"Last Train to London" | ||||
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Single by Electric Light Orchestra | ||||
from the album Discovery | ||||
A-side | "Confusion" (UK) | |||
B-side | "Down Home Town" (US) | |||
Released | 9 November 1979 (UK) January 1980 (US) | |||
Recorded | 1979, Musicland Studios, Munich, West Germany | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:31 | |||
Label | Jet | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Producer(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology | ||||
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Discovery track listing | ||||
9 tracks
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Music video | ||||
"Last Train to London" on YouTube |
"Last Train to London" is a song from the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO),the fifth track from their album Discovery .
The song was released in 1979 in the UK as a double A-side single with "Confusion". It peaked at number 8 in the UK Singles Chart. [1] However,in the US the two songs charted separately,with "Confusion" in late 1979 followed by "Last Train to London" in early 1980. It peaked at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. [2]
There was a certain period when it seemed we spent years on trains going back and forth from Birmingham to the various TV and radio stations in London.
— Discovery remaster (2001), Jeff Lynne
Billboard described the song as having a "catchy pop melody with Beatlesque vocal qualities and a smooth layered sound." [3] Cash Box said that the song has "a frothy pop melody" and "a bouncy R&B-tinged rhythm line," making it sound somewhat like Heatwave's 1977 single "Boogie Nights." [4] Record World said that "The electronic dance beat and lilting vocals are as timely as they are engaging." [5]
Something Else! critic S. Victor Aaron found it to be "more formulaic" than "Shine a Little Love", the other "disco thumper hit from Discovery." [6]
Chart (1979/80) | Peak position |
---|---|
Irish Singles Chart [7] | 9 |
UK Singles Chart [1] | 8 |
Canada (RPM) [8] | 28 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [2] | 39 |
US Cash Box Top 100 Singles | 36 |
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography. After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. From this point until their first break-up in 1986, Lynne, Bevan, and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.
Face the Music is the fifth studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released in September 1975 by United Artists Records and on 14 November 1975 in the United Kingdom by Jet Records. The album moves away from the large-scale classical orchestrated sound from the previous album, Eldorado, in favour of more "radio-friendly" pop/rock songs, though the string sections are still very prominent. The new sound proved successful for the group as Face the Music was the first ELO album to go platinum.
A New World Record is the sixth studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released in October 1976 on United Artists Records in the U.S., and on 19 November 1976 on Jet Records in the United Kingdom. A New World Record marked ELO's shift towards shorter pop songs, a trend which would continue across their career.
Out of the Blue is the seventh studio album by the British rock group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released on 28 October 1977. Written and produced by ELO frontman Jeff Lynne, the double album is among the most commercially successful records in the group's history, selling about 10 million copies worldwide by 2007.
Discovery is the eighth studio album by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released on 1 June 1979 in the United Kingdom by Jet Records, where it topped record charts, and on 8 June in the United States on Jet through Columbia Records distribution. A music video album featuring all the songs being played by the band was then released on VHS in 1979, then re-released as part of the Out of the Blue: Live at Wembley DVD and VHS in 1998.
"Livin' Thing" is a song written by Jeff Lynne and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It appears on ELO's 1976 album A New World Record and was also released as a single. Patti Quatro sang uncredited vocals, particularly the "higher and higher" parts.
"Strange Magic" is a song written Jeff Lynne and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released on their 1975 Face the Music album.
"Mr. Blue Sky" is a song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), featured on the band's seventh studio album Out of the Blue (1977). Written and produced by frontman Jeff Lynne, the song forms the fourth and final track of the "Concerto for a Rainy Day" suite on side three of the original double album. "Mr. Blue Sky" was the second single to be taken from Out of the Blue, peaking at number 6 in the UK Singles Chart and number 35 in the US Billboard Charts.
"Can't Get It Out of My Head" is a song written by Jeff Lynne and originally recorded by Electric Light Orchestra.
"Do Ya" is a song written by Jeff Lynne, that was originally recorded by The Move, which became a hit for the Electric Light Orchestra in 1977.
"Turn to Stone" is a 1977 song by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO).
"Sweet Talkin' Woman" is a 1978 single by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) from the album Out of the Blue (1977). Its original title was "Dead End Street", but it was changed during recording. Some words that survived from that version can be heard in the opening of the third verse, "I've been livin' on a dead end street".
"Evil Woman" is a song written by lead vocalist Jeff Lynne and recorded by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was first released on the band's fifth album, 1975's Face the Music.
"Telephone Line" is a song by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released in May 1977 through Jet Records and United Artists Records as part of the album A New World Record. It was very successful, reaching the Top 10 in Australia, US, and UK, and number 1 in Canada.
"Don't Bring Me Down" is the ninth and final track on the English rock band the Electric Light Orchestra's 1979 album Discovery. It is their highest-charting hit in the United States to date.
"Shine a Little Love" is a song by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released as a single in the US and UK in 1979.
"Confusion" is the second song from the 1979 Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) album Discovery. It features 12-string acoustic guitar and vocoder.
"I'm Alive" is a song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released as a single in May 1980. It is featured in a sequence near the beginning of the feature film Xanadu. The song also appears on the soundtrack album Xanadu.
"Xanadu" is the title song from the soundtrack of the 1980 film Xanadu. Written by Jeff Lynne of the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), the song is performed by English-born Australian singer, songwriter and actress Olivia Newton-John, with Lynne adding parenthetic vocals in the style of his other songs on the Xanadu soundtrack, and ELO providing the instrumentation. It was Lynne's least favourite of his own songs. "Xanadu" reached number one in several countries and was the band's only UK number-one single, when it peaked there for two weeks in July 1980. It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry. It also peaked at number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The discography of the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) consists of 15 studio albums, seven live albums, 40 compilation albums, 13 video albums, 33 music videos, one extended play, 50 singles, one soundtrack album and eight box sets. ELO have also sold over 50 million records worldwide.