Electric Light Orchestra - UK Audio 8-tracks
Comments and Observations
A Brief History of 8-track Tapes:: The 8-track cartridge, commonly known as the 8-track tape or simply the 8-track, was a popular format in the UK (and even more so in the USA), although outside of the UK, it never was popular. The name derives from the tape having four stereo tracks on one tape, which could be played individually based on where the tape head was placed. It was also the ideal format for quadraphonic recordings prior to the introduction of surround sound, but it was rarely used for such, as the life of the quadraphonic format was very short lived.
Although the format was popular for it's mobility, there were notable limitations. The main disadvantages of the technology are the audible clicks when changing tracks and the occasional audio bleeding between the tracks when playing back: With maladjusted devices, parts of the adjacent tracks can also be heard quietly. In addition, the tape was not "unrolled" but "pulled out" in the middle; the result was far greater wear and earlier loss of quality than the consumer was used to from coil devices. For multiple reasons, they also had a high failure rate after multiple plays.
ELO on 8-track Tapes:: For the Electric Light Orchestra, not counting compilations, the entire 1970s era catalog was released on 8-track, from The Electric Light Orchestra to Discovery. In the UK and Europe, ELO were often changing labels, complicating any rereleases under a new label. Under United Artists, as ELO had gotten more popular, the Face The Music album was repressed with the United Artists markings. By the time of the switch from United Artists to CBS, as ELO gained even more in popularity, the 8-track format's popularity remained small. CBS repressed the new, hot Out Of The Blue 8-track with the CBS markings, but only used the United Artists 8-tracks of Face The Music and A New World Record with a sticker obscuring the prior record company markings. This was because Jet had ordered many of the 8-Tracks for Face The Music and A New World Record with the Jet/UA markings and they were still not sold out in 1978. But Jet had paid for them, and they were still Jet property. So they didn't want to throw them into the bin, and create printed Jet/CBS 8-Tracks for a lot of money. Reissues in any way of On The Third Day and Eldorado were never even attempted.
EMI changed their sleeves from plastic shell, full-colour inner and black/white stripes to one sided open glossy cardboard sleeves in 1973. Of course those were cheaper to manufacture. Also Warner Brothers changed from full cardboard box (4 sides closed) to 2-side open, 2 windows neutral slip cases. The United Artists slipcases were one-side open and give the explanations in English, German and French languages on the back, and glued the cartridge sticker also on the cardboard sleeve. So it could be sold in all European countries. CBS got white plain slip cases with the cartridge sticker glued on the cardboard sleeve. Out Of The Blue and Discovery used the white plain sleeve.
The UK 8-Track artwork are broadly based on the design of the US tapes, but there are some notable differences. The EMI 8-Tracks only show a black and white print on the album's front-cover artwork on the cartridge and lists the four "programs". The 8-Tracks all had a transparent plastic shell that was open on the side. There was a colored insert with the album information, which really created a very good impression. The tape itself and the plastic shell were each shrink-wrapped in a transparent foil.
Issue Date Tape Detail Comments The Electric Light Orchestra 1972
Spine Front Back Harvest - 8X-SHVL 797 (1E 346 o 92970)
Program 1: 10538 Overture / Whisper In The Night Program 2: The Battle Of Marston Moor (July 2nd, 1644) / Manhattan Rumble (49th Street Massacre)
Program 3: Look At Me Now / Nellie Takes Her Bow / Mr. Radio (part 1)
Program 4: Mr. Radio (conclusion) / First Movement (Jumpin' Biz) / Queen Of The Hours
The program playing time is around 10:25, with breaks of around 10 seconds between the songs, being varied slightly.The separation from Mr. Radio occurs on program 3 exactly at 1:06 after the word "...on my own". Program 4 contains the remaining 3:54 of Mr. Radio. It begins with the 3 tones from the prelude to the second verse.
With this clever change of the song order, only Mr. Radio had to be divided. The album flow also works in this order.
The paper sleeve was a wraparound type only, wrapping lengthwise around three sides of the tape only.
8X-SHVL 797 (1E 346 o 92970), has a blue cartridge, the inlay is printed with gold. The program order was different than on the USA's United Artists 8-Track.
Hear a Mr. Radio track change sample.
ELO 2 1972
Spine Front Back Harvest - 8X-SHVL 797 (1E 346 o 92970)
Track Detail Program 1: In Old England Town (Boogie No. 2) / Momma (part 1) Program 2: Momma (conclusion) / Roll Over Beethoven (part 1)
Program 3: Roll Over Beethoven (conclusion) / From The Sun The World (Boogie No. 1) / Kuiama (part 1)
Program 4: Kuiama (conclusion)
The program duration is approximately 10:25.Program 1 contains a 17 second pause prior to Momma which is cut at 3:08 with the last note of the violin in the solo part and is not faded out.
Program 2 begins with the remaining 3:49 of Momma opening with the drums before the cello solo at 3:09. After a 10 second break, Roll Over Beethoven follows, which is only quickly ended at 6:28 with the second sung “...blues”.
On program 3, the remaining 0:32 begins immediately and includes the last seven sung "roll over Beethoven". After each 10 second pause before and after From The Sun To The World there is still 1:10 of Kuiama, which fades quieter after the "...so bad" at 1:06.
On program 4 there is 10:02 Kuiama, which starts immediately with "My, my Kuiama..." of the second verse and contains around 23 seconds of silence at the end of the track.
The paper sleeve was a wraparound type only, wrapping around three sides of the tape only.
The band name was printed larger on the album's artwork than on the LP-Cover. In addition to black, the cartridge is also available in blue and green.
Hear a Momma track change sample.
Hear a Roll Over Beethoven track change sample.
Hear a Kuiama track change sample.
On The Third Day 1973
Spine Front Back Warner Brothers - K856021
Track Detail Program 1: Ocean Breakup / King Of The Universe / Bluebird Is Dead / Oh No Not Susan Program 2: Oh No Not Susan (continued) / New World Rising / Daybreaker
Program 3: Daybreaker (continued) / Ma-Ma-Ma Belle / I'm Only Dreaming
Program 4: I'm Only Dreaming (continued) / In The Hall Of The Mountain King
The tracklisting does not show the song breakdown across tracks or the running times, thus the buyer would not know in advance what to expect across tracks.On program 1 there is still the interlude opening of Oh No Not Susan until 0:04 and is faded quieter at 0:03.
On program 2, Oh No Not Susan fades in for 3:02 at 0:04 and is back at full volume at 0:06. Daybreaker ends at 1:47 and fades out at 1:45.
On program 3, Daybreaker fades in at 0:47 for 2:04 and is at full volume at 0:49. Dreaming Of 4000 (here I'm Only Dreaming) ends at 3:08 with "quiet emotion" and becomes quieter at 3:06.
On program 4 the song lasted 1:56 and fades in at 3:08 and is at full volume at 3:09. After In The Hall Of The Mountain King there is another 20 seconds of silence.
The two separations in the interlude opening of Oh No Not Susan and in Dreaming Of 4000 are well chosen, together with the 20 second pause at the end of the tape.
Apart from "All tracks composed by Lynne except * which is a traditional arrangement by ELO", and "This recording is also available on LP Record and Cassette", there are no other notes on the cover. In order to minimize the technical effort required for cover design, the Warner Brothers 8-tracks were placed in a resealable neutral WB cardboard box with a blue stripe and the same three-sided sticker with the album artwork, song titles and details of the case was also stuck on the cardboard box. The two Warner Brothers 8-Tracks of On The Third Day and Eldorado each show the full LP front covers.
Hear a OhNoNotSusan track change sample as well as a bit of the tape roller seizure and warble.
Hear a Daybreaker track change sample (with some strong track bleeding).
A sample of I'm Only Dreaming is not given here as the recording had so much tape bleed it was impossible to hear over other tracks.
Showdown 1974
Spine Front Back Harvest - 8X-SHSP 4037 (0C 346 o 05698)
Track Detail Program 1: 10538 Overture / From The Sun To The World (Part 1) Program 2: From The Sun To The World (conclusion) / Whisper In The Night / First Movement (Jumping Biz)
Program 3: Roll Over Beethoven / Queen Of The Hours
Program 4: In Old England Town / Showdown
By swapping Queen Of The Hours with First Movement, only one song had to be divided.From The Sun To The World is separated at 5:20 on program 1 and briefly faded quieter at 5:19. On program 2, the remaining 2:54 begins again at 5:20 with the chord at full volume.
Hear a From The Sun To The World track change sample. Eldorado 1974
Spine Front Back Warner Brothers - K856090
Track Detail Program 1: Eldorado Overture / Can't Get It Out Of My Head / Boy Blue Program 2: Boy Blue (continued) / Laredo Tornado / Poorboy (The Greenwood)
Program 3: Poorboy (The Greenwood) (continued) / Mister Kingdom / Nobody's Child (part)
Program 4: Nobody's Child (entirety) / Illusions In G Major / Eldorado / Eldorado Finale
K856090, the track listing has the same scheme as for On The Third Day, not showign the song breakdown. Thus the buyers does not know, which songs and at which running time the songs were separated.Boy Blue is separated on program 1 at 3:14 after the first "...blue is back" and faded out at 3:09.
On program 2 it lasts for 2:03 and fade in at 3:15 on the second "hey boy blue..." on and has full volume at 2:18. Poor Boy fades out after the third "my head" at 3:08 and ends at 2:16 with "my life".
On program 3 it continues for 0:41 with "for Greenwood" at 2:17 and has full volume at 2:19. Nobody's Child ends at 3:36 with the "Ahh ahh ahh" and fades out at 3:34 with the two "ahh".
On program 4 it lasts for 20 seconds, and fades in at 3:36 at the fourth "ahh" and is back to full volume with the following "painted lady" at 3:40.
The US order was not adopted, but the LP order was simply separated at a quarter of the playing time, so the statement that "the following titles were divided into four programs of equal length" is to be taken absolute literally!
Additional information about the album credits is listed: "All songs written by Jeff Lynne. Produced by Jeff Lynne. Prologue spoken by Peter Forbes-Robertson. Arrangements by Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy and Louis Clark. Orchestra conducted by Louis Clark."
Absolute astonishing is the fact that Peter Forbes-Robertson is mentioned correctly here, and not incorrectly as Ford-Robertson, as was the case on the LP editions.
Another Warner Brothers edition from end of 1975 in a white case is already published by United Artists Music Ltd./Jet Music Ltd. and was probably generously imported into the USA, as they are very often found there. Maybe the overwhelming success of Eldorado probably made this step necessary.
For the later editions, a neutral Warner Brothers slipcase was developed that was open at the top and bottom and contained two window cutouts for the cartridge front and back. The ribbon was protected by a plastic clip and the slipcase was shrink-wrapped in PE foil, thereby saving additional strips of paper on the box.
Hear a Boy Blue track change sample.
Hear a Poorboy (The Greenwood) track change sample.
Hear a Nobody's Child track change sample.
Face The Music 1975
Spine Front Back Jet - JET TC 11 (3801 168)
Track Detail Program 1: Fire On High / Poker Program 2: Nightrider / Waterfall
Program 3: Evil Woman / Strange Magic / Down Home Town (Part 2)
Program 4: Down Home Town (Part 2) / One Summer Dream
Program 2 contains about 11 seconds of pause after Nightrider and the 15 second orchestral interlude before Evil Woman after Waterfall. Unfortunately, this is followed by another 10 second break to reach 9:14 for the program length.Program 3 plays Evil Woman directly without its orchestral interlude and after about 3 seconds of pause the orchestral interlude follows before Strange Magic. This is followed by the intro of Down Home Town for 25 seconds, which is faded quieter at 21 seconds.
On program 4, Down Home Town starts at 0:25 and is fully there at 0:27. One Summer Dream ends at the full LP length.
The song order is different than on the UA 8 tracks. The odd listing of Strange Magic and Down Home Town song titles cannot be fully explained, since the two songs are not really connected, so a Down Home Town (intro) and Down Home Town (song) would have done the same. The separation point is very well chosen so that it does not look like a separation. With the help of longer breaks, Polydor managed to maintain the flair of the album with the beginning and the three songs in the final sequence.
JET TC 11 (3801 168), was released in an open-topped cardboard slipcase that simply said "8TRACK STEREO" and also has the cartridge's three-sided sticker stuck on it. "Words & Music by Jeff Lynne, Orchestra conducted by Louis Clark, Arrangements by Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy, Louis Clark, Produced by Jeff Lynne. Publisher United Artists Music Ltd. / Jet Music.
Also available on Jet LP 11 and Musicassette Jet MC 11 (p) 1975 Jet Records" was the information on the sticker.
Hear a Down Home Town track change sample.
A New World Record 1976
Spine Front Back United Artists - 8XU 30017
Track Detail Program 1: Tightrope / Mission (A World Record) Program 2: So Fine / Living Thing / Above The Clouds (Part 1)
Program 3: Above The Clouds (Part 2) / Telephone Line / Rockaria!
Program 4: Do Ya / Shangri-La
8XU 30017, has the same song order as the US 8-track and lists 9:22 program playing time, and the LP's label credits on the sleeve. Of course, Jet-UK don't want the shortened Tightrope and Rockaria! tracks, like on the American United Artists tapes, take over and extended the program length by exactly the missing 5 seconds and made a new mas-ter tape with 9:27. It cannot yet be said whether this only applies to the UK 8 tracks or whether it was also used for the UA tapes in general.Above The Clouds, Telephone Line / Rockaria! and Do Ya / Shangri-La at the end, the drama of the album hardly gets lost.
In program 2, Above The Clouds now plays until 1:55, but is only faded out very quickly after the "believe me now" within the following second.
Program 3 now plays 1:35 from Above The Clouds, which fades in at 0:41 with "I can tell you that is true..." and is full back at 0:43. The song that was only 2:17 is now included here with 3:30. Rockaria! is now complete with its false start and full ending included as on the LP.
The album artwork consists only of the ELO logo without the skyline, northern lights and lettering. At United Artists, the tape itself and the neutral UA cardboard sleeve that was open at the top were shrink-wrapped in transparent foil. It is also interesting that the cardboard sleeves contained a note on handling and storing the 8-track, which was written in English, German and French, first made in yellow lettering, later in white color. The lack of umlauts made it clear that the texts were written in England. At least this makes it clear that there would be no independent German and French 8-track editions. The two stickers of the case for the front cover and back cover with spine were stuck on the slipcases, just like Warner Brothers and Polydor did that.
Hear Above The Clouds featuring the track change.
Face The Music 1976
Spine Front Back United Artists - 8XU 30034
Track Detail Program 1: Fire On High / Poker Program 2: Nightrider / Waterfall
Program 3: Evil Woman / Strange Magic / Down Home Town (Part 1)
Program 4: Down Home Town (Part 2) / One Summer Dream
8XU 30034, was re-released on United Artists as well as an LP and MC, whereby as a Jet product the tried and tested Polydor program order was retained and not the USA order was used: With exactly the same separation after the Intro from Down Home Town, the tape makes a better impression than the USA one.Now the program length was also printed: 8:59, 8:57, 9:14 and 9:14, with the two shorter programs ensuring the full 9:14 through the clever placement of the breaks, as in the Polydor edition.
On the case sticker, which was also stuck on the neutral UA cardboard slipcase with trilingual instructions in yellow letters, the credits were printed in a different order and sometimes twice: "All titles composed by Jeff Lynne. All titles published by United Artists Music Ltd./Jet Music. Words and Music by Jeff Lynne. Arrangements by Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy and Louis Clark (p) 1975 Now the program length was also printed: 8:59, 8:57, 9:14 and 9:14, with the two shorter programs ensuring the full 9:14 through the clever placement of the breaks, as in the Polydor edition. The design of the album title lettering above the now complete cover photo was also used on the MC edition.
Out Of The Blue 1977
Spine Front Back United Artists - 28XU 100
Track Detail Program 1: Turn To Stone / It's Over / Sweet Talkin' Woman / Across The Border / The Whale (Part 1) Program 2: The Whale (Part 2) / Sweet Is The Night / Wild West Hero / Jungle / Night In The City (Part 1)
Program 3: Night In The City (Part 2) / Starlight / Believe Me Now / Steppin' Out / Birmingham Blues
Program 4: Standin' In The Rain / Big Wheels / Summer And Lightning / Mr. Blue Sky
There was a clear focus on the complete 'Concerto For A Rainy Day'. It's on program 4 and not separated, ending the album with dignity. The "please turn me over" fits well because it "automatically" begins again with Turn To Stone afterwards. In order to achieve this, parts of The Whale and Night In The City were repeated after the split, and thus "extended" by 4:53 and 3:58 respectively. The 8-track album is 8:01 minutes longer than on the LP!Program 1 disconnects from The Whale at 3:10, and shuts down at 3:06.
However, program 2 starts again with The Whale at 0:02 and has 4:55. So 4:53 is duplicated in The Whale. Night In The City gets fade out at 1:43 before the slide effect with the guitar hits and ends at 1:50 with the slide fading away.
On program 3, however, the song starts again at 0:03 and thus contains almost the entire song at 3:58. This includes 3:58 from Night In The City twice. It can be doubted whether the songs that start from scratch improve the listening experience.
Program 4 is completed with no edits or interruptions, thus preserving the Concerto for a Rainy Day.
Hear a The Whale track change sample. Hear a Night In The City track change sample.
Face The Music and A New World Record 1978 After the distributor change in May 1978, the A New World Record, Face The Music and Out Of The Blue 8-tracks were also given a new order number as JET ET 200, JET ET 201, JET ED 400. For A New World Record and Face The Music initially only white stickers with the new Jet/CBS number were stuck over the old Jet/United Artists order numbers.
The albums Eldorado and On The Third Day were not re-released as 8-tracks in the UK on Jet by either United Artists or CBS.
Out Of The Blue 1978
Spine Front Back CBS - JET ED 400
Track Detail Program 1: Turn To Stone / It's Over / Sweet Talkin' Woman / Across The Border / The Whale (Part 1) Program 2: The Whale (Part 2) / Sweet Is The Night / Wild West Hero / Jungle / Night In The City (Part 1)
Program 3: Night In The City (Part 2) / Starlight / Believe Me Now / Steppin' Out / Birmingham Blues / Standin' In The Rain (Part 2)
Program 4: Standin' In The Rain (Part 2) / Big Wheels / Summer And Lightning / Mr. Blue Sky
Of the independent Jet/CBS 8-tracks, only "Out Of The Blue" JET ED 400 has appeared so far. Here the program length was 1 minute shorter (17:51) than on the United Artists 8-track and therefore one more track, Standin' In The Rain, has to be divided.The Whale fades out at 1:52 and ends at 1:59.
On program 2 the song is 3:04 which fades in at 2:00 and has full volume again at 2:04. Night In The City fades out at 2:19 with "drivin'..." and ends at 2:28.
On program 3 the song lasts 1:33 and fades out at 2:29 and is back to full volume at 3:36 on "face". Standin' In The Rain fades out at 1:04 and ends at 1:17.
On program 4 are the remaining 2:43, which fades in again at 1:17, 3 seconds before the "hey..." and has full volume again at 1:24 in the keyboard run.
It's a shame that the 'Concerto For A Rainy Day' can no longer be listened to in one go. But the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, because at a playback speed of 9.53 cm/sec, 5.71 m of tape per cartridge is saved per minute. In A New World Record this corresponds to 52.72 m of tape per cartridge, but in Out Of The Blue it corresponds to 105.84 m or after the shortening only 100.12 m. The printed "double tape" on the sleeve is probably more of a warning that thinner tape material had to be used for twice the amount of a tape, and that it tear more easily or causes tape tangles more quickly, as a shorter and thicker tape. But the main reason may have been to cut the repetitive parts of The Whale and Night In The City.
28XU 100, showed an excerpt from the LP front cover with "Double Play" printed above it in white letters. The song order makes it clear that it was certainly a takeover of the US 8 track, with a program playing time of 18:51. Also in the matching UA cardboard slipcase with the glued-on cover strips, which was now produced with white writing, in black/white so to speak, and was also used for the further editions of A New World Record. Discovery 1979
Spine Front Back CBS - JET ED 400
Track Detail Program 1: Shine A Little Love / Confusion / Need Her Love (Part 1) Program 2: Need Her Love (Part 2) / The Diary Of Horace Wimp / Last Train To London (Part 1)
Program 3: Last Train To London (Part 2) / Midnight Blue / On The Run (Part 1)
Program 4: On The Run (Part 2) / Wishing / Don't Bring Me Down
Need Her Love gets quieter at 1:19 with the second "I need..." and ends with a barely audible choir at 1:26.The remaining 3:44 begins in program 2 with the repetition of the choir from 1:25 and reaches full volume at 1:28.
Last Train To London fades out at 1:36 with "...own" and ends at 1:41 after "only one around" after the 3rd verse and fades out at 1:38 with "you are the only..."
On program 3 it turns on again at 2:50 and is at full volume at 1:41. On The Run gets quieter at 2:28 during the "do it" and ends at 2:36 after the "...on the run again". The rest is faded quieter on program 4 for 1:25 at 2:28 during "do it again" and has full volume again at 2:32. So 4 seconds were repeated and no part of it was faded!
Strangely, at the end of the programs there is almost 25 seconds of unbearably long silence before the tape switches, but only 5 seconds of silence before the song fades back in on the following program. With program 4 it's even 33 seconds!
Jet EX 500, lists the "Total Program Time" from 9:51 to 9:58 and, unlike in the US, maintains the al-bum's LP expiration. The album title and band name were printed slightly enlarged on the LP front cover artwork. The full album credits from the inside foldout of the LP were printed in the same font on the back cover of the 8-track. A cardboard box has not turned up so far, so it could be that the 8-track cartrigde was just sealed in a plastic foil.
Hear a Need Her Love track change sample. (coming soon)
Hear a Last Train To London track change sample. (coming soon)
Hear a On The Run track change sample. (coming soon)
Quadraphonic 8-track: The Quadraphonic "8-Track" from The Electric Light Orchestra, Q8-SHVL 797 (0C 346 0 92970Q; 7406 EJD) only has 2 programs, as four tracks are used for each of the 4 channels. As the ultimate quadraphonic format, the recordings can be distributed exactly across the four channels. With the LPs, two channels were always mastered together, which were then mathematically separated again for playback.
Issue Date Tape Detail Comments The Electric Light Orchestra 1972(?)
Spine Front Back Harvest - Q8-SHVL 797 (0C 346 0 92970Q; 7406 EJD)
Track Detail Program 1: 10538 Overture / Whisper In The Night / The Battle Of Marston Moor (July, 2nd 1644) / Manhattan Rumble (49th Street Massacre) Program 2: Look At Me Now / Nellie Takes Her Bow / Mr. Radio / First Movement (Jumping Biz) / Queen Of The Hours
It is not entirely clear why this song order was chosen. Because even if songs have to be swapped to get the same playing time, you can still stick to the LP order as best as possible. First Movement before Mr. Radio would have worked too. The song order here is now identical to the UK Stereo 8-track of that album.The quadraphonic cartridge is of course not an 8-track in the traditional sense, but since it has eight tracks, it fits perfectly. However, on a normal 8-track player you can only hear 2 channels, which means that the quadraphonic devices had sound-heads from which 4 tracks could be played at the same time. Unfortunately, there are only a few copies of the Quadro-8-Track that are sold on E-bay for around 600 EUR. Copyright is stated as © 1972
Final Thoughts
The 8-track format in the UK proved not as popular as in the USA, but it did do well compared to continental Europe. By the mid-1970s, mainland Europe was had already started investing more in the compact cassette format, thus leaving the less reliable and track limitations of 8-track behind. These issues and dwindling 8-track selection in the shops meant that 8-tracks were popular for long. Indeed, the first two albums has very limited release on 8-track (including a quadraphonic version) and after 1979, no more UK 8-tracks were released.
For many UK and Europeans, the 8-track remained a niche format only. In Germany, an attempt was made to establish the format in the early 1970s, but unfortunately it failed. Warner Germany still advertised the cartridge format when it released On The Third Day, but left it as it was in mid-1974.
This page is intended to be a complete record of Electric Light Orchestra's USA 8-track tape releases. If you notice any errors or omissions, please contact us at jefflynnesongs@gmail.com and let us know. We strive for accuracy.
Patrik Guttenbacher & Robert Porter
January 2026