It's obvious that a lot of people were a little taken aback by the strongly disco inflected
and the heavy electronic glossiness of
. This was that albums follow up and you couldn't be in denial:it was 1983 and a lot of the synthesizer arrangements and production gloss that were ELO's trademark in the 70's were now par for the course. One of the things that have always helped ELO along,even though they are one of the more critically underappreciated rock bands is the fact that....well they have in many ways one of the most exciting pop/rock sounds to come along since The Beatles. Jeff Lynne always had the very good sense,knowing his music was considered to be prog rock to rely not on long winded instrumental solos and arrangements and rather on inventing melody and having the arrangements built on those. Most prog rock bands were already beginning to go in this direction in the early 80's anyway so ELO didn't have much to concern themselves with musically but keep writing great tunes. Of course there are three very basic rock n roll songs here the same as with any ELO album such a "Four Little Diamonds","Danger Ahead" and the hit "Rock & Roll Is King". All of these songs are good and catchy and all that but they all xerox the big hits from their previous few albbums. Much more interesting of the uptempo tunes are the title track,"Loser Gone Wild" and "Train Of Gold" which all owe more to new wave electro than progressive rock and pull off the concept with gusto. But these aren't exactly Duran Duran-they all manage to still be distinctively ELO. More intricate songs that take time to develop (always my personel favorite type of song anyway) such a "Blue Bird","Take Me On And On" and the beautiful,stripped down electronica of "Letter From Spain" are super examples how a band like this developed artistically when the tempo wasn't quite as fixed and drummer Bev Bevan,used to using a lot of fills in his sound rises to occasion with a lot of understatement here,to the point of sometimes barely playing at all. Some fans of ELO's mid to late 70's sound or classic rock fans in general might find this album possessed of more lightness of playing and delicate melodies (even on many of the faster songs) than they're used to but this is definately one of those ELO albums that is more than worth giving a chance if it doesn't instantly grab you.
Back in 1983, Electric Light Orchestra was on the down hill slide, but still releasing quality material. Jeff Lynne was just coming off the gold selling "Time", a great sci-fi concept album. The band went to Holland to record this album, Jeff wanted to make this a double album like "Out Of The Blue", but the nutjobs at Sony didn't think it would visable, they knew they couldn't support such a big album, because they were just getting lazy supporting ELO. Jeff had just finished up recording Dave Edmunds solo album "Information" a album that got Dave back on the map for awhile. Jeff brought in the rest of the crew Bev Bevan, Richard Tandy and Kelly Groucutt. (This would be Kelly's last album with ELO, he was let go, and Kelly sued Jeff for money thought he deserved, they would never make up as friends). When I bought this album in the early of summer of "83, I was 23 years old, and I knew ELO was heading for a finish, but I didn't know when. (3 years later with "Balance Of Power", "Zoom" came out in 2001,but that was more of a Jeff Lynne solo album). "Secret Messages" #36, was more of a pop-rock affair, than the techno-rock of "Time". "Secret" with backward masking (in some circles they were branded as devil worshipers!!) Some people are pretty lame. ELO didn't tour behind "Messages", Jeff wanted to consintrate on solo material and help produce other artists, Bev would tour with Black Sabbath on the "Born Again" tour.
Here are some of the highlights of this disc.
"Secret Messages"- "They whisper in your ear, they're calling everywhere". loved this song the second I heard it. Played a few times on our local rock station in '83. A very tight upbeat tune. Hit #48 in the U.K. singles chart and #14 in the Irish singles chart.
"Loser Gone Wild"- "There goes a loser, another loser gone wild". Starts out with that bluesy keyboard riff by Richard and then picks up the pace to a fun rock tune. Good time signatures through out.
"Bluebird"- "You work, You work so hard and then someone will come around again". Pure pop bliss, should of spun this as a single.
"Take Me On And On"- "I see the afterglow". Love Jeff's guitar here, a very mellow tune, but it's so magicial.
"Time After Time"- "And one day they'll remember, one day they will know". A CD bonus track, that wasn't on the album. Futuristic tune about the bomb, great keyboards by Richard.
"Four Little Diamonds"- "She probably thinks I was a fool- she's right". A single that should of hit the 40, but it bottomed out at #86. This rocks, it's a chugger.
"Stranger"- "I was looking for another sundown". The third single off the album, hit #105 in the States, and #33 Adult Contempary (very rare they charted on A.C.). A gentle pop piece, excellent musicianship by the band, Jeff's guitar is sharp.
"Danger Ahead"- "So believe what they say, there's danger in the air". A rockin' little tune, effectsthroughout, nice strings here by Louis Clark.
"Letter From Spain"- "Letter from Spain, from someone I once knew". Used during the Summer Olympics of '92. Kind of like "Above The Clouds", on "A New World Record".
"Train Of Gold"- "I can't get it out of my mind". A blues edge on this tune, Jeff is such a underrated guitar player, fine strings by Louis Clark.
"Rock 'n Roll Is King" - "She rolled over Beethoven and she gave Tchaikovsky back". The first single that hit #19 in the 100 and #13 in the U.K. A rockabilly tune in the vain of "Hold On Tight", see why Sony's bigwigs were lazy!
Mik Kaminski plays violin here.
The bonus tracks,
"No Way Out"- Another ELO type blues tune, kind of reminds me little of the Idle Race. Kelly's bass is tops, Jeff again plays a mean blues guitar.
"Endless Lies"- A song that first originally appeared on "Balance Of Power", more keys here.
"After All"- B-side to "Rock 'n Roll Is King". Instrumental.
Other Songs that should of been on this album, "Beatles Forever", I would love to have this offically released someday. "Buildings Have Eyes", "Hello My Old Friend" and "Mandalay" all on the "Afterglow" collection.
Someday I hope they release the "Ultimate Secret Messages". Thanks for reading.
This album kind of got me through my senior year of high school, but that isn't why I think it's important. Jeff Lynne solely become ELO at this point and he also found the sweet spot as a producer and singer. 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.
When i got this album in 1983 ELO'S popularity was on the down, to bad because this cd has everything that made ELO great in 1970's. "Secret Messages" begins the cd with a should of been hit excellent guitar rock. "Time after Time" about the bomb going off cool sounds by the master Jeff Lynne. The chugging rocker "Four Little Diamonds" #86 in 1983 what a tragedy. "Rock 'n' Roll is King" #19 in 1983 is the only song that gets any string treatment with a solo by Mik Kaminski. Jeff did a wonderful job on this disc he said looking back his heart really was'nt into it, but thankfully we have this recording for it is a truly great piece of art.
I agree with reviewers of this and other ELO CDs that this is one of the most uderappreciated bands of all time. This CD is superb, with exquisite slow stuff - Time After Time and Take Me On and On - and musical rock that still gives me chills - Four Little Diamonds and Rock 'n Roll is King. If you like early ELO, you will love this CD.
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