"Nightrider" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Electric Light Orchestra | ||||
from the album Face the Music | ||||
A-side | " Do Ya" | |||
B-side | "Daybreaker" (Live) | |||
Released | 19 March 1976 (UK) February 1977 (US) | |||
Recorded | 1975 | |||
Studio | Musicland, Munich, Germany | |||
Genre | Art rock | |||
Length | 4:25 (Album version) 3:45 (UK single edit) | |||
Label |
Jet (UK) Jet/ United Artists (US) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Producer(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Face the Music track listing | ||||
8 tracks
|
"Nightrider" is a song from Electric Light Orchestra's (ELO) album Face the Music.
The song's title is a tip of the hat to Lynne's first major band, The Nightriders. This was the third single released from the album after " Evil Woman", in 1976. The B-side on the single was a live version of "Daybreaker" taken from the 1974 live album The Night the Light Went On in Long Beach. [1] Despite ELO's rising popularity, and the band playing the song on Top of the Pops on 29 April 1976, the song failed to chart. [2] The song was also included as the B-side on the US hit single " Do Ya". [3]
Between 3:16 and 3:19, the song features a string crescendo which was reused (played backwards, from 2:40 to 2:44) on another of the album's tracks, "Evil Woman". [4]
"I took the high string part of Nightrider that climbs up to a climax, and used it backwards in Evil Woman as a big effect. I was amazed when it slotted in seamlessly." - Jeff Lynne (Face the Music remaster liner notes)
Bassist Kelly Groucutt took the lead vocal on the second verse. [5] [6]
ELO biographer John Van Der Kiste described the song as "another of those deceptively simple-sounding songs with a very intricate arrangement." [5] Van Der Kiste describes how the song moves from "plaintive keyboard" to "more forceful chorus" to "peaceful conclusion" and praises the "otherworldly strings that are incorporated into the arrangement. [5] Barry Delve described it as a "mini-symphony" with "complex vocal arrangements and driving strings underpinning several dynamic changes." [2] Similar to Van Der Kiste, Delve describes how the song moves from quiet introduction to galloping chorus to "dreamy conclusion." [2]
Rolling Stone critic said that "Nightrider" reminded him of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. [4]