Secret Messages

Secret Messages is an album by Electric Light Orchestra, released in 1983 through Jet Records. It would be the last ELO album to feature bassist Kelly Groucutt, conductor Louis Clark and real stringed instruments. It was also the final ELO studio album to become a worldwide top 40 hit upon release. The record was originally planned to be a double album. This version of the album was digitally recorded and was to have been ELO's first compact disc. 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.