Electric Light Orchestra

Discovery

Ba-Ba-Better than I remembered

Review Score:

(6/10)
Y'know, if one had predicted, back in 1969, that Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's little Move spinoff side project would wind up sounding like the Beatles on helium (or to be more precise, the Bee Gees), he or she would have been laughed out of the room. However, time and tide being what they are, that's precisely what happened by 1979. When I was a teenager, about the time of ELO II, On The Third Day, and Eldorado, my admiration for ELO was so great that I often listed them as one of my favorite groups. I loved Roy Wood's stuff, too, but that's another review...as the years went by and their sound morphed into something like a cross between Kraftwerk and the Four Seasons at Studio 54, I finally gave up on them roughly at about the same time that you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing "Dont Bring Me Down". So as a result, I declined to pick this album up back in the day.

As time has gone by, though, my distaste for this hopped-up post-disco ear candy has mellowed to the point where I actually purchased this a few years ago, based on a chance listen to "Need Her Love". I was so impressed with that drop-dead gorgeous, aching ballad that I thought it was high time I re-evaluated the band that I considered one of my favorites in 1974. And my verdict?

Well, Discovery's not nearly as cringe-inducing as I remembered from 1979, but it's not strong enough, cut-for-cut, to be included as one of their best. Simple as that. One thing that never deserted Lynne through all those years was his way with a melody, and it's that gift that gets songs like "Confusion" and "Last Train To London" by. There's so much synth squiggling and fa-fa-falsetto vocalese going on that you're distracted from the say-nothing lyrics, which are effective only on the aforementioned incredible "Love" and the Fabs pastiche "Horace Wimp". There are several songs that didn't make much of an impression on me, sorry to say, like "On The Run", "Midnight Blue", and "Wishing", but they're not terrible, just forgettable.

So should you buy Discovery? Well, sure...if you're in the mood for catchy, breezy, 70's style pop. And if nothing else, to hear "Need Her Love", like I did. As ELO albums go, it's not as good as the first 6 out of 7 (I still have no use for Face The Music), but much better than the ones that followed it (until Lynne's great solo album).

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