![electric light orchestra on the third day songs electric light orchestra on the third day songs](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/xS0AAOSwaKVcgfkI/s-l300.jpg)
I enjoyed recording there so much, I wrote enough tunes for a double album! Anyway, this will be the first time 'Secret Messages' has escaped intact. The sound of the room was just how I liked it. It was Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, Holland. We tried out a different place to record. 'Secret Messages' was the first and last time I ever used a digital multi-track tape recorder. Jeff wrote when it was re-released in 2018. It was reissued as a double album in it's original format and the songs were in the order Jeff had wanted before CBS execs took a axe and ruined his vision. I was fortunate to pick up the 140g reissue(NEW) of the album a year ago. Songs were arranged out of order, it really changed the feel of the album. Jeff was upset when CBS axed a lot of the songs, which to Jeff disrupted the flow and theme of the album). It was originally released as a single album(Jeff had enough for a double album but CBS wanted a single album). I think Secret Messages is one of the last great ELO albums and is often overlooked. Above all, however, this balance on "On the Third Day" was pretty good and accordingly, in my humble opinion, the more poppy successors can't keep up "On the Third Day" regarding the quality of recorded material. Unlike the pure Art Rock that is so great on their first two albums, the result here is rather straight pop-rock, but anything but flat music (apart from "Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle") is on this album. The combination of common, Beatles-tested melodies and harmonies simply complements perfectly with the concentrated force and the consistently playful arrangements. It is therefore relatively easy to grasp what ultimately makes "On the Third Day" so fascinating. The concluding "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is an adaptation of a movement from the Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg and was a favourite for live performances in the early days of ELO. "Dreaming of 4000" is a great song which takes up the mood of the first side of the record. After the instrumental piece "Daybreaker" with its emphasis on the keyboard, "Ma-Ma-Ma-Belle" is followed by the obligatory 'rocker', interesting here is the interplay of strings and hard guitar. The second side, on the other hand, drops off a bit. It's actually a straight pop-rock song, but well done, without banalities. The first page of the record ends with "Showdown", a very catchy track. Really well done and a highlight of the album. The song is exciting, again with a very large part for violin and cello and has a great, catchy melody. "Ocean Breakup Reprise" is much more artistic and corresponds much more to the magnificent Art Rock sound of Electric Light Orchestra the debut self-titled album from 1972. The lively "New World Rising / Ocean Breakup Reprise" closes the suite with a furious use of strings. Because the music is not "pasted up" with massive efforts by the choir and orchestra, as is sometimes the case on their later records, the small string section of the ELO comes into its own much better. After a short instrumental transition, "Bluebird is Dead", which somehow reminds me of The Beatles, and "Oh No Not Susan" are two rather melancholy pieces that are largely kept in the later ELO sound. "Ocean Breakup / King of the Universe" begins with a dramatic sounding string sequence that soon changes into the typical melodic ELO sound. The first four songs are arranged in the form of a suite and each connected by a small transition, a technique that ELO was to extend to an entire album a year later with "Eldorado". Here, too, they forego the addition of a choir and orchestra. On their third studio-album, Electric Light Orchestra moved a little further away from their genre-defining 'Art Rock' beginnings. Here is a brief album review by Bruce Eder from AllMusic : The album closes with their adaptation of Grieg's classical piece: In the Hall of the Mountain King. These are nice songs, but several other tracks are really good to my ears - and I would put this album in the prog rock category. It contains 2 of their minor radio hits: Showdown and Ma-Ma-Ma Belle. This is the band's 3rd album, released in 1973. So I was thrilled when I received On the Third Day as part of Chris' gift to Progressive Ears. I didn't really think of them as progressive rock, despite the fact that they used strings (violin/cello) and despite Fire On High sounding pretty cool.īut several months ago, I picked up Eldorado for $5, and I liked it, so I thought I should try to get more of their stuff. I knew them by their big radio hits like Evil Woman, Strange Magic, and Don't Bring Me Down. I never really got into ELO, being a teenager in the late 70s early 80s. Credit for this featured CD : Twelfth Earl of Marīased on a CD received from the collection bequeathed to Progressive Ears by the late Chris Buckley ( Winkersnuff)