Secret Messages

Secret Messages
Studio album by Electric Light Orchestra
Released	June 1983 June 12, 2001 (reissue)
Recorded	December 1982 - February 1983 Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, the Netherlands
Genre	Rock
Length	46:52
Label	Jet Records & Columbia Records; Epic/Legacy (reissue)
Producer	Jeff Lynne; Engineer - Bill Bottrell
Professional reviews
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Electric Light Orchestra chronology
Time (1981) Secret Messages (1983) Balance of Power (1986)

Secret Messages is an album by Electric Light Orchestra, released in 1983. It would be the final ELO album to feature bassist Kelly Groucutt, who left the band shortly after its release.

Original Concept

The record was originally planned to be a double album, but the band's record company cited that it would be too expensive for a double vinyl LP due to the early 80's oil crisis. This version of the album was digitally recorded and supposed to be ELO's first compact disc before Balance Of Power. Six of the songs from the intended double album would appear as B-sides and reappear on the Afterglow box set in 1990, including a string-laden eight minute long tribute to the band's home town (Birmingham) entitled "Hello My Old Friend". Some of the tracks reappeared on the 2001 re-issue of the album. "Endless Lies", which had been altered for its inclusion on the subsequently-released Balance of Power album, appears in its original 1983 form on the 2001 remaster of this album.

Secret Messages, as its title would suggest, was littered with hidden messages in the form of backmasking, some obvious and others less so. This was 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 early 1980's American congressional hearings (a similar response had been made by Lynne on the Face the Music album, during the intro to the "Fire On High" track).^[1] In Britain the cover of Secret Messages has a mock warning to youth about the hidden messages. Word of the album's impending release in the United States caused enough of a furor to cause CBS Records to delete the cover blurb there.^[2]

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

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" would be 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, Catalonia, Spain.

Chart Positions, Chart Runs

• US: #36 Billboard 200, 16 weeks
• UK: #4 UK Albums Chart, 15 weeks
• AUS: #19 ARIA Albums Chart, 17 weeks
• CAN: #20 RPM Albums Chart, 20 weeks
• GER: #6 Media Control Charts

Original Track Listing

All tracks written by Jeff Lynne Strings conducted by Louis Clark

Side One

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 (not on vinyl LP; included on cassette tape format and 12 inch single )

Side Two

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

Bonus tracks on the 2001 edition

12. "No Way Out" - 3:28
13. "Endless Lies" - 3:26 (1983 Version, previously unreleased)
14. "After All" - 2:23

Original intended track listing for double album

Personnel

• Jeff Lynne - vocals, background vocals, guitar, 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, background vocals (Train Of Gold, Rock 'N' Roll Is King, No Way Out and Beatles Forever)
• Mik Kaminski - violin (Rock 'n' Roll Is King)
• Dave Morgan - additional background vocals
• Bill Bottrell - Engineer
• Strings conducted by Louis Clark

References