Dave Edmunds - Riff Raff

Celebrating its thirtieth anniversary is Riff Raff, the 1984 release from Dave Edmunds. Just like his previous album Information (click here for that review), this one was also co-produced by Edmunds with Jeff Lynne. The album, however, only spent four weeks on the US Billboard Album chart with a top spot of number 140.

The Everly Brothers - EB 84

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of EB 84, the first studio album from Don and Phil Everly after an eleven year hiatus. This 1984 release went to number 90 in Canada, number 38 on the US Billboard Album chart (with seventeen weeks total on the chart), number 36 in the UK and number 24 on the US Billboard Country chart.

Electric Light Orchestra - Discovery (35th anniversary)

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

This month marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of Discovery, the eighth studio album from the Electric Light Orchestra. The album spent thirty-five weeks in 1979 on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 5.

Click here for my full review.

Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of Secret Messages, the eleventh studio album from the Electric Light Orchestra. Released in June of 1983, it charted at number 36 on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 35 in Japan, number 19 in Australia, number 13 in New Zealand, number 11 in Austria and Sweden, number 7 in the Netherlands, number 6 in Germany, number 5 in Norway and number 4 in the UK.

Dave Edmunds - Information

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Information, Welsh rocker Dave Edmund’s second solo album on the Arista label from 1983. It charted at number 92 in the UK and number 51 on the US Billboard Hot 200.

Included up top is the cover of the US vinyl release. Later on, I have included the cover of the European version of the record.

Roy Orbison - Mystery Girl

Today (April 23rd) was the day that American singer and songwriter Roy Orbison was born. He died of a heart attack at age fifty-two on December 6, 1988.

On February 7th, 1989, the posthumous album Mystery Girl was released; Orbison had recorded the tracks in the months prior to his passing. The record turned out to be his best selling album ever, going Platinum in both the US and Canada. On the charts, it went to number 4 on the Canadian charts, number 17 on the US Country charts, number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 200, number 2 on the UK charts and number 1 in Australia, Norway and Sweden.

Happy Birthday, Jeff Lynne

Happy sixty-fourth birthday today (December 30th) to English singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jeff Lynne.

Jeff started out by playing music locally in the early 1960's. In 1970, he formed the Electric Light Orchestra (known by many as ELO) with Roy Wood and Bev Bevan. The group were together for sixteen years and made some amazing, innovative records that were a fusion of rock and classical music.

Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever

Happy 61st birthday today (October 20th) to American singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Petty.

In 1989, the Florida born musician recorded his first solo album Full Moon Fever. He did, however, get a little help from some of his band the Heartbreakers (Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench) as well as his fellow Traveling Wilburys (Jeff Lynne who co-wrote and co-produced most of the songs with Petty, George Harrison and Roy Orbison). The record went to number 3 on the Billboard 200 album charts and has been certified Platinum many times over in its first decade of release. The album was ranked number 92 in Rolling Stone's Top 100 Albums of the 80's list.

Electric Light Orchestra - Discovery

Welcome to another edition of Seventies Saturday.

In 1979, the British rock group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO for short) put out their eighth studio album Discovery and was a smash seller world-wide. It was their first number 1 album in their native UK (it debuted at the number 1 spot and stayed there for five weeks) and in Norway, and their second number 1 album in Australia. It went to number 2 in Sweden, number 3 in Austria, number 4 in Italy and number 5 in the United States. In most places, the album stayed on the charts for over half a year (in some places a little more than a year). The album also produced five singles total.