- Writer: Jeff Lynne
- Producer: Jeff Lynne
- Recorded: Spring 1976 at Musicland Studios in Munich, West Germany
- Released: October 1976
- Players:
Jeff Lynne — vocals, guitar
Bev Bevan — drums, vocals
Richard Tandy — keyboards, vocals
Kelly Groucutt — bass, vocals
Mik Kaminski — violin
Hugh McDowell — cello
Melvyn Gale — cello - Album: A New World Record (Jet, 1976)
- Also On:
ELO’s Greatest Hits (Jet, 1979)
Afterglow (Epic, 1990)
Strange Magic: The Best Of Electric Light Orchestra (Legacy/Epic, 1995)
Flashback (Legacy/Epic, 2000)
The Essential Electric Light Orchestra (Epic, 2003) - “Telephone Line” was the third single from the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) album A New World Record.
- “Telephone Line” was a typically ornate production by ELO leader Jeff Lynne, who noted, “I like making records better than playing live… I like to get it right — or try to. When you’re playing on tour, you can’t do that.”
- Despite that philosophy, Lynne contends that he never spent an inordinate amount of time making ELO’s albums. “It didn’t take too long. I’d usually have all the songs (written) before we went into the studio. I’d take the songs along to the practice hall where we’d learn them… I had a tune in my head but I never told anybody what it was. It was always a mystery to everybody. I saved the words until the very last minute. It’s a weird thing to do, now that I think about it.”
- A New World Record was ELO’s first studio album for manager Don Arden‘s Jet Records label after five previous releases on United Artists.
- The album reached Number Five on the Billboard 200 — ELO’s best showing to that point — and spent nearly a year on the chart.
- A New World Record peaked at Number Six on the U.K. album chart.
FAST FORWARD:
- Though ELO broke up in 1986, Bev Bevan, Kelly Groucutt, and Mik Kaminski continue to lead ELO II, which has toured and recorded irregularly.
- Lynne has gone on to produce successful albums for George Harrison and Paul McCartney, as well as songs for Roy Orbison, Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson, and others. He also co-produced the two “new” songs for The Beatles Anthology and is a member of the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys.
- Lynne also oversaw the production of Harrison’s final album, Brainwashed, which came out last year.