Wiki
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Release Date
21 May 1979
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Length
9 tracks
Discovery is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released on 1 June 1979 in the United Kingdom by Jet Records, where it topped record charts, and on 8 June in the United States on Jet through Columbia Records distribution. A music video album featuring all the songs being played by the band was then released on VHS in 1979, then re-released as part of the Out of the Blue: Live at Wembley DVD and VHS in 1998.
Background
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 "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 nicknamed the album, 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 2× 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 in the Discovery music videos.
In one of his earliest jobs, comedian/actor Brad Garrett, dressed in Middle Eastern clothes and a 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.
COMPOSERS: Lynne
YEAR: 1979 (LP)
LABEL: Jet Records JTELX 500
TIME: 38:53 (LP)
PRODUCER: Jeff Lynne
PHOTO: Jim Shea
ART: Paul Gross, Norman Moore/Gribbitt
COUNTRY: UK
GENRE: art rock, progressive rock, symphonic rock, disco
Jeff Lynne Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Synthesizer
Bev Bevan drums, percussion
Richard Tandy Piano, Synthesizer, Electric piano, Clavinet
Kelly Groucutt Bass guitar, vocals
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