A New World Record

Recorded in July 1976 at Musicland Studios in Munich, the band's second album there, with strings and choirs overdubbed at De Lane Lea in Wembley and fixes made at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles. Every song is by Jeff Lynne, and Do Ya is a remake of a Move song. Bev Bevan has said the Olympic Games were on during the sessions, which gave the album its title. John Kosh handled the art direction and designed the ELO logo used on most later releases.

Livin' Thing, Do Ya, Rockaria! and Telephone Line were all singles, and four of its songs were used in the 1977 film Joyride. It went to number one in Australia, Canada, Finland and Sweden, five in the US and six in Britain, the band's first top-ten album at home after three studio albums had failed to chart there. It went platinum in both countries and was the first of four straight million-selling albums. Robert Christgau gave it a B+ and called it "a Moody Blues album with brains, hooks, and laffs galore." Melody Maker's Harry Doherty judged it the band's best album to date, and Jeff Burger named Tightrope the best cut. Bevan still counts it among his favorite albums.