DISCOVERY

ELO had reached the first of several low points of their career with this release. Jeff Lynne had finally achieved the pop stardom he had always desired with his previous two releases, A New World Record and Out of the Blue. So what does he do next? He jumps up onto the disco bandwagon and a never ending sea of cheese, most notably with the danceable Shine a Little Love and Last Train to London. In between these brain-throbbing bouncefests, is a bunch of uninspiring pop songs that make me want hide in my dresser to re-arrange my socks by color even though they're all white. Although The Diary of Horace Wimp is kind of funny, it's really a bit childish. The only other song worth mentioning is Don't Bring Me Down, one of ELO's biggest pop hits, but after two minutes of listening to this, I'd feel more comfortable trying to squeeze an orange creamsicle up my nose.

Discovery is apparently one of ELO's best sellers. For the life of me, I can't imagine why. When disco died, I'm sure this found its way into many a circular file. A very poor release, only for completionists, thus only one star. Did I mention there isn't an ounce of progressive rock on this?