Showdown
Electric Light Orchestra | Artist Essentials
First released: 1973 (year verified)
Original 1973 regular studio single recording, also on the US On the Third Day album
MusicAtlas editorial note: The slow, firmly placed groove leaves space for the string line and guitar phrases to answer each other.
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Release evidence and recording details
First released: 1973 (year verified)
Licensed original-single metadata identifies 1973, with the original recording also included in the same-year US On the Third Day program. No album day is assigned to the earlier single. Later early takes, shortened US singles and 2012 versions are distinct.
Recording: Original 1973 regular studio single recording, also on the US On the Third Day album
Credit: Electric Light Orchestra
Role in this collection: Primary artist
Original single: Showdown
On the Third Day - licensed original studio album program
The public licensed program identifies the original 1973 studio recordings, full artist credit and original track sequence. Only year precision is adopted, cross-checked with the official artist chronology. Later bonus recordings, remixes and anthology dates are not used as first release. | Reviewed 2026-10-18
ELO - licensed single and anthology edition review
Licensed anthology metadata explicitly identifies the 7-inch edit of Can't Get It Out of My Head and supplies a 1973 original Showdown single year. Selected album recordings keep their earlier album years instead of later single metadata. Evil Woman and Shine a Little Love have shorter anthology presentations than the original albums; the selected full album presentations retain real annual candidates provisionally. | Reviewed 2026-10-18
In the yearly lists
This selected recording is beyond the current yearly lists.
About Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra grew from the British group The Move, with Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood and Bev Bevan involved in its beginnings. The music combined rock rhythms and strong pop melodies with instruments associated with an orchestra. Strings, layered voices and increasingly elaborate studio arrangements became recurring features. Later albums also used disco rhythms and electronic textures. The original ELO recordings, Lynne's solo work and the Traveling Wilburys occupy separate parts of the official archive, while later ELO versions require their own recording identities.
Artist background sources
ELO - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame musical profile
The museum discusses orchestral instruments, strong pop melodies, disco rhythms and electronic studio treatments; names Bev Bevan, Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy and Roy Wood as inducted members. Used for concise career context, not recording release dates. | Retrieved 2026-10-18
ELO - Rock Hall Library original debut and earlier band context
The library identifies the original Harvest SHVL 797 debut as a 1971 release and describes The Move as the group from which ELO grew, with Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan. Its separate later-reissue personnel list is not treated as the original debut lineup. | Retrieved 2026-10-18
Jeff Lynne official music archive - original album chronology
The Sony-hosted artist archive separately dates original ELO albums from 1971 through 1986, later ELO releases, Jeff Lynne solo albums and Traveling Wilburys releases. Only original album years are adopted. Its US title No Answer is cross-checked against the museum catalog of the 1971 UK debut; month/day discrepancies are not resolved by assertion. | Retrieved 2026-10-18
Profile reviewed: 2026-10-18. Artist background does not establish a song's creative origin or release date.
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