On the Third Day is the third studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and the first to be recorded without input from Roy Wood. It was released in the United States in November 1973 by United Artists Records, and in the United Kingdom on 14 December 1973 by Warner Bros. Records. From this album on, the word The was dropped from the band's name (other than The Night the Light Went On in Long Beach which was one of their live albums). The album was reissued on 12 September 2006.

Release

On the Third Day was released in 1973 and failed to enter the UK charts at the time, although it did reach the US charts at number 52.

Track listing

Original track listing

Personnel

  • Jeff Lynne – vocals, guitars
  • Bev Bevan – drums, percussion
  • Richard Tandy – piano, Moog, clavinet, Wurlitzer electric piano
  • Mike de Albuquerque – bass, backing vocals
  • Mike Edwards – cello
  • Mik Kaminski – violin (on tracks 1–4)
  • Ted Blight – cello <small>(credited on the UK pressing, but said to be a figment of Lynne's imagination)</small>

Additional personnel

  • Wilf Gibson – violin (on tracks 5–14)
  • Colin Walker – cello (on tracks 5–14)
  • Marc Bolan – co-lead guitar ("Ma Ma Ma Belle", "Dreaming of 4000", "Everyone's Born to Die")

Charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|-

! scope="col"|Chart (1974)

! scope="col"|Peak<br />position

|-

!scope="row"|Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)

| align="center"| 46

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|US CashBox

| align="center"| 31

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|-

! Chart (2006)

! Peak<br/>position

|-

<sup>[[#endnote A|[A]]]</sup>

|}

Notes

  • A ^ Peaked the week of 20 October 2006 when Epic Records Japan released the remastered CD.

References

  • On the Third Day Remastered Info at ftmusic