Album
Discovery
1979 · Rock, Pop
82 collectors on Gatefold own this

Discovery is a Soul & Funk album by Electric Light Orchestra, originally released in 1979. On Gatefold: 265 pressings tracked, owned by 82 collectors.
About
This 1979 album features a stripped-down ELO, but the band’s orchestral mood and affect are fully intact. The album is rich with glorious, and often ornate, Beatlesque hooks. The arrangements are a little more punchy, spare, and open. Yet there’s a heavier Bee Gees influence than before; in fact, “Shine a Little Love” and “Last Train to London” sound like ’70s Bee Gees A-sides, with falsetto-sung choruses, disco beats, and brothers Gibb vocal phrasings. A sweet left turn here is “The Diary of Horace Wimp,” which features a narrative about an odd kid who overcomes intense shyness to get to the girl. The album sold more than 2 million copies in the U.S. alone and contained no fewer than five hit singles, including “Don’t Bring Me Down,” which was their biggest.
via Apple Music
The Clerk says
The Clerk knows this whole record — the pressing quirks, the credits, the take.
Tracklist
Side A
- A1Shine A Little Love4:42
- A2Confusion3:42
- A3Need Her Love5:09
- A4The Diary Of Horace Wimp4:17
Side B
- B1Last Train To London4:31
- B2Midnight Blue4:20
- B3On The Run3:56
- B4Wishing4:14
- B5Don't Bring Me Down4:08
Sound DNA
- Soul & Funk
- Disco
- shimmering
- euphoric
- groovy
Discovery is the eighth studio album by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra ELO. It was released on 31 May 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.
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 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 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.
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.
Epic / Legacy in 2016 republished the album with a wonderful successful edition on transparent vinyl
Credits
The people behind it.
Performers
- Bev BevanDRUMS, PERCUSSION, ROTOTOMS DRUMS, PERCUSSION, TOM TOM DRUMS, ROTOTOMS , PERCUSSION
- Electric Light Orchestra
- Jeff LynneARRANGED BY ARRANGED BY , ARRANGED BY BACKING VOCALS
- Kelly GroucuttBACKING VOCALS BASS GUITAR, VOCALS BASS GUITAR, VOCALS, BACKING VOCALS
- Louis ClarkARRANGED BY ARRANGED BY , CONDUCTOR ARRANGED BY , ARRANGED BY
- Richard TandyARRANGED BY ARRANGED BY , ARRANGED BY ARRANGED BY, GRAND PIANO, SYNTHESIZER, ELECTRIC PIANO, CLAVINET
82 collectors on Gatefold own this · 265 pressings tracked on Gatefold
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