“10538 Overture”, released in 1972, was the first single by Electric Light Orchestra. The song, written by Jeff Lynne, was intended to be a B-side on one of The Move’s singles. Rick Price of The Move played bass on the track originally but was never credited, apparently with all the overdubs and layers that were added to the track the bass line ‘got lost’ in the mix and Jeff Lynne laid down a new bass line. Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne shared vocal duties on the song much like their previous single “California Man,” (as The Move). The song is about an escaped prisoner but Jeff Lynne wanted to give the character in the song a number as opposed to a name when he chanced upon the number 1053 (probably printed on a Neve 1053 mic preamp/EQ module) while looking around the mixing console. Roy Wood suggested adding number eight to fit the melody better. The song was still to be a new song by The Move, until Wood added some cello riffs and after many cello layers were added using overdubbing, the ‘Overture’ and the Electric Light Orchestra were born. It was during the single’s chart run that Roy Wood dramatically left the ELO line-up, emerging later in the year with yet another new band called Wizzard.
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