While there are plenty of hits to choose from, Electric Light Orchestra fans have settled on the “big four” of their discography.
The Jeff Lynne-fronted band enjoyed plenty of success during their decades together. Their initial run of albums, from the Roy Wood-featuring self-titled album to Balance of Power, was followed by Zoom in 2001, and two more studio albums from 2014 to 2019. A post to the r/ELO subreddit had fans ask what the “big four” of their discography would be, and the choices seem relatively unanimous. A fan asked: “What’s ELO’s big four? When looking at a band’s discography, many people like to call their best four album run the ‘big four’. For example, for The Beatles it would be Revolver to Abbey Road.
“For The Rolling Stones it would be Beggars Banquet to Exile on Main St. For Pink Floyd it would be The Dark Side of the Moon to The Wall. What would ELO’s be? For me, you could argue any four-album run between Eldorado and Time, and you wouldn’t be wrong. I’m not sure what mine would be, but what’s yours?”
One fan replied with the most upvoted comment, which reads: “A New World Record, Out of the Blue, Discovery, Time.” Other users of the forum agreed with this, with one person replying: “I agree. I get the love for Eldorado and Face the Music, and they are great, but I would say those albums are still ‘defining’ ELO.
“Whereas starting with A New World Record, the band and their listeners fully know their style and capabilities, and these albums are delivering on high expectations. To reinforce this, Secret Messages sort of has the same ‘attitude’ as Face the Music, almost serving as the opposite bookend for the Big Four.
“It’s almost like the band planned it. Like they knew their story from the start. They even followed up Secret Messages with a breakup album. Now I’m wondering… We have concept albums. Is this a concept discography?”
Others have suggested Eldorado, Face the Music, A New World Record, and Out of the Blue, is the best “big four” in the band’s discography. One fan suggested: “While Time deserves every bit of the praise it receives, Discovery – while including some amazing tracks – is a slight misstep (overall) compared to the albums immediately preceding and following it.”
Another suggested there was no such perfect run and that there are some albums in their discography which simply “mess up” the four-album streak. They wrote: “In my honest opinion, they don’t have a perfect four-album run, or even three. Face the Music and Discovery mess that all up for me. If you skip those two, it’s Eldorado, A New World Record, and Out of the Blue.”
