Editing Electric Light Orchestra (section)

===1974–1982: Global success and concept albums===
For the band's fourth album, ''[[Eldorado (Electric Light Orchestra album)|Eldorado]]'', a concept album about a daydreamer, Lynne stopped multi-tracking strings and hired [[Louis Clark]] as string arranger with an orchestra and choir.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080605175932/http://www.eatonmusic.com/clark.html Eaton Music – Louis Clark]. Web.archive.org (5 June 2008). Retrieved 31 January 2011.</ref> ELO's string players still continued to perform on recordings, however. The first single off the album, "[[Can't Get It Out of My Head]]", became their first US top 10 hit, and ''Eldorado, A Symphony'' became ELO's first [[music recording sales certification|gold album]]. Mike de Albuquerque departed the band during the recording sessions as he wished to spend more time with his family, and consequently much of the bass on the album was performed by Lynne.

Following the release of ''Eldorado'', [[Kelly Groucutt]] was recruited as bassist and in early 1975, [[Melvyn Gale]] replaced Edwards on cello. The line-up stabilised as the band took to a decidedly more accessible sound. ELO had become successful in the US at this point and the group was a star attraction on the stadium and arena circuit, and appeared on ''[[The Midnight Special (TV series)|The Midnight Special]]'' more than any other band in that show's history with four appearances (in 1973, 1975, 1976, and 1977).

''[[Face the Music (Electric Light Orchestra album)|Face the Music]]'' was released in 1975, producing the hit singles "[[Evil Woman (Electric Light Orchestra song)|Evil Woman]]", their third UK top 10, and "[[Strange Magic (song)|Strange Magic]]".<ref name="UK Charts"/> The opening instrumental "[[Fire on High]]", with its mix of strings and acoustic guitars, saw heavy exposure as the theme music for the American television programme ''[[CBS Sports Spectacular]]'' in the mid-1970s. The group toured extensively from 3 February to 13 April 1976, playing 68 shows in 76 days in the US.

{{listen
|filename= Electric Light Orchestra - Livin' Thing.ogg
|title= "Livin' Thing" from ''A New World Record'' (1976)
|description="[[Livin' Thing]]" was a Top 10 hit for the [[UK Singles Chart]], peaking at number four.
|pos=right}}

Their sixth album, the platinum selling ''[[A New World Record]]'', became their first UK top 10 album when it was released in 1976.<ref name="UK Charts">[http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/electric%20light%20orchestra/ "ELO: UK Chart History"]. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 February 2015</ref> It contained the hit singles "[[Livin' Thing]]", "[[Telephone Line (song)|Telephone Line]]", "[[Rockaria!]]" and "[[Do Ya (The Move song)#Electric Light Orchestra version|Do Ya]]", the last a re-recording of [[The Move]]'s final single. The band toured in support in the US only from September 1976 to April 1977 with a break in December, then an ''[[American Music Awards of 1977|American Music Awards]]'' show appearance on 31 January 1977,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxkTihkYTs8 ELO Livin Thing American Music Awards 31 Jan 1977 Full]. YouTube (25 February 2011)</ref> plus a one-off gig in San Diego in August 1977.

''A New World Record'' was followed by a multi-platinum selling album, the [[double album|double-LP]] ''[[Out of the Blue (Electric Light Orchestra album)|Out of the Blue]]'', in 1977. ''Out of the Blue'' featured the singles "[[Turn to Stone (Electric Light Orchestra song)|Turn to Stone]]", "[[Sweet Talkin' Woman]]", "[[Mr. Blue Sky]]", and "[[Wild West Hero]]", each becoming a hit in the United Kingdom. The band then set out on a nine-month, 92-date world tour, with an enormous set and a hugely expensive [[Spacecraft|spaceship]] stage with [[fog machine]]s and a [[laser]] display. In the United States the concerts were billed as ''The Big Night'' and were their largest to date, with 62,000 people seeing them at [[Cleveland Stadium]].<ref>Bornino, Bruno, "62,000 see ELO's UFO" ''[[Cleveland Press]]'' 17 July 1978</ref> ''The Big Night'' went on to become the highest-grossing live concert tour in music history up to that point (1978).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jefflynnesongs.com/ootbtour/ |title=Electric Light Orchestra – Out Of The Blue Tour: An in-depth look at the 1978 tour |access-date=27 July 2007 |work=Jeff Lynne Song Database |author=Robert Porter}}</ref> The band played at London's [[Wembley Arena]] for eight straight sold-out nights during the tour, another record at the time.

During an Australian tour in early 1978, Electric Light Orchestra were presented with 9 platinum awards for the albums ''Out of the Blue'' and ''New World Record''.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1978/CB-1978-03-04.pdf|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|via=World Radio History|title=Cashbox Magazine|page=42|date=4 March 1978|access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>

In 1979, the multi-[[music recording sales certification|platinum album]] ''[[Discovery (Electric Light Orchestra album)|Discovery]]'' was released, reaching number one on the [[UK Albums Chart]].<ref name="UK Charts"/> Although the biggest hit on the album (also ELO's biggest hit overall) was the rock song "[[Don't Bring Me Down]]", the album was noted for its heavy [[disco]] influence. ''Discovery'' also produced the hits "[[Shine a Little Love]]" (their only No. 1 hit on a US singles chart---[[Radio & Records|Radio & Records (R&R)]]),<ref name="wweb.uta.edu">{{cite web|url=http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/gghunt/charts/elo.htm|title=ELO|website=Wweb.uta.edu|access-date=8 November 2018|archive-date=7 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607105607/https://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/gghunt/charts/elo.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Charts!">{{cite web|url=http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/gghunt/charts/chart.html|title=Charts|website=Wweb.uta.edu|access-date=8 November 2018|archive-date=11 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211080842/http://wweb.uta.edu/faculty/gghunt/charts/chart.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> "[[Last Train to London]]", "[[Confusion (Electric Light Orchestra song)|Confusion]]", and "[[The Diary of Horace Wimp]]". Another song, "Midnight Blue", was released as a single in southeast Asia. The band recorded promotional videos for all the songs on the album.

[[File:Elo 27041978 04 800.jpg|right|thumb|ELO performing in [[Oslo]], Norway, in 1978]]
By the end of 1979, ELO had reached the peak of their stardom, selling millions of albums and singles, and even inspiring a [[parody]]/[[tribute]] song on the [[Randy Newman]] album ''[[Born Again (Randy Newman album)|Born Again]]'', titled "The Story of a Rock and Roll Band". During 1979, Jeff Lynne also turned down an invitation for ELO to headline the August 1979 [[Knebworth Festival]] concerts. That allowed [[Led Zeppelin]] the chance to headline instead.

In January 1980, [[Hugh McDowell]], [[Melvyn Gale]], and [[Mik Kaminski]] were fired,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://cherryblossomclinic.x10.mx/mel.html | title=Melvyn Gale Interview by Martin Kinch }}</ref> as Jeff Lynne sought to take the band in a more modern direction. Later that year, Lynne was asked to write for the soundtrack of the musical film ''[[Xanadu (film)|Xanadu]]'' and provided half of the songs, with the other half written by [[John Farrar]] and performed by the film's star [[Olivia Newton-John]]. The film performed poorly at the box office, but the soundtrack did exceptionally well, eventually going [[music recording sales certification|double platinum]]. The album spawned hit singles from both Newton-John ("[[Magic (Olivia Newton-John song)|Magic]]", a No. 1 hit in the United States, and "[[Suddenly (Olivia Newton-John and Cliff Richard song)|Suddenly]]" with [[Cliff Richard]]) and ELO ("[[I'm Alive (Electric Light Orchestra song)|I'm Alive]]", which went gold, "[[All Over the World (ELO song)|All Over the World]]" and "[[Don't Walk Away (Electric Light Orchestra song)|Don't Walk Away]]"). The [[Xanadu (Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra song)|title track]], performed by both Newton-John and ELO, is ELO's only song to top the UK singles chart.<ref>Guinness World Records: "British Hit Singles 14th Edition", page 195. 0-85112-156-X</ref> More than a quarter of a century later, ''[[Xanadu (musical)|Xanadu]]'', a Broadway musical based on the film, opened on 10 July 2007 at the Helen Hayes Theatre to uniformly good reviews. It received four [[Tony Award]] nominations. The musical received its UK premiere in London in October 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theatrebreaks.co.uk/xanadu-gets-uk-premiere/ |title=Xanadu gets UK premiere |access-date=20 August 2015 |work=Theatre news |author=Sara Benn|date=20 August 2015 }}</ref>

{{listen
|filename= Twilight - ELO.ogg
|title= "Twilight" from ''Time'' (1981)
|description=The album ''[[Time (Electric Light Orchestra album)|Time]]'' (1981) represented a shift toward more electronic sounds.<ref name=PM>{{cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/review/electriclightorchestra-time/|title= Electric Light Orchestra – ''Time''|website=Popmatters.com|access-date=23 August 2019}}</ref>
|pos=left}}

In 1981, ELO's sound changed again with the science fiction [[concept album]] ''[[Time (Electric Light Orchestra album)|Time]]'', a throwback to earlier, more [[progressive rock]] albums like ''Eldorado''. With the string section now departed, synthesisers took a dominating role, as was the trend in the larger music scene of the time; although studio strings were present on some of the tracks conducted by Rainer Pietsch, the overall soundscape had a more electronic feel in keeping with the futuristic nature of the album. ''Time'' topped the UK charts for two weeks and was the last ELO studio album to be certified platinum in the United Kingdom until ''Alone in the Universe'' in 2015. Singles from the album included "[[Hold On Tight (Electric Light Orchestra song)|Hold On Tight]]", "[[Twilight (Electric Light Orchestra song)|Twilight]]", "[[The Way Life's Meant to Be]]", "[[Here Is the News]]" and "[[Ticket to the Moon]]". However, the release of the single for "[[Rain Is Falling]]" in 1982 was the band's first single in the US to fail to reach the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' Top 200]] since 1975, and the release of "The Way Life's Meant to Be" similarly was their first single in the UK to fail to chart since 1976. The band embarked on [[Time Tour|their last world tour]] to promote the LP. For the tour, Kaminski returned to the line-up on violin, whilst Louis Clark (synthesizers) and [[David Scott-Morgan|Dave Morgan]] (guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, vocals) also joined the on stage lineup. Clark had previously handled string arrangements for the band.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sweeting |first=Adam |date=25 February 2021 |title=Louis Clark obituary |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/feb/25/louis-clark-obituary |access-date=20 March 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>