ve been in Sweden and it sounds fantastic.
In a way, the ambition of mastering the pop song has been fulfilled now. I’m sincerely chuffed that people are buying my albums and liking and singing along to the songs. That is such a buzz. There’s only one thing for me to do now and that’s to get back into the studio and do something they don’t expect.
Kurz auf Deutsch: Es war ein Spaßprojekt. Jeff war auf Hawaii mit Manager David Arden. Sie gingen in eine Disco, Jeff gefiel ein Drum Beat, und wollte sowas ähnliches machen und eine „silly little tune“ darum herumkomponieren. Ich denke, er brauchte etwas Abwechslung von all der anstrengenden ELO-Arbeit, wollte sich ein bisschen an den Drums austoben und zeigen, dass er auch diesen Stil beherrscht.
Interessant ist der Hinweis, dass er noch weitere Solostücke schreiben will, aber alles nur als Spaßprojekt neben der Hauptband ELO. (Wir wissen ja, dass es da so ein paar Nummern mit Elton John am Piano geben soll, außerdem Fireball.)
Ferner der Hinweis, dass er ELO in eine etwas andere Richtung führen will …
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