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Secret Messages

Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages Audio CD

A fair review of the Electric Light Orchestra "Secret Messages" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Electric Light Orchestra reviews here, or go back to the Electric Light Orchestra tabs.

Band: Electric Light Orchestra
Title: Secret Messages
Rating:

Release Date: 2009-08-04
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Secret Messages 2: Loser Gone Wild 3: Bluebird 4: Take Me On and On 5: Time After Time 6: Four Little Diamonds 7: Stranger 8: Danger Ahead 9: Letter from Spain 10: Train of Gold 11: Rock & Roll Is King 12: No Way Out [*] 13: Endless Lies [#][*] 14: After All [*]

Track-wise, original release is better than re-issue
I adored (still do) the post-Roy Wood / pre-Discovery albums, and really missed Jeff Lynne's complex and full-bodied orchestral and choral arrangements, through which the group had (after Wood's departure) truly fulfilled its name, "The Electric Light Orchestra. I remember being disappointed when this album first appeared on vinyl. " When they officially changed their name to "ELO" upon the release of Discovery, it signified a dramatic change in the group's approach to popular music.

Since the original release of Secret Message, however, the album has grown on me and I now agree wholeheartedly with those who have said that this is one very good, very underrated album - with the caveat that I am referring to the original album as first issued on vinyl and CD, not the re-issued version. There is not a bad song on the original release - most are at least very good, and a couple are almost on par with the group's best work. Some, like Bluebird, Take Me On And On , and Letter From Spain, harken back to the deeply emotional quality of some of Lynne's earlier song writing. All of them are rich in texture. The guitar work on Take Me On And On, for instance, is crisp and bluesy; and Train Of Gold reveals new layers of sound upon repeated listening. Other reviewers have complained that Rock 'N' Roll Is King is ultra-poppy and rockabillyesque. All true, but the song nonetheless is exactly what it strives to be. I think it still fits in stylistically with the rest of the album (partly due to the excellent guitar work, which characterizes much of Secret Messages); and, as the last track on the original release, Rock 'N' Roll Is King provides a nice finale.

Having said all of this, the re-issue of Secret Messages is ruined by the insertion of Time After Time, which, stylistically, is completely out of place in the middle of the album, and breaks up the otherwise perfect mix and progression of music. More detrimental, though, is the simple fact that Time After Time is one of the worst songs Jeff Lynne and company ever produced. The bonus tracks on the re-issue also suffer for the same reasons. All of the these extra songs sound a lot like the sub-par tracks that later appeared on the final ELO album (before Zoom), Balance of Power. For reasons I myself don't understand, other Amazoners have given Balance of Power rave reviews, so I guess folks who like that album will like the extras on the Secret Messages re-issue. Those who like the original version of Secret Messages and agree that BoP is a weak album may be disappointed and should perhaps stick with the first Messages release. The 30 second track samples on Amazon will be enough to help you decide, so give them a listen before purchasing. If you don't like the extra tracks on the re-issue you'll be able to find the original Secret Messages release for sale someplace on the Web, if not on Amazon. .

a solid, well-produced collection
However, 1983's "Secret Messages" strikes me as a solid, badly underrated album. I'll be perfectly honest right off the bat and say that I'm not a particularly big fan of the Electric Light Orchestra.

Jeff Lynne was onto something here, hitting upon an in-your-face ear-candy production style that can be detected in his subsequent production work with George Harrison and Tom Petty. Lynne hadn't entirely abandoned real orchestration here, although to a large extent he had. There are lots of synthesizers--he admits in the liner notes of this 2001 reissue of the album that he was after a more hi-tech sound. Although it would be an exaggeration to say that he completely avoided the overproduction trap, overall he did do an impressive job of making the album sound thickly layered without sounding terribly overdone.

He also wrote some quality songs. The uptempo title track is a highly catchy harmony-fest with earthy and atmospheric electric guitar. The tempo-shifting "Loser Gone Wild" is a terrific track with an engagingly bluesy feel on the verses and an extremely catchy, richly harmonized chorus. "Bluebird" is a wistful and affecting, if slightly melodramatic, mid-tempo pop-rocker. The reflective "Stranger" is a supremely enjoyable ballad that sounds very similar to Al Stewart's "Song On The Radio". "Take Me On and On", with its ringing arpegiatted guitars and hushed moody feel, is also solid. "Four Little Diamonds" is rather slight, but still catchy and fun.

There are some lapses of taste. "Time After Time" is hard to get a handle on and goes way overboard with the female vocalists' endless repetition of the title. "Letter From Spain" is a dull 'atmospheric' piece with that annoying repetition of "lettah" [sic] running throughout. The rockabilly styled "Rock 'N' Roll Is King" is corny and has some overblown production/ arranging details.

In the end, "Secret Messages" certainly doesn't entirely hit the nail on the head, but it's still quite a satisfying piece of work that's highly recommended.

(P. S. The 2001 CD reissue of "Secret Messages" is preferrable thanks to a couple of interesting bonus tracks and terrific remastering. ).

Mediocre songs, but the beginnings of something great
Jeff Lynne solely become ELO at this point and he also found the sweet spot as a producer and singer. This album kind of got me through my senior year of high school, but that isn't why I think it's important. This was the 80s -- tons of reverb, the beginning of pitch changing, and all kinds of unnatural stuff was happening in recording studios. Lynne took it a little backwards: lots of Queen-type layering but without the other-worldly effects.

The Willburys sound was born in this album. I am still not sure how he got that overly processed-yet-dry sound that is the Jeff Lynne trademark, but it really seems to have begun with "Secret Messages. "

Give a real listen to "Rock 'n' Roll Is King. " The shifting effects in this song coupled with the more than competent songwriting still holds up (and rightly embarrasses) the Pro-Tools fueled efforts of today.

Rick Rubin and Jeff Lynne have done as much for the sound of what we hear today as anyone, and this CD is a good source for understanding why. . . but forget all that "importance" crap. . . there are just a lot of cool songs to listen to.
.

The dying Light.
While Lynne did a good job of creating some memorable songs, by this time he had really started to miss the mark as to what fans truly wanted from him. Here is the Electric Light Orchestra's swan song. Now the lead guitarist, and front runner of the Electric Light Orchestra had started using ELO as the actual name of the band, and was cutting even more corners, as well as group members. No longer interested in the band's persona, or legacy, J. Lynne had decided to be an "artist" rather than a writer of music for the E. L. O. . He was tired of the same old thing and wanted to "grow" and "evolve" his vision for the band. This meant, of course, that the music would change. This release has the Lynne touch, musically, but it lacks, completely, the depth, and beauty of an orchestral influence. You will be hard pressed to hear any symphonic instruments at all, as this was the continuation of Jeff's "forget the cellos, we have synthesizers" attitude. He actually took on the jobs of many of the other members, and became the group itself. I gave this recording 3 stars because, as I said earlier, the writing, and the voice of Lynne were still working fairly well, and his talent does come through, but the rest of the band, for the most part, was no longer there, and the sound shows it. Worth the buy, but as Discovery showed, the E. L. O. was moving into a more plastic neighborhood.

Bad sound quality
I have the original vinyl and there's definitely something wrong with the sound quality on this CD. As a big ELO fan I was very disappointed by the soundquality on this CD. In the left channel the audio is dropping out from time to time, especially on passages where the soundlevel is low, like in the intro of the title track.

Compared to the remastered version of "Secret messages" included on the "Flashback" box-set this album is a major disappointment for all fans of ELO and good sound quality.

Better to wait for a remastered version, if there'll be one.

You can see a complete list of all Electric Light Orchestra discography, or go back to the Electric Light Orchestra tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.