Discovery (Electric Light Orchestra album)

History

Discovery was the band's first number 1 album in the UK, entering the chart at that position and staying there for five weeks. The album contained five hit songs in "Shine a Little Love", "Don't Bring Me Down", "Last Train to London", "Confusion" and "The Diary of Horace Wimp", many of which were heavily influenced by disco (in fact, Richard Tandy came up with its well-known nickname, Disco Very). "Don't Bring Me Down" would become one of their only two top three hits in the UK throughout their career ("Xanadu" would be number one in 1980), and also their highest-charting US single at number 4. "The Diary of Horace Wimp" was also a hit single in the UK, not patterned after the disco sound; instead it was closer in its Beatlesque style to the band's earlier hit "Mr. Blue Sky". The album itself was the first ever to generate four top-ten singles (one of which was a Double A-side) from a single LP in the UK and was eventually certified 2x platinum by the RIAA in 1997.

Discovery is notable in that it was the first ELO album not to feature their resident string trio of Mik Kaminski, Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale, although they did make an appearance on the Discovery music videos that were created as a substitute for a live concert tour. Shortly afterwards, leader Jeff Lynne deemed the string section superfluous to his requirements and he decided to fire them all (although he did rehire Kaminski for the Time Tour in 1981-82, a performer on the 1983 album Secret Messages, and the Balance of Power tour in 1986).

In one of his earliest jobs, comedian/actor Brad Garrett, dressed in middle eastern clothes and turban, appears on the back cover as the menacing palace guard who is drawing his scimitar.

Discovery was remastered as part of the Epic/Legacy remaster series in 2001; among the included bonus tracks was a cover of a Del Shannon classic, "Little Town Flirt", which was started during sessions for the album but never finished until the year the album was reissued.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Jeff Lynne, except "Little Town Flirt" written by Maron McKenzie and Del Shannon.

Side one

1. "Shine a Little Love" – 4:43
2. "Confusion" – 3:42
3. "Need Her Love" – 5:11
4. "The Diary of Horace Wimp" – 4:17

Side two

5. "Last Train to London" – 4:32
6. "Midnight Blue" – 4:19
7. "On the Run" – 3:55
8. "Wishing" – 4:13
9. "Don't Bring Me Down" – 4:02

Bonus tracks on the 2001 edition

10. "On the Run" (Home demo) – 1:01
11. "Second Time Around" (Home demo) – 0:43
12. "Little Town Flirt" – 2:53

Notes

Personnel

Promotional movie personnel