Discovery (Electric Light Orchestra album)

Discovery
Studio album by Electric Light Orchestra
Released 31 May 1979 (UK)
8 June 1979 (US)
11 June 2001 (reissue)
Recorded March–April 1979
Studio Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany
Genre
Length 38:53
Label
Producer Jeff Lynne
Electric Light Orchestra chronology
The Light Shines On Vol 2
(1979)		 Discovery
(1979)		 ELO's Greatest Hits
(1979)
Singles from Discovery
  1. "Shine a Little Love"
    Released: 27 April 1979 (US); 11 May 1979 (UK)
  2. "The Diary of Horace Wimp"
    Released: 21 July 1979
  3. "Don't Bring Me Down"
    Released: 21 July 1979 (US), 24 August 1979 (Europe)
  4. "Confusion/Last Train to London"
    Released: 9 November 1979 (UK); November 1979 (US)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Smash Hits8/10[2]

Discovery is the eighth studio album by British symphonic rock band, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Released in 1979, it shows the band moving towards a disco-inspired sound.

History

Discovery was the band's first number 1 album in the UK,[3] entering the chart at that position and staying there for five weeks.[3] 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).[4] "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.[5][6]

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
  1. "Last Train to London" – 4:32
  2. "Midnight Blue" – 4:19
  3. "On the Run" – 3:55
  4. "Wishing" – 4:13
  5. "Don't Bring Me Down" – 4:02
Bonus tracks on the 2001 edition
  1. "On the Run" (Home demo) – 1:01
  2. "Second Time Around" (Home demo) – 0:43
  3. "Little Town Flirt" – 2:53

Personnel

Additional personnel

Promotional movie line-up

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[7] 2× Platinum 140,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[8] 3× Platinum 300,000^
France (SNEP)[9] Gold 261,000[10]
Germany (BVMI)[11] Gold 250,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[12] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[13] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[14] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1979–80) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart[15] 1
Austrian Albums Chart[16] 3
Canadian RPM Albums Chart[17] 3
Dutch Mega Albums Chart[18] 3
French SNEP Albums Chart[19] 2
Italian Albums Chart[20] 4
Japanese Oricon LP Chart[21] 31
New Zealand Albums Chart[22] 2
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[23] 1
Swedish Albums Chart[24] 2
UK Albums Chart[25] 1
US Billboard 200[26] 5
US CashBox 5
West German Media Control Albums Chart[27] 7

Year-end charts

Chart (1979) Position
Australian Albums Chart[15] 2
Austrian Albums Chart[28] 6
Canadian Albums Chart[29] 5
French Albums Chart[30] 16
Italian Albums Chart[20] 15
UK Albums Chart[31] 2
US Billboard Year-End[32] 74
Chart (1980) Position
Australian Albums Chart[15] 48
UK Albums Chart[31] 89

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Starr, Red. "Albums". Smash Hits (14–27 June 1979): 25.
  3. 1 2 "Electric Light Orchestra". Offfical Charts Company. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  4. ↑ Wild, David. "The Story of a Rock and Roll Band and the Pop Genius Who Dared to Go Baroque." Flashback.
  5. ↑ The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, February 2000
  6. ↑ The Bob & Tom Show, January 2000
  7. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2009 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  8. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery". Music Canada. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  9. ↑ "French album certifications – Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  10. ↑ "Les Albums Or". infodisc.fr. SNEP. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  11. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Electric Light Orchestra; 'Discovery')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  12. ↑ "Dutch album certifications – Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  13. ↑ "British album certifications – Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 24 February 2012. Enter Discovery in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search
  14. ↑ "American album certifications – Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 24 February 2012. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  15. 1 2 3 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  16. ↑ "austriancharts.at Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German). Retrieved 29 October 2011.
  17. ↑ Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 24 February 2012
  18. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery" (ASP). dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  19. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste > Choisir Un Artiste Dans la Liste : Electric Light Orchestra". infodisc.fr. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  20. 1 2 "Hit Parade Italia - Gli album più venduti del 1978" (in Italian). hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  21. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  22. ↑ "charts.org.nz Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery" (ASP). Hung Medien. Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  23. ↑ "norwegiancharts.com Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery" (ASP). Hung Medien. VG-lista. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  24. ↑ "swedishcharts.com Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery" (ASP). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  25. ↑ "Chart Stats - Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery" (PHP). UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  26. ↑ "allmusic ((( Discovery > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  27. ↑ "Album Search: Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery" (ASP) (in German). Media Control. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  28. ↑ "Austriancharts.st - Jahreshitparade 1979" (ASP) (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
  29. ↑ "RPM Top 100 Albums of 1979". RPM. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  30. ↑ "Les Albums (CD) de 1979 par InfoDisc" (PHP) (in French). infodisc.fr. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  31. 1 2 "Complete UK Year-End Album Charts". Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  32. ↑ "Top Pop Albums of 1979". billboard.biz. 31 December 1979. Retrieved 24 February 2012.

External links

Bibliography

Preceded by
Voulez-Vous by ABBA		 Norwegian VG-lista number-one album
25 – 36 / 1979 		Succeeded by
Slow Train Coming by Bob Dylan
UK Albums Chart number one album
16 June – 20 July 1979 		Succeeded by
Replicas by Tubeway Army
Preceded by
Rickie Lee Jones by Rickie Lee Jones		 Australian Kent Music Report number-one album
23 July - 5 August 1979
13 August - 2 September 1979
17–23 September 1979 		Succeeded by
The Very Best of Leo Sayer
by Leo Sayer
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