Secret Messages [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

E.L.O. | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 12, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 1983
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005KHEW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #180,115 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very listenable, unfairly lambasted, June 25, 2001

By 

Michael Paulsen (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Messages (Audio CD)

When this album was released in 1983, it was already clear that the Electric Light Orchestra had long since peaked (back around 1977) and so it was easy to dismiss their 80's efforts. The early 80's had the band pared down to the core foursome of Jeff Lynne, Richard Tandy, Bev Bevan and Kelly Groucutt, and it seemed -- reasonably -- that synthesizers could replace their trademark string arrangements. To be honest, I don't miss them here; besides, strings would have sounded too quaint in an age of new wave and synthpop. SECRET MESSAGES is loaded with harmonic ear candy despite a couple clunkers like "Train of Gold" and "Time After Time" (which was not included on the original US vinyl release that I grew up with). In fact, I never really liked "Rock 'N' Roll Is King" ... too much of a cheesy, tongue-in-cheek nod to rockabilly 50's! In my opinion, the outstanding cuts are "Secret Messages" (mesmerizing harmonies), "Bluebird" (bittersweet pop), "Four Little Diamonds" (the real rocker on the album), "Take Me On and On" and "Stranger" (one beautiful, wistful song).

Now properly reissued with 3 bonus tracks, perhaps these new ELO reissues will invite more people to re-evaluate them. This album along with 1981's TIME is better than most people realize.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a solid, well-produced collection, October 18, 2005

By 

Dave "missing person" (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Secret Messages (Audio CD)

I've been getting back into ELO yet again, and beginning to appreciate Jeff Lynne's talent more than ever. Electric Light Orchestra's 1983 album "Secret Messages" strikes me as a solid, badly underrated album.

Jeff Lynne was onto something here, and although it was hardly without precedent, he really hit upon an in-your-face ear-candy production style that can be strongly 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, and the results are mostly impressive.

He also wrote a bunch of 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 sumptuous. I used to dislike "Time After Time", but I have to refute myself, as this is a spacy, wonderfully-harmonized and addictive track. "Four Little Diamonds" is rather slight, but still catchy and fun. Even "Rock 'N' Roll Is King" is hardly as lousy as I used to feel it was.

I haven't changed my mind though about "Letter From Spain", which is a dull 'atmospheric' piece with that annoying repetition of "lettah" [sic] running throughout.

Specifically regarding the 2001 reissue of "Secret Messages"... The remastering is excellent. There are also a couple of flawed, but interesting, bonus tracks--the doo-wopping "No Way Out" has a really catchy harmonized bit; and "Endless Lies" has some nice melodicism, although Lynne gets carried away with his operatic vocal sections. On the downside, the third and final bonus track, the instrumental "After All" (used as a b-side for "Rock 'N' Roll Is King") is more dull 'atmospherics' along the lines of "Letters From Spain". Also, Lynne's track-by-track "commentary" in the booklet is for the most part incredibly tossed-off and perfunctory, with nearly no insight into the actual songwriting.

In the end, "Secret Messages" is a highly enjoyable piece of work with some true essential gems--very much worth discovering if you perhaps haven't heard it in many years.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Double album revealed! ELO's best?, February 19, 2006

By 

Stephen Schumacher (Port Townsend, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Secret Messages (Audio CD)

This album is simply outstanding, one of ELO's 3 very best (along with "A New World Record" and "Out of the Blue"). I don't normally fall in love with albums upon first listen, needing a little time to get into and used to them - but "Secret Messages" blew me away with each highly diverse and multi-layered and multi-faceted cut the very first time heard back in 1983.

Its predescessor album "Time" was clever as heck but somewhat self-conscious as a concept album to my ears, so "Secret Messages" felt like an incredible return to classic ELO form. The first four songs in particular are mindblowing - what a way to start a new world record!

Here's the track list of the original unreleased double album:

Side A
1. Secret Messages
2. Loser Gone Wild
3. Bluebird
4. Take Me On And On

Side B
5. Stranger
6. No Way Out
7. Beatles Forever
8. Letter From Spain
9. Danger Ahead

Side C
10. Four Little Diamonds
11. Train Of Gold
12. Endless Lies
13. Buildings Have Eyes
14. Rock 'n' Roll Is King

Side D
15. Mandalay
16. Time After Time
17. After All
18. Hello My Old Friend

All these songs are on the remastered version except for "Buildings Have Eyes", "Mandalay", "Hello My Old Friend" (these three on "Afterglow"), and the almost impossible-to-find tribute "Beatles Forever" (whose lyrics can be found at http://hjem.get2net.dk/10538overture/Tekster/ELO/BEATLES%20FOREVER.htm). So you can patch together something close to the original unreleased album using iTunes, which is well worth the trouble.

Here are some thought-provoking excerpted "secret" comments from Paul F. Johnson that only appear on the Amazon review of the unremastered CD: "Jeff Lynne solely became ELO at this point and he also found the sweet spot as a producer and singer. ... 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.' ... 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."

Also on this Amazon review thread, Ernie Clark misguidedly rates only 1 star (!#?!@*!) with the explanation that "I would be giving this remastered version of ELO's classic 'Secret Messages' cd five stars if it weren't for the fact that it's missing the final 33 second outro that was on the original cd and vinyl album. How could Jeff Lynne leave out this part of the cd?" I don't know what to say about Ernie's CD, but that spooky 33 second outro is DEFINITELY on the remastered CD that I bought. So how about restoring those missing 4 stars?!?

(...).