| A New World Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Electric Light Orchestra | ||||
| Released | 11 September 1976 (UK) 12 September 1976 (US) |
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| Recorded | July 1976 at Musicland Studios, Munich | |||
| Genre | Symphonic rock, rock, art rock | |||
| Length | 36:20 59:12 (Reissue) |
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| Label | Jet Records, United Artists Records, Columbia Records Epic/Legacy (Reissue) |
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| Producer | Jeff Lynne | |||
| Electric Light Orchestra chronology | ||||
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A New World Record is the sixth studio album by Electric Light Orchestra, released in 1976.
Contents |
The second album to be recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich, the LP proved to be the band's long awaited breakthrough in the UK: after seeing their previous three studio recordings fail to chart in their home market, A New World Record became their first top ten album in the UK. It became a huge global success and would consolidate the band's position as one of the biggest selling rock bands in the world, reaching multi-platinum status in the US and UK, The album sold five million units worldwide within its first year of release. The cover art features the famous ELO logo, designed by Kosh, for the first time. This logo would be included on several of the group's subsequent releases.
The album included the hit singles "Telephone Line", which became the band's first gold US single, "Livin' Thing", and "Do Ya" (US); and "Rockaria!" (UK). "Do Ya" was an ELO updating of The Move's late 1972 final US single on United Artists Records. The focus is more on shorter pop songs, a trend which would continue throughout the rest of ELO's future albums. In 2006, the album was remastered and released with bonus tracks on Sony's Epic/Legacy imprint. "Surrender" was also issued as a promotional single and an iTunes download single, which entered the top 100 download chart.
The band's frontman Jeff Lynne regards his own songwriting at this point to have reached a new high.
| “ | The songs started to flow and most of them came quickly to me. To have all those hits, it was just ...I mean amazing really. Going from doing okay for probably three or four years to suddenly being in the big time, it was a strange but great thing. | ” |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| Robert Christgau | (B+) link |
| Rolling Stone | (favourable) link |
| George Starostin | (13/15) link |
All songs written by Jeff Lynne.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tightrope" | 5:03 |
| 2. | "Telephone Line" | 4:38 |
| 3. | "Rockaria!" | 3:12 |
| 4. | "Mission (A World Record)" | 4:25 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "So Fine" | 3:54 |
| 2. | "Livin' Thing" | 3:31 |
| 3. | "Above the Clouds" | 2:16 |
| 4. | "Do Ya" | 3:43 |
| 5. | "Shangri-La" | 5:32 |
The cassette tape had "Tightrope", "Rockaria!", "Mission" and "Shangri-La" on Side A, with Side B the same as LP Side 2 except for "Telephone Line" at the end in place of "Shangri-La".
| Country | Peak chart position |
|---|---|
| Australia | 1 |
| Canada | 1 |
| Sweden | 1 |
| New Zealand | 4 |
| United States | 5 |
| United Kingdom | 6 |
| Spain | 6 |
| Austria | 9 |
| Norway | 9 |
| Japan | 60 |
| Preceded by Rumours by Fleetwood Mac |
Australian Kent Music Report number-one album 18 April 1977 – 19 June 1977 |
Succeeded by Silk Degrees by Boz Scaggs |