Brummie pop-rock legend Jeff Lynne is captured laying down a vocal on ELO’s eighThstudio LP, Discovery. WiThthe disco era in full swing, the album is the band’s most dancefloor friendly. In fact, the influence was so prevalent that ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy nicknamed the album ‘Disco Very’. Lynne was a true convert of the genre: “I love the force of disco. I love the freedom it gave me to make different rhythms across it. I enjoyed that really steady driving beat. Just steady as a rock. I’ve always liked that simplicity in the bass drum.”
It was the band’s first number one album in the UK, entering the chart at that position and staying there for a full five weeks. The album was laden wiThno less than five hit singles (four of them Top 10) including Shine A Little Love, Don’t Bring Me Down, Last Train To London, Confusion and the Beatles-esque The Diary Of Horace Wimp. Later the same year, Lynne rejected an offer for ELO to headline Knebworth, allowing some band called Led Zeppelin to play instead.