Nightrider (song)
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"Nightrider" | ||||
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File:Nightrider single.jpg | ||||
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) |
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Recorded | 1975 | |||
Studio | Musicland, Munich, Germany | |||
Genre | Art rock | |||
Length | 4:25 (Album version) 3:45 (UK single edit) |
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Label | Jet (UK) Jet/United Artists (US) |
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Songwriter(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Producer(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
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"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. It was released in 1976 as the third single from the album in the United Kingdom. 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]
References
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- Pages with reference errors
- Use dmy dates from July 2014
- Use British English from July 2014
- Articles with hatnote templates targeting a nonexistent page
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- Song articles with infoboxes with non-standard extra track listings
- 1976 singles
- Electric Light Orchestra songs
- Jet Records singles
- Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne
- Songs written by Jeff Lynne
- United Artists Records singles