or to summarise, one version of ELO Secret Messages could have been

Hi

So one proposed track listing could have been 

ELO Secret Messages double LP

Side 1

Secret Messages, Loser Gone Wild, Bluebird, Take Me On And On

Side 2

Stranger, No Way Out, Beatles Forever, Letter From Spain,Mandalay

Side 3

Train Of Gold, Danger Ahead, Afterall, Endless Lies, Hello My Old Friend 

Side 4

Four Little Diamonds, Buildings Have Eyes, Time After Time, Rock and Roll is King.


Now go build your MP3 directory.

I think it flows

Interesting find - another version of the double album

hi

please don't ask, you know items appear and disappear,are played to you, you promise ....

The following comes from a cassette, and is a proposed version of the Secret Messages double LP

Side 1

Secret Messages, Loser Gone Wild, Bluebird, Take Me On And On

as before but Secret Messages might be what is referenced on Robert Porters jefflynnesongs.com

"Secret Messages (the song) has an early mix with Jeff's vocals less processed and a slightly different intro."

Remember the source is a cassette made over 30 years ago

Side 2

Stranger, No Way Out, Beatles Forever, Letter From Spain,Mandalay

Or perhaps the missing disc 1 of the 4th March 83 SM acetate

Side 3

Train Of Gold, Danger Ahead, Afterall, Endless Lies, Hello My Old Friend 

Afterall is the 41 second version (or closer to 36)

Hello My Old Friend does have wind noise before it, but its close to 6 seconds

Danger ahead clocks in around 3:30, rather than 3:50, It sounds slightly sped up, but listening to the released version again, that now sounds slightly slowed down, These 50 year old ears are not sure.

And might be what's causing confusion on the acetates previously mentioned.

Side 4

Four Little Diamonds, Buildings Have Eyes, Time After Time, Rock and Roll is King.

Some of the songs are linked in the same way as happens on side 1.

Not sure of date - ebay listing for Acetate version

and then on ebay appeared

An unmatched in terms of dates version of the double album

Disc 1 Mastered 11th March 83

Secret Messages, Loser Gone Wild, Bluebird, Take Me On And On.

Stranger, No Way Out, Beatles Forever, Letter From Spain, Danger Ahead

Disc 2 Mastered 4th March 83

Train Of Gold, Danger Ahead, Endless Lies, Hello My Old Friend

Four Little Diamonds, Buildings Have Eyes, Time After Time, After All, Rock and Roll is King.


It was noted that

Danger Ahead had a different intro on disc 1
Danger Ahead on disc 2 was the standard acetate version
Hello my old friend has a 3 second wind intro
Afterall was the 41 second version

[Mandalay was missing]


Secret Messages came out in (5th ?) June. Less than 3 months after these demo discs were made.

 It shows Jeff was still unsure of the track order, but did have an idea of whats songs he wanted.

June 2001 - New Secret Messages re-issue

During June of 2001, the ELO remaster campaign was in full flow.

The CD was re-issued with three bonus tracks

12  No Way Out  3:26
13  Endless Lies  3:25
14  After All        2:23

and so we had all the tracks, but not all the correct mixes

May 2001 - Pre zoom playing

hi

and then the holy grail appeared.

Play for fans and captured "illegally" was Beatles Forever

Although, poor is sound quality it was made available for us to hear.

I must admit, I didn't think it was good (as a song), and not a lead single as suggested in certain interviews.

But it meant that we were closer to making our own versions of the double album.

One song to go .......


.....

It appears that Beatles Forever had been played more than once, a second version appear on social media, same sound quality, but without the crowd noise.

2000 - Flashback appears

Towards the end of 2000, flashback appeared

which gave recording dates for

Tears in your life
Greigs Piano Concerto
Helpless

around the time of Secret Messages, were they meant to be part of the original version

But, at least,  it also gave us Afterall on CD

Life is still puzzling

1990 - around the time of Afterglow

Hi

Around the time of Afterglow, a suggested track listing for the double album of Secret Messages appeared.

Side A - 19:23
"Secret Messages" – 4:51
"Loser Gone Wild" – 5:17
"Bluebird" – 4:13
"Take Me On and On" – 5:02

Side B - 19:13
"Stranger" – 4:30
"No Way Out" – 3:27
"Beatles Forever" – 4:30
"Letter from Spain" – 2:59
"Danger Ahead" – 3:47

Side C - 19:23
"Four Little Diamonds" – 4:12
"Train of Gold" – 4:22
"Endless Lies" – 3:35
"Buildings Have Eyes" – 4:04
"Rock 'n' Roll is King" – 3:10

Side D - 18:34
"Mandalay" – 5:20
"Time After Time" – 3:56
"After All" – :41
"Hello My Old Friend" – 8:37

Great we all said. And then realised we did not have

Beatles Forever

or the mixes for

Afterall  41 second version
Endless lies - we were told it was a different mix to BOP
Hello My Old Friend - did it just have the ending from album version of Rock'n'roll is King "cut and pasted"  to it

and perhaps it was meant to have a different cover

Life was not good.

race to 1990 - afterglow appears

Hi

Then in 1990, Afterglow appeared and added

Which added three more new tracks

Hello my old friend
Mandalay
No way out

gave us Buildings have eyes on CD

and a longer intro to Four Little Diamonds

Life was getting confusing

and the again - bonus track on B side

Then came the secret messages 7" and picture disc with another new song

A Secret Messages
B Buildings Have Eyes

and the four little diamonds 12", another new song

A Four Little Diamonds 3:55
B1 Letter From Spain 2:55
B2 The Bouncer 3:10

Joy.

And life was good.

(for a few years)

and then .... - new track on cassette

Hi

and then I found the cassette

with

A1 Secret Messages
A2 Loser Gone Wild
A3 Bluebird
A4 Take Me On And On
A5 Time After Time
B1 Four Little Diamonds
B2 Stranger
B3 Danger Ahead
B4 Letter From Spain
B5 Train Of Gold
B6 Rock'n Roll Is King

But that was OK, as a loyal ELO fan I had bought

with

A Rock 'N' Roll Is King 3:07

B1 After All 2:21

B2 Time After Time 3:59

So I had "Time after Time" and the instrumental from the B side of the 7"

Life was good again

June 1983 - First release of SM

Hi

I bought this from Woolies in Newquay the Friday before it was due to be released.

With the track listing

1. "Secret Messages" – 4:44
2. "Loser Gone Wild" – 5:27
3. "Bluebird" – 4:13
4. "Take Me On and On" – 4:57
5. "Four Little Diamonds" – 4:05
6. "Stranger" – 4:27
7. "Danger Ahead" – 3:52
8. "Letter from Spain" – 2:51
9. "Train of Gold" – 4:20
10. "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" – 3:49

As it said on the back 

And life was good.