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Post by StrangeMagic on Nov 6, 2018 0:30:50 GMT
Are any incarnations of the lyrics to "Motor Factory" known to anyone? Are they in existence anywhere? Do we have any hints of their contents other than the surviving factory sounds in "Rock and Roll is King?"
I tell myself the story that Jeff planned to include "Motor Factory" on the double album and changed it to "Rock and Roll is King" when it became a single album. I have no idea if this is true or not.
I'll wager ShardEnder knows. Waiting for that book on tanderhooks.
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Post by StrangeMagic on Nov 6, 2018 0:53:34 GMT
While we are talking about "Motor Factory/Rock and Roll is King," I think I remember a much clearer bird's-eye shot of the star the band is standing on, which may have been edited out recently in a more sensitive society. I recall it was a six-pointed star, which could be a controversial symbol. The star can still be seen in the video below, although not as clearly as I recall. How do you interpret it? The star could have been a dig at Don Arden né Levi and his Jewish roots. The hexagram is sometimes used in occult magic as a symbol for the adage, "As above, so below." Essentially, what is true in Heaven is true on Earth, but there is much more to it than that. That might be too far out for ELO, although they were accused of being Satanists, and it might be another jab at those crackpots, like the backward bits in Face the Music and Secret Messages. Let's discuss.
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Post by elophile on Nov 6, 2018 13:15:49 GMT
StrangeMagic I bet it's a dig. Something makes me think if Jeff's not the king of passive-aggressiveness then he's a clear contender for the title!
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Post by ShardEnder on Nov 6, 2018 18:45:38 GMT
According to Bill Bottrell, the entire "Unexpected Moments" double album was already in the can by early December 1982 when the band flew back to the UK ahead of a planned immediate release. At this stage, Kelly was welcomed back to appear in the video for lead single Rock 'N' Roll Is King (which was filmed at the Forum in Kentish Town, by the way). Then, following a short break for the holidays, Jeff returned to Wisseloord with only his new go-to engineer and remixed a lot of the material for what was now going to be called Secret Messages. Bill told me that he left the project in February '83 with everything done, but was then informed by Jeff a little while later that he'd reluctantly cut the resulting 2LP set down to just one disc at the request of CBS.
Because of the way Rock 'N' Roll Is King was produced, all that could still theoretically remain of its earlier Motor Factory version is the instrumental backing track and wordless harmony vocals from Jeff, Kelly and Dave. The metallic percussive effects and revving engine samples are further leftovers from Motor Factory, plus we know through Dave that its refrain would have been a fictional chant sung on the production line at the Longbridge car plant: "We are working in a motor factory." Without hearing exactly how this would have fit over the music, I'm guessing part was repeated several times, much like the heavily processed "wamalamabamalama" heard in the final mix. Returning to the video again, you're probably right to speculate that its inclusion of a hexagram - not a pentagram as once thought - was Jeff having a subtle dig at Don Arden, whose once mighty Jet Records empire was on the verge of mostly self-inflicted financial collapse by the end of '82.
I'm still hoping to hear back from Bill about any possible recollections of Motor Factory, since that was perhaps the most developed outtake from the Secret Messages sessions. From what I can tell, the next was Jeff's original version of Tears In Your Life sung through Dave's vocoder, which he scrapped to recycle the basic melody into After All, then Sirens and Night Calls, finally returning to the initial idea once digital editing advanced to such a stage he could finally shuffle its arrangement without having to make permanently destructive edits onto the multitrack reel, as happened when Motor Factory was sacrificed to create Rock 'N' Roll Is King. Saying that, it's a mystery why Jeff didn't first make at least even a safety backup of Motor Factory, though I guess he wouldn't have much need to keep this around if he'd already written it off as not suitable for use.
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Post by StrangeMagic on Nov 7, 2018 7:36:19 GMT
Great information as always. Thanks, ShardEnder.
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Post by ShardEnder on Nov 7, 2018 11:08:49 GMT
No problem!
I hate being such a tease, but I learned something truly fascinating from Bill Bottrell about the Secret Messages album taking shape over what he described as several phases. Of course, he wasn't involved with the initial "Garden Rehearsals" or the last stage, when Jeff cut the running order down to a single disc - these lines of distinction have been very helpful in creating rough scope for each chapter in my book.
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Post by Timeblue on Nov 7, 2018 11:54:14 GMT
Who's to say that Jeff didn't do a backup of the song,we all know of the rumours concerning other songs and videos that may be being stored somewhere and may someday see the light of day....
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Post by ShardEnder on Nov 7, 2018 15:32:24 GMT
Bill mentioned that Jeff often wipes vocal tracks (and therefore early lyrical ideas as well) rather than backing up the multitrack tapes first, mainly because he prefers to work fast. Another example we know of from the Secret Messages sessions alone is a track called Pictures Of You - the instrumental backing for this was kept, but most of the lyrics were changed for what became Time After Time. So, if you ever struggled to figure out what Jeff's singing in the middle part of this song, here's your answer!
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Post by StrangeMagic on Nov 9, 2018 4:51:17 GMT
Bill mentioned that Jeff often wipes vocal tracks (and therefore early lyrical ideas as well) rather than backing up the multitrack tapes first, mainly because he prefers to work fast. Another example we know of from the Secret Messages sessions alone is a track called Pictures Of You - the instrumental backing for this was kept, but most of the lyrics were changed for what became Time After Time. So, if you ever struggled to figure out what Jeff's singing in the middle part of this song, here's your answer! More great information! Thanks ShardEnder.
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