Electric Light Orchestra – Discovery

Electric Light Orchestra - DiscoveryFor me, this is ELO’s low ebb, the point at which they pretty much hit bottom. But I suppose nearly every band must have come close – even the Alan Parsons Project broke into an embarassingly disco-esque boogie in the middle of “The Voice” from their 1977 album, and so ELO was bound to go disco, however briefly. Sadly, it seems to be this phase which everyone remembers, consigning ELO to a fate of forever being relegated to Hits of the 70s! collections. “Last Train To London” is just about my least favorite ELO song of all time – it’s got good bass work, and that’s really all I can say in its favor. “Don’t Bring Me Down” is okay, though I preferred the later version played by the group live, which transformed the 2 out of 4 starssong from another miserable disco tune into a real rocker, and “Shine A Little Love” is only marginally better. So is there anything good about Discovery? Well, yeah, at least a couple of things. “Confusion” and “Need Her Love” are good songs, while “Wishing” is pretty much average ELO. I can’t really recommend this unless you, like myself, happen to be an ELO fanatic/completist.

    Order this CD in the Store

  1. Shine a Little Love (4:42)
  2. Confusion (3:43)
  3. Need Her Love (5:12)
  4. The Diary of Horace Wimp (4:17)
  5. Last Train to London (4:33)
  6. Midnight Blue (4:19)
  7. On The Run (3:56)
  8. Wishing (4:14)
  9. Don’t Bring Me Down (4:02)

Released by: Jet
Release date: 1979
Total running time: 38:58