The album is focused on the core trio of Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan, who were the remaining members of rock group the Move.

The sound on The Electric Light Orchestra is unique on this recording in comparison to the more slickly produced ELO albums of the subsequent Lynne years, incorporating many wind instruments and replacing guitar parts with heavy, "sawing" cello riffs, giving this recording an experimental "baroque-and-roll" feel.

The album cover fittingly depicts a disconnected lightbulb in the middle of a large empty baroque-style dance hall with modern electric lights livening up the room.

The back cover depicts Wood, Lynne, and Bevan adorned in era appropriate clothing and playing classical instruments (a cello, a violin, and a piccolo, respectively).

Many of these "quad" tracks appeared with the SQ encoding intact on the "First Light" series edition of the album and on a later double-CD release entitled Early ELO, 1971–1974 (available only as an import in the US).