DISCOVERY

Electric Light Orchestra had been flirting with disco since "Evil Woman", and on two songs from Discovery they just drop any pretence and go for it. Though critically lambasted, this album is far superior than the tedious Out of the Blue and those two songs, "Shine a Little Love" and "Last Train to London", are not only two of the best on the record but two of the best disco songs period.

As for critics hating this, it is something I have never understood. I typically like ELO from song to song, but album wise they often fail. However, I find Discovery to not only be a fun album, but second in their catalogue only to their true prog classic, Eldorado.

For the rest of the album, you have their highest charting U.S. single "Don't Bring Me Down", another one of those rare '70s songs that never get old, and "Confusion", which should have been a hit. And, though others seem to hate it, I love the '60s psychedelic sounding Beatles ripoff "The Diary of Horace Wimp". It's almost like some of the lighter stuff the Move would sometimes do.

During the late '70s it was obvious that ELO were moving away from prog and trying to find the right balance with pop music, and it is here that they succeed. Your enjoyment of it may hinge on your tolerance for disco, but if they had popularized rather than the Bee Gees it may not have been as maligned.