Customer Reviews

Discovery

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK, this is not ELO's best album. And, yes, they do go through a bit of "disco" experimentation here ("Shine a Little Love" and "Last Train to London"). Still, this is a fine album, filled to the brim with great moments. Disco notwithstanding, "Shine A Little Love" is an awesome track, well-produced, and very "up". "Confusion" has a lovely melody, marred only slightly by the computerized vocals on the chorus. "Need Her Love" and "Midnight Blue" are classic ELO ballads. "The Diary of Horace Wimp" is funny and contains some true insights...not to mention it's amazing production. If Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" represents the depressing side of the operatic rock coin, then "Horace" is the bright side. "Wishing" is wistfully wonderful. Then, there's "Don't Bring Me Down," which inhabits the rarified air of enduring rockers that still receive extensive radio airplay 20 years after being recorded. And, deservedly so, as the Bevan drum stomp propels this humorous look at the perils of romance. Good music can overcome many obstacles, including disco. Discover DISCOVERY! No, it's not "very" disco...just a dab of disco.

After reading through the other reviews I am quite frustrated that people are either ashamed of admitting their liking for this album or flatly dismiss it as light discopop.
In my opinion, DISCOVERY is a brilliant pop/rock album on which JEFF LYNNE incorporates some disco elements into his sound. But he definitely does not turn ELO into a disco outfit with this. Anyway, he already showed this approach, to a lesser degree, on OUT OF THE BLUE which the same people who pretend to hate DISCOVERY praise to the skies. Strange, isn't it? Now, here comes my theory for this: DISCOVERY was released at a time when people grew tired of omnipresent disco. Back then, I suppose, it was like "well, there is this four-to-the-bar thing, so it must be embarrasing discopop by nature". DISCO became a synonym for rubbish. And so, even ELO fans might have become manipulated by the spirit of their time. They finally believed the critics who bashed this album, missing out thus on wonderful synth-ladden pop/rock songs which are in my view as great as for example the ones off OOTB and TIME.
I became an ELO fan in 1990, so I did not fall victim to the spirit of the time of the "disco sucks" era when every album with a hint of disco style was derided as a matter of course.
So there, I'll shout it out loud: this album is great and atmospheric, featuring some wonderful sounds. It is so fantastic BECAUSE OF some stylish disco elements and not despite them.

Ive heard critics and fans alike dismiss this album as being "blatantly commercial" and it kind of confuses me. It seems unfair that if a piece of music becomes incredibly popular it's branded as "commercial", kind of like what happened to Nirvana. Any hoo...after re-listening to my ELO catalog recently (after being untouched for a few years) this album sounded the most fresh and consistant. Every song has well crafted melodies and is enjoyable, which is something the other records lack. Mostly every ELO album is about the same, killer opening 2 tracks, followed by slower numbers, a decent side 2 opener, more slow tunes, and then a slam bang finale. This album falls into that pattern as well, but the "filler" songs are much higher quality than the average ELO album (with the exception of New World Record). I also think its unfair that others have labeled this a disco album. It's really not. Shine a Little Love and Last Train to London have disco-esque bass lines for sure, but the rest of the album is straight up, standard ELO. I really enjoy this album and would recommend this as one of the first ELO albums to buy if you are new to the group. Dont Bring Me Down, ELO's best single ever (in my opinion anyway) justifies owning this album.

As a longtime ELO fan, when I bought this album, I retitled it "Disco...(very)", which I've called it ever since. One fan site I was on the other day described it as "a mixture of dance tracks and ballads. Some of the songs here seem a continuation of their previous release "Out Of the Blue", such as the ballad "Midnight Blue". "Horace Wimp" reflects Jeff Lynne's well-known Beatle influence as a story of an ordinary man living his ho-hum life, right out of "Sergeant Pepper", or maybe "Abbey Road". But have you ever noticed that when Lynne adds his R & B chops to Fab Four tonalities, it comes out more like the Bee Gees when they were first moving towards disco? Like the Gibb Brothers' telegraphed punch "Jive Talkin'"? The opener "Shine a Little Light" is the best example of that here. And the instrumental "Last Train To London" sounds like alternate backing tracks for the Heatwave classic "Boogie Nights". Even in retrospect, I find it ironic that disco acts were always a bewildering mixture of a lot of technical skill but hardly any creativity. "Out Of the Blue" was enough of a nod to that empty genre as it was without this release going over the top. This one gets three stars from just one song: the single "Don't Bring Me Down", a track more consistent with "New World Record" or "Face the Music". Which is to say, this album's only rocker.

In the fall of 1979, I had just turned 11 years old, and had not only just been given one record for my birthday, but also had received money which I then used to buy the first vinyl LP I ever bought. (I had only seriously begun to pay attention to the top 40 that spring, and had only bought 45s up to that point; I owned a grand total of 3 LPs, all of which had been given to me as presents, and maybe a couple of cassettes.) It was the very beginning of my long history (27 years now) as a collector.

That first LP was ELO's Discovery. All that spring and summer, I had been hearing the various singles from that album ("Shine a Little Love," "Confusion," "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Last Train to London") on my favourite radio station of the time (WIGY 105.9 FM, in the Bath/Brunswick area in Maine), and so when the opportunity came to purchase this record, I jumped on it. Needless to say, I knew nothing at the time of Jeff Lynne's Beatles influence, although I was a huge Beatles fan--still am to this day; they will always be the Gods of Rock 'n' Roll in my heart--and it probably would have raised his stock considerably for me. In the months to come, I would buy copies of ELO's Greatest Hits and Out of the Blue (mine being a cutout copy on United Artists that cost me just $4.99; this was a bargain for a double LP in early 1980). In the meantime, I played Discovery as often as I could, and I loved it all.

Fast forward to 2001. Sony made their first attempts at catalogue remasters of ELO's albums; along with the classic Eldorado, their three albums from 1979-83 (Discovery, Time, and Secret Messages) were also remastered and reissued. Wishing to rediscover a favourite of my 'tweenie years, I bought the remastered Discovery on CD. 22 years on, I realised that Thomas Wolfe was right--you can't go home again...and even if you could, nothing would be the same. Your tastes change, and mine certainly had. Here's my adult synopsis of Discovery:

Only 3 of this album's 9 tracks are truly essential--"Shine a Little Love," "Last Train to London" (which is *not* instrumental, by the way--there are vocals and lyrics) and "Don't Bring Me Down" all keep things moving along nicely, even if "Shine a Little Love's" bridge rings a bit twee these days. Three more tracks--"Confusion," "The Diary of Horace Wimp" and "On the Run"--are entertaining and move alone nicely, but I wouldn't rate them among this album's best tracks, just a little less painful than the other 3--"Need Her Love," "Midnight Blue" and "Wishing." Of the final 3, "Need Her Love" is embarrassing in its twinkly saccharine-ness, which include unbearable naive-sounding lyrics and sweet synth arrangements (sweet enough to raise your blood sugar to dangerous levels!), thus making it the worst offender of the lot. The other two are saccharine throwaways, just bad enough to be memorable. What was forgivable at 11 isn't so at 37, when your perceptions have sharpened and your inner self hardened a bit against the depredations of the world.

On the whole, this was truly the beginning of the end for ELO. They had pared themselves down to just a quartet--Jeff Lynne, Bev Bevan, Richard Tandy and Kelly Groucutt--having dropped the string players after Out of the Blue (on which you can, of course, see trouble just over the horizon). It makes some sense that Bev would sub on the drums for Black Sabbath on a couple of tours a few years later; perhaps even he needed some meat after this bit of cotton candy.

That honour has to go to "Time" in my opinion but still this album is very strong on its own merits. For one thing, this has been remastered by Jeff Lynne himself with 3 extra tracks and liner notes also written by Jeff plus the lyrics as well. I actually hate "Don't Bring Me Down" but "Last Train To London" is one of my all-time favourite tracks. By the way, "Diary of Horace Wimp" isn't as bad as all that and it has some interesting musical ideas and was always meant to be a kind of musical joke so don't take it so seriously. All the other tracks are good working examples of good songwriting and melody irrespective of genre and even disco, done tastefully is good music.

Now we get in this version a mini-lp replica sleeve gatefold design which is rather well done as well. All the lyrics in both English and Japanese are included as well as a mini poster of the band as well. The sound quality isn't an improvement over the 2001 re-release and this is essentially the same package sound quality-wise as this release except for the mlps design and so if you already have the 2001 remastered version and if you are not an mlps fan, then I see little point in getting this. If, however, you don't have the earlier remastered version, then this represents a good upgrade.

Recommended.

It`s probably hard to put this CD in to a certain category, but i would like to called it "symphodisco" . First of all this one has one of the greatest covers i know, which shows something of an arabian fantasy. Jeff Lynne is a great songwriter, that gives you something of an "out of space experience" when you listen to track after track. Track 5 Last Train to London, is my all time ELO hit``and shows you how a hit song should sound like. Track 6 the beautiful and sentimental MIdnight Blue is also included too. There are some tracks here that doesn`t make it to the top, but anyway the real Lynne rock and roller is included here Track 9 Don`t Bring me Down. A very good CD this one, but not ELO`s greatest.

While Out Of The Blue hinted at the new direction for the band, Discovery grabbed the wheel and forcibly steered ELO toward a more dance oriented sound. "Shine A Little Love" and "Don't Bring Me Down" received major airplay, but also heavy rotation at discos all around the world. Long time fans were left feeling abandoned, and the band's fortunes began a slide that slowly ate away the foundation that had been built on Face The Music and A New World Record. After this, things would never be the same.

Being 36 now, I was only just turning 12 when this album came out.
So I was too young at the time and dont really care less now about the alleged Disco element.
I just play this album to death. Im so hooked
Its a great album.

Suburb stand out songs of Need her love and Midnight Blue.

I accept that this is a 'light' ELO album. But that makes this album very special. It is like "Love You" of Beach Boys. It's not serious, but yet, you cannot get away from its pretty charm.
Actually, not one song in Discovery is a filler. Every song has very tuneful melody, which you must whistle within 1 or 2 hearing.
Shine a light is a great song. Midnight blue was a huge hit in many countries other than US. Don't bring me down, Need her love, Confusion, all the songs here are my favorites from my early teenage days. Even after I listened to Eldorado and Out of the Blue, Discovery remains as my personal favorite in ELO's discography.