Secret Messages

Secret Messages is the tenth studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released in 1983 on Jet Records. It was the last ELO album with bass guitarist Kelly Groucutt, conductor Louis Clark and real stringed instruments, and the last ELO album to be released on the Jet label. It was also the final ELO studio album to become a worldwide top 40 hit upon release.

Secret Messages
Studio album by
Electric Light Orchestra
Released5 June 1983
RecordedDecember 1982 – February 1983
StudioWisseloord Studios, Hilversum
Genre
Length
  • 42:47 (Original release)
  • 76:29 (Original double album)
  • 71:00[1] (2018 double album)
LabelJet, Columbia
ProducerJeff Lynne
Electric Light Orchestra chronology
Time
(1981)		 Secret Messages
(1983)		 Balance of Power
(1986)
Singles from Secret Messages
  1. "Rock 'n' Roll Is King"
    Released: June 1983
  2. "Secret Messages (Special version from the LP)"
    Released: September 1983
  3. "Four Little Diamonds"
    Released: September 1983 (US), October 1983 (Europe)
  4. "Stranger"
    Released: December 1983
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
MusicHoundwoof![4]
PopMatters(favourable)[5]
Q[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]

Original concept

Secret Messages, as its title suggests, is littered with hidden messages in the form of backmasking, some obvious and others less so. This was Jeff Lynne's second tongue-in-cheek response to allegations of hidden Satanic messages in earlier Electric Light Orchestra LPs by Christian fundamentalists, which led up to American congressional hearings in the early 1980s (a similar response had been made by Lynne on the Face the Music album, during the intro to the "Fire on High" track).[8] In Britain, the back cover of Secret Messages has the mock notice "Warning: Contains Secret Backward Messages". Word of the album's impending release in the United States caused enough of a furore to cause CBS Records to delete the cover blurb there.[9]

The back cover of the record jacket (made to look like the back of a picture frame) also contains "Secret Messages" in the form of three aged and weathered stickers. One is the track listing and the other two contain mock names of the retailer and manufacturer of the frame. These names are anagrams of the 4 band members: T.D. Ryan (R. Tandy), F.Y.J. Fennel (Jeff Lynne), G.U. Ruttock (K. Groucutt) and E.V. Nabbe (Bev Bevan). The record sleeve also contains a "Secret Message". The front and back has a string of dots and dashes that is actually Morse Code and repeats "E L O": E (one dot), L (dot dash dot dot) and O (dash dash dash).

Louis Clark returned to conduct the strings once more and the violinist Mik Kaminski appeared on an ELO recording for the first time since Out of the Blue in 1977, playing a violin solo on the track "Rock 'n' Roll Is King". On completion of this album, Lynne dismissed bass guitarist Groucutt after he sued for alleged lost royalties and later received a settlement out of court.

Release

The record was originally going to be a double album, but this plan was thwarted by Jet's distributor, CBS Records, claiming that producing a double vinyl album would be too expensive; as a result, leader Jeff Lynne would have to reduce it to a single album. This version of the album was digitally recorded and would have been ELO's first compact disc.

Three singles were released from the album in the UK: "Rock 'n' Roll Is King", the title track and "Four Little Diamonds". In the US, "Rock 'n' Roll Is King", "Four Little Diamonds" and "Stranger" were issued. "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" became the band's last UK Top 20 hit. The song "Letter from Spain" was used as backing music in commercials for the Games of the XXV Olympiad, held in 1992 in Barcelona.

The songs "After All" and "Buildings Have Eyes" from the original intended double album concept were released as b-sides to "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" and "Secret Messages" respectively. The song "Endless Lies" was later re-recorded for the band’s subsequently-released Balance of Power album. Three additional songs, "Hello My Old Friend", a string-laden eight-minute long tribute to the band's home town Birmingham, "Mandalay" and "No Way Out" (along with aforementioned "Buildings Have Eyes") appeared on the Afterglow box set released in 1990.

In 2001 Secret Messages was remastered and reissued on CD with bonus tracks including the previously unreleased original 1983 version of "Endless Lies".

A 35th anniversary edition was released by Legacy Recordings on double LP and via streaming services on 3 August 2018. It closely matched the format and length originally conceived by Jeff Lynne for the 1983 release though one track remains unreleased ("Beatles Forever").[10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Other alterations from the original 1983 release include the album's outro being moved from the end of "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" to "Hello My Old Friend" and an edit of "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" B-side "After All". Updated liner notes read:

'Secret Messages' was the first and last time I ever used a digital multi-track tape recorder. We tried out a different place to record. It was Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, Holland. The sound of the room was just how I liked it. I enjoyed recording there so much, I wrote enough tunes for a double album! Anyway, this will be the first time 'Secret Messages' has escaped intact. Thanks to all you great fans who've been asking to hear the original double album for a very long time.

— Jeff Lynne

Track listing

All songs written by Jeff Lynne; strings conducted by Louis Clark.

Original LP track listing
Side One
No.TitleLength
1."Secret Messages"4:44
2."Loser Gone Wild"5:27
3."Bluebird"4:13
4."Take Me On and On"4:57
Total length:19:23
Side Two
No.TitleLength
1."Four Little Diamonds"4:05
2."Stranger"4:27
3."Danger Ahead"3:52
4."Letter from Spain"2:51
5."Train of Gold"4:20
6."Rock 'n' Roll Is King"3:49
Total length:23:24

CD track listing
Original CD Track Listing
No.TitleLength
1."Secret Messages"4:44
2."Loser Gone Wild"5:27
3."Bluebird"4:13
4."Take Me On and On"4:57
5."Time After Time"4:01
6."Four Little Diamonds"4:05
7."Stranger"4:27
8."Danger Ahead"3:52
9."Letter From Spain"2:51
10."Train of Gold"4:20
11."Rock 'n' Roll Is King"3:49
Total length:46:56
Bonus tracks on the 2001 edition
No.TitleLength
12."No Way Out"3:28
13."Endless Lies"3:26
14."After All"2:23
Total length:56:13

"Time After Time" was originally included on cassette tape format and on CD. Available on the vinyl format on the "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" maxi single and the Japan Digital Master of the album.

Original double album track list
Side One
No.TitleLength
1."Secret Messages"4:44
2."Loser Gone Wild"5:27
3."Bluebird"4:13
4."Take Me On and On"4:57
Total length:19:23
Side Two
No.TitleLength
1."Stranger"4:30
2."No Way Out"3:27
3."Beatles Forever" (Unreleased)4:30
4."Letter From Spain"2:59
5."Danger Ahead"3:47
Total length:19:13
Side Three
No.TitleLength
1."Four Little Diamonds"4:12
2."Train of Gold"4:22
3."Endless Lies"3:35
4."Buildings Have Eyes"4:04
5."Rock 'n' Roll Is King"3:10
Total length:19:23
Side Four
No.TitleLength
1."Mandalay"5:20
2."Time After Time"3:56
3."After All"0:41
4."Hello My Old Friend"8:37
Total length:18:34

Personnel

ELO
  • Jeff Lynne – Lead and backing vocals, guitars, synthesisers, bass guitar, piano, percussion, Oberheim DMX, producer
  • Bev Bevan – Drums, percussion
  • Richard Tandy – Synthesizers, grand piano, electric piano, harmonica, Oberheim DMX
  • Kelly Groucutt – Bass guitar, backing vocals ("Train of Gold", "Rock 'n' Roll Is King", "No Way Out" and "Beatles Forever")

Additional personnel
  • Mik Kaminski – Violin ("Rock 'n' Roll Is King")
  • Dave Morgan – Additional backing vocals
  • Bill Bottrell – Engineer
  • Strings conducted by Louis Clark ("Train Of Gold", "Danger Ahead", "Stranger", "Buildings Have Eyes", "Time After Time" and "Hello My Old Friend")
  • Al Quaglieri – Reissue producer (2001)

Chart performance
Country Peak
United Kingdom (UK Albums Chart)[17] 4
Norway[18] 5
Germany[19][20] 6
Netherlands[21] 7
Austria[22] 11
Sweden[23] 11
Spain[24] 13
New Zealand[25] 13
France[26] 15
Australia[27] 19
Canada[28] 20
Japan[29] 35
United States (Billboard 200)[30] 36
United States (CashBox) 33
gollark: How many towns/cities are people making now?
gollark: That was brief.
gollark: No.
gollark: Which is also possible, actually. Hm.
gollark: I think they just muck up GPS for particular locations.

References
  1. https://lnk.to/SecretMessages
  2. Secret Messages at AllMusic
  3. Larkin, Colin (ed.) (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th edn). London: Omnibus Press. p. 915. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  4. Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 382. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  5. Mathews, Kevin. "Electric Light Orchestra: Secret Messages < PopMatters". Popmatters.com. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011.
  6. "Q Magazine | Music news & reviews, music videos, band pictures & interviews". Q4music.com.
  7. Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian (eds) (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th edn). New York, NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster. p. 274. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  8. Big Secrets: Chapter 26, pages 200, 203, 204, 205 & 206. 0-688-04830-7
  9. Bigger Secrets: Chapter 28, pages 228 & 229. 0-395-45397-6
  10. https://twitter.com/JeffLynnesELO/status/1004046795956109312
  11. https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJeffLynne/posts/2335198876497758
  12. http://bestclassicbands.com/elo-secret-messages-vinyl-6-5-18/
  13. https://lnk.to/SecretMessages
  14. ELO / Secret Messages 2LP vinyl
  15. SECRET MESSAGES - 35TH ANNIVERSARY 2LP | ELO US
  16. Face The Music - HERE IS THE NEWS
  17. "Electric Light Orchestra". Offfical Charts Company. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  18. Steffen Hung. "Electric Light Orchestra – Secret Messages". norwegiancharts.com.
  19. "charts.de". charts.de. 16 January 1995.
  20. "Charts Electric Light Orchestra LP – ELO-Wiki" (in German). Jansoppart.de. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012.
  21. Steffen Hung. "Electric Light Orchestra – Secret Messages". dutchcharts.nl.
  22. Steffen Hung. "Electric Light Orchestra – Secret Messages". austriancharts.at.
  23. Steffen Hung. "Electric Light Orchestra – Secret Messages". swedishcharts.com.
  24. Steffen Hung. "Forum – I have Spanish chart archive! (General)". spanishcharts.com.
  25. Steffen Hung. "Electric Light Orchestra – Secret Messages". charts.nz.
  26. "InfoDisc : Tout les Titres par Artiste". Infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015.
  27. "chartelo". Members.iinet.net.au. Archived from the original on 18 October 2011.
  28. "Item Display – RPM – Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  29. "Oricon Style". Oricon.co.jp.
  30. "Secret Messages – Electric Light Orchestra : Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
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