From a compositional point of view, it’s a simplistic, rather formulaic track, but Jeff proves once again his knack of transforming it into something that sounds so much more accomplished. The album finishes with the monster hit, “Don’t Bring Me Down”, a bass-heavy track with a thumping beat and memorable chorus. The high energy “On The Run”, with its bouncy, catchy melody could easily have been a single whereas “Wishing”, a perfectly likeable but ordinary offering, is probably the only track which really couldn’t have been. “Midnight Blue” is utterly gorgeous, although I’d have much preferred it with the kind of instrumentation and arrangement it would have received on, for example, “A New World Record”, rather than being so synthesiser-heavy. “Last Train To London” is a superb song with both an irresistible bassline and an infectious chorus and is probably Jeff’s best disco-inspired composition. The longing, tender “Need Her Love” is a rather lovely song, although I’m really not sure about the wince-inducing line “she tries to sing”, and “The Diary Of Horace Wimp” is a flamboyant slice of excellent songwriting, arguably marred by the rather excessive Vocoder use, that boasts a beautifully Beatlesque ending. The stomping disco vibes of “Shine A Little Love” provide a classy start to the album and the joyful, uplifting “Confusion” is one of the instant highlights, resplendent with dramatic kettle drum fills. Whether you believe that this album measures up to any of the band’s other albums made during their most commercially successful era is simply a matter of taste. Still, in terms of sales and popularity, Lynne’s band were still riding high and the collection of radio-friendly pop songs, “Discovery”, contains many tracks that would be considered stalwarts of ELO greatest hits compilations. The fact that violinist Mik Kaminski and cellists Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale do not appear on the album (and were subsequently dismissed for being surplus to requirements after the promo videos for the album were made) is indicative that Lynne wanted to dramatically change things. Although commercially successful (it stayed at number one in the album charts for five weeks), a large proportion of ELO fans were rather unimpressed by Jeff’s follow-up to the magnificent “Out Of The Blue” and, to many, was a step in the wrong direction. 1979 was the year when Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra embraced the smooth, slick sounds of disco that dominated the charts at the time, making one of the most noticeable changes of direction they’d embarked on for a while.

Electric light orchestra discovery