Lost in the ’70s: Electric Light Orchestra

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

Lost in the ’70s: Electric Light Orchestra

ELO Discovery = Disco? Very!

That was the joke around rock critic circles when Electric Light Orchestra unleashed Discovery upon a disco-obsessed public in 1979. With the singles “Shine a Little Love” and the more-rock-stomp-than-disco “Don’t Bring Me Down” cracking the Top 10, the album, lambasted critically as a complete sell-out for the once Beatles-worshiping band, found plenty of favor with music buyers.

The record was so popular that a third single, “Confusion” (download), was released, a relative rarity in those days. Probably the least disco song on an unashamedly disco album, the straight-ahead rock ballad is awash in tinkly keys and a synthesized woodwind instrumental hook that sounds suspiciously like something Wings would do (imagine that). Jeff Lynne did his usual vocal stacking to excellent melodic effect, but the song failed to move up any further than a wimpy #37, surprising since the album’s previous single topped out at #4. “Confusion” has become somewhat of a forgotten ELO hit, not garnering the after-the-fact acclaim that other similar charting ELO singles like “Mr. Blue Sky” have attained in the years since.

This wasn’t the end of the road for Discovery, however, since a fourth single, “Last Train to London,” probably the most disco song on the record, was released. It charted even more dismally, squeaking in at #39 for one measly week at the start of 1980 — that’s why it’s not featured in this post (the single sleeve pictured above is the UK version of the single, which was released as a double A-side with “Confusion”). Rules is rules, people!

“Confusion” peaked at #37 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart in 1979.

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Tags: Electric Light Orchestra, John C. Hughes, Lost In The '70s

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Lost in the '70s, Music, Popdose. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

mojo

ELO rules, disco or not.

Can't say so much for Jeff Lynne's ELO-if-i-cation of Tom Petty, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison (phew).

But the dude was the Phil Spector of the 1970s--developed Wall of Sound 2.0 and rode it to its absolute death.

Perhaps The Move (I call that band "pre-LO") will be a future Lo-Fi Mojo coming up!

CarlosRamirez

ELO fans should check out ROONEY's latest album! It has a lot of Jeff Lynne-esque production and vocal melodies.

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyZQy2svtjo

EightE1

I never realized "Last Train to London" fared that poorly on the charts. I remember hearing it on the radio a good bit at that time. Of course, I was nine when it came out, but the late 70s/early 80s were formative music-listening years for me, and Discovery was definitely a record I gravitated to. I had a 90-minute cassette my cousin made for me with Discovery on one side and Hotel California on the other. I played the hell out of that thing.

Rob
EightE1

JohnHughes

Yeah, both singles' low chart rating surprised me, too, since they both got the hell played out of them on Cleveland radio in my youth (when I was like, 6 months old. Honest).

Eric S.

This really is "lost in the 70s", as I don't remember much about this song at all. Of course, '79 was my freshman year in college and ELO wasn't cool enough for the college station playlists back then. Seems like they did get a little lift from MTV, as I remember "Don't Bring Me Down" being in heavy rotation.

JonCummings

I loved that album--and ELO in general. Still do. As a swirling, disco-ish song, "Last Train to London" probably would have done a lot better as a single if it hadn't followed "Confusion" -- and if it hadn't come out after the whole anti-disco sea change at radio in the fall of '79, brought on by "My Sharona" and the White Sox "Disco Sucks" riot, among other factors.

I even liked "The Diary of Horace Wimp" off that album. It's funny. Really.

Old_Davy

As an ELO fan from the very beginning, I always considered "Discovery" to be the beginning of the end. I was happy that one of my favorite bands had made it big, and even though they had morphed from a very interesting, almost avant-garde group to a pure pop band, I still enjoyed everything they released. That was, up until this album came out. Was it the high expectations of CBS that forced Jeff Lynne to begin writing such drivel that would appeal to the masses and sell millions of albums? CBS poured HUGE amounts of money into promoting this record and Jeff certainly delivered with an album full of commercially friendly fashionable and timely tunes. Tunes that bore me to death.