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When I was a little kid, I had an argument with my father about ELO's album title "A New World Record". What does the title mean:

  • Is it a new achievement(record), like in Guinness Book?
  • Or is it a global vinyl disk(record) that was just released(new)?

20 year passed by, and I still don't know what it is :)

shal
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    It is simply a clever pun (that can be read either way). – Mick Nov 02 '16 at 12:02
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    Yes, it was a pun: "This album garnered fame from all around the world (a fun pun), receiving glorious approval from fans, critics, and musicians alike, and debuting in the top 10 of every country it was released. If that's not enough to get your attention then another notable fact is that the band's manager was Sharon Osborne's father. Their lead singer Jeff Lynne was often referred to as the 5th Beatle, and in less than a year, A New World Record sold more than 5 million around the globe. This is 1976 we are talking about. 5 million. That's damn impressive for a rock n' roll-orchestra." –  Nov 02 '16 at 12:04
  • @JOSH You should turn that into an answer. – Mick Nov 02 '16 at 12:06
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    ELO's A New World Record was released 11 September 1976, but Van der Graaf Generator released their World Record in October 1976. So you might think perhaps they should have swapped the names, but closer inspection reveals that VdG actually recorded theirs in May of that year, whereas ELO didn't get that far until July. – FumbleFingers Nov 02 '16 at 13:34
  • @FumbleFingers - do you think they both wanted the same title and VdG got there first? – Dan Nov 02 '16 at 14:23
  • @Dan: I had all the VdG and Peter Hammill solo albums up to and beyond '76, but can proudly say I never had a single ELO album. Probably never even listened to them except if they came on someone else's radio (I'd probably have just changed channels if my radio had started playing ELO). By which I mean I kinda doubt they served the same audience, so a partial clash of names (which I didn't know about myself until today) would hardly matter to either band. – FumbleFingers Nov 02 '16 at 14:58

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I'm from the UK (like Jeff Lynne) and I went to my first rock stadium gig in Boston - the New World Record tour show. It's always seemed right to me to think of this album as a disk for the USA, the 'New World' (as European's call(ed) it - notably, in this context, Dvorak, of New World Symphony fame).

This sense is supported by the Manhattan-skyline-at-night cover image.

The pun, for me, is between this and a new (record-breaking) achievement (a world record).

Dan
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