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Post by wolvesgirlgonewild on Oct 15, 2016 22:00:11 GMT
I would love to buy a book on the making of Secret Messages as I love learning about the process of making an album and all the technical stuff and learning new information about ELO in general. Don't worry about making us wait for it to be published, good things take time and we're happy to wait because we know it's going to be worth the wait! I look forward to reading it and giving you my opinion on it
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Post by ShardEnder on Oct 15, 2016 22:38:00 GMT
For those of you looking to avoid international customs fees, I'm planning to release a digital version of my book as well. My publishers had actually suggested that I think about launching this first as a way of testing the market to see just how many physical copies - if any - they should print to meet demand. As this is a detail we'll only lock down once they have a finished product to review, it may yet be my only option (unless someone's willing to finance another company having their own legal team to go over my work, since I've had to be very careful about what makes it beyond the initial research stage to protect my current distributors).
I'm not sure how many of you are aware of this, but I've started having to limit the amount of teaser information I can share because Rob Caiger and at least one noted reissue producer at Sony's Legacy division have been lurking over at the Steve Hoffman Music Forums, where I've also been quite active by keeping members in the loop about progress on this book. Due to the sensitive nature of certain subjects and how I managed to obtain exclusives relating to these, I'm being careful not to get anyone in the bad books with Jeff's camp, plus I certainly wouldn't want to bring myself to the attention of "Mr. Blue Sky" himself for the wrong reasons!
Following my earlier hint, I will say that I've managed to uncover a very convincing case for at least one professional recording from the Time Tour possibly still existing. However, I must emphasise that it's highly unlikely this will ever see the light of day, assuming the necessary master elements could be located. Thanks to a few of my trusted sources, I've found several extremely promising leads, and there's even been some talk of at least two future archival projects based around material from ELO's final years together. Actually, one of the key motivators I had to broaden the scope of the book is due to me unearthing another most unexpected surprise, though again, I can't say any more at this point.
P.S. Actually, I'll risk putting my neck out by giving you this quick, final clue: Kelly Groucutt may not be around to have the last laugh or enjoy his legacy, but he left a determined family behind... would YOU help them if the opportunity came up?
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Post by ShardEnder on Oct 15, 2016 22:53:43 GMT
The wait should also be worth it because I'm hoping to hear back from Al Quaglieri, who produced the 2001-7 remasters. If anyone knows the exact content of that mythical "CDR acetate" pressed at Abbey Road and featuring outtakes from Secret Messages, compiled so Jeff could audition potential bonus tracks for its reissue as part of this campaign, he's the most likely person. Also, don't forget that Bill Bottrell agreed to write a short introduction about his first engineering job with ELO (on the initial demo for All Over The World, recorded in late 1978) plus memories of the Secret Messages and Balance Of Power sessions...
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Post by BSJ on Oct 16, 2016 2:36:56 GMT
ShardEnder , enough teasing us. Please keep the fantastic bits under wraps. Please.
We are excited for you and your book! I will wait as long need be.
A fan,
BSJ
Hard copy please. Signed.
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Post by unomusette on Oct 16, 2016 17:53:11 GMT
What she said
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Post by ash2 on Oct 19, 2016 18:42:19 GMT
put me down for one Hardback (can you sign it as well)
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Post by orangefiltersky on Oct 25, 2016 12:45:57 GMT
For those of you looking to avoid international customs fees, I'm planning to release a digital version of my book as well. My publishers had actually suggested that I think about launching this first as a way of testing the market to see just how many physical copies - if any - they should print to meet demand. As this is a detail we'll only lock down once they have a finished product to review, it may yet be my only option (unless someone's willing to finance another company having their own legal team to go over my work, since I've had to be very careful about what makes it beyond the initial research stage to protect my current distributors). I'm not sure how many of you are aware of this, but I've started having to limit the amount of teaser information I can share because Rob Caiger and at least one noted reissue producer at Sony's Legacy division have been lurking over at the Steve Hoffman Music Forums, where I've also been quite active by keeping members in the loop about progress on this book. Due to the sensitive nature of certain subjects and how I managed to obtain exclusives relating to these, I'm being careful not to get anyone in the bad books with Jeff's camp, plus I certainly wouldn't want to bring myself to the attention of "Mr. Blue Sky" himself for the wrong reasons! Following my earlier hint, I will say that I've managed to uncover a very convincing case for at least one professional recording from the Time Tour possibly still existing. However, I must emphasise that it's highly unlikely this will ever see the light of day, assuming the necessary master elements could be located. Thanks to a few of my trusted sources, I've found several extremely promising leads, and there's even been some talk of at least two future archival projects based around material from ELO's final years together. Actually, one of the key motivators I had to broaden the scope of the book is due to me unearthing another most unexpected surprise, though again, I can't say any more at this point. P.S. Actually, I'll risk putting my neck out by giving you this quick, final clue: Kelly Groucutt may not be around to have the last laugh or enjoy his legacy, but he left a determined family behind... would YOU help them if the opportunity came up? Dear ShardEnder, you could tell your publisher that I will buy a physical copy on day one, but I will definitely NOT buy a digital version. I am stubbornly old-fashioned when it comes to reading texts :-). And re the P.S. in your last post: This sounds rather cryptic to me, but maybe you cannot say any clearer what you mean, because you don`t want to make even more waves?!
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Post by ash2 on Jan 3, 2017 20:53:37 GMT
*cough* ....Any Closer?
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Post by IvanDSM on Jan 3, 2017 23:10:37 GMT
Also curious about progress on the book. Very willing to buy it of course!
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Post by ShardEnder on Jan 5, 2017 0:35:39 GMT
This isn't the kind of progress update I wanted to give you all, but there are just some circumstances in the world beyond anyone's control...
As many of you will have probably already heard by now, we lost Kelly Groucutt's son on Monday. For those unaware, Chris had been planning to do something with tapes left by his father, with the focus of his attention being Kelly's unreleased second solo album from 1983. Although fully recorded (with string arrangements from Louis Clark, no less), mixed and submitted back in the day, Riva Records chose instead to try recovering some of the expenses from this project along with Kelly's self-titled LP - both produced using studio time paid in advance, presumably because everyone anticipated ELO levels of commercial success - by remixing its predecessor in the hope it might crack the lucrative US market. Despite filming a promotional video for lead single Am I A Dreamer that even became one of the first songs placed in heavy rotation on MTV, the efforts failed, and Kelly's planned follow-up saw its fate sealed.
Rather than borrow heavily from this material, Kelly wrote mostly new songs for his later ventures, including the short-lived Player outfit, which evolved into OrKestra before he finally joined ELO Part II. However, it seems that he never quite gave up on this project, with Chris more recently finding tapes of countless private remixes his late father had made over the years, perhaps with the intention of finally resurrecting "Kelly 2" for a long overdue release. Since the discovery of Kelly's cassettes and digital files, Louis Clark helped build further momentum for Chris' efforts by sharing images of the original sheet music for his string overdubs, confirming that the majority were indeed recorded in 1982/3. From a personal perspective, this is most interesting because it reveals that Kelly worked on two albums while still technically a member of ELO, and I can imagine this must have affected his professional relationship with Jeff Lynne, who'd already stronly advised his other colleagues against having anything to do with music he feared might dilute their collective legacy.
What does any of this have to do with my book? Well, if you've not been keeping up with my extensive discussions over at the Steve Hoffman forums, I was in the process of negotiating something of a gentleman's agreement to donate a share of the eventual proceeds from my work to help Chris and the Groucutt family achieve Kelly's dream to finally let his rejected 1983 album see the light of day! My understanding is that Kelly's archive only contained a handful of stereo mixes on cassettes plus an assortement of attempted remixes from these hidden away on his computer's hard drive, and naturally you'd need something of much better quality unless the best highlights were to be selected as potential bonus tracks with a reissue of his first album, which received the expanded treatment not too long ago. While this may be hard for Kelly's loyal fans to accept, there isn't enough demand to justify such an archival project.
So, unknown to most of the world, behind the scenes there had been serious talks about how much it might cost to lift some of Kelly's old vocals and place these over new instrumental tracks, possibly with fresh orchestrations from Louis Clark, should he be willing to commit to the idea. Of course, Lou falling seriously ill a while back proved to be a major hurdle that has now been thankfully overcome, though I can't imagine how much any future plans will be affected by the passing of Chris. I've not yet spoken to anyone else from the Groucutt family about what to do next, and since they've requested to be left in peace for now, I'll have to pass on these unfortunate developments to my publishers when they next get in touch with me in a few days. One thing I will say for now is that it's been difficult continuing to refine my work all of a sudden, and that's before I even mention the other more direct problems I've been facing.
With the eyes of the music world on ELO in a very big way at the moment due to a lot of activity that includes the group's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the chance at a reunion and everything Jeff's doing this year, I've been warned to tread very carefully when it comes to putting out a book that may damage Mr. Blue Sky's public image in particular. In a recent interview, Bev suggested that part of him selling his 50% stake in ELO back to Jeff included a clause preventing either side from disclosing exactly what happened behind closed doors to tear this once tight-knit bunch of friends apart so acrimoniously. Worse, unless I balance exactly how much blame I direct to certain people, there's a very real chance I might be served with my own cease and desist order. I can't say too much, but as I've mentioned before, I've already received an offer from Team Jeff to skew the facts in his favour, which I kindly declined. However, there's a possibility they may yet demand a pre-release copy for their approval, and I'm especially worried about the damage I might cause in the fragile peace between a few insiders who've kindly offered exclusive information under the strict condition my sources remain anonymous.
Now, this is quite the controversial subject, as a book of this type is commonly expected to feature at least a bibliography to state where its contents originated. For most of the time, I've simply put together various facts and quotes that were previously scattered in the deepest, darkest corners of the internet. On the other hand, there are several major points that appear to be exclusive to my research, and in many cases, outright naming of the references could open up a wealth of legal challenges from Jeff's camp in particular. I would love to believe my work can remain under the radar of such scrutiny, so to speak. However, that's very unlikely when I've already been approached by a representative of Jeff. Also, there's little doubt that Rob Caiger has seen what I plan on doing - whether he reports my activity back remain to be seen.
I'm terribly sorry for sharing such negative news, but it's still not the end of my journey. At the very worst, I'd genuinely think about taking up the previous offer and putting out a heavily whitewashed account of the events surrounding ELO's work in the 1980s, though I can assure you that I'd rather not if I can help it. For starters, I just know that so much of the interpersonal elements and previously unpublished aspects would be forced to remain on the proverbial cutting room floor. Just yesterday, I was contacted by someone connected to the recent batch of ELO remasters. Prepared to divulge a few truths with me, they ended our conversation with the request that I don't pass a few details around. I've managed to somehow go from just another fan writing an impassioned labour of love to a credible investigative journalist. Most of all, I'm respected for my integrity, which I'm certainly not in a hurry to ruin.
With that, I'll return to the painstaking process of sorting all my research into an order as close to chronological as I can manage before then filling in the blanks to seamlessly transition from one point to the next, or at least that's my plan. If I do end up going quiet for any lengthy period, it's only because I'm busy continuing to put together an entire book on a very specific point in ELO's history that has previously only been covered in a few chapters at the most. Jeff might be content to keep ignoring this era, but that's not to say it wasn't a fascinating time. Believe me, those last few albums were the result of combined musical inspiration, personal drama and professional interference that would have sunk lesser artists. Instead of thinking of this book as a slam on any one individual, my hope is that everyone I'm writing about can see the appreciation I've developed for their patience. Finally, if we don't get a reunion of ELO's inducted members at their upcoming ceremony, just cross your fingers that I'll be able to explain some of the many reasons why this isn't The Way Life's Meant To Be.
Let's stay positive and spare a thought for Chris tonight!
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Post by ShardEnder on Jan 19, 2017 4:45:49 GMT
I was hoping to wait a little while longer before sharing any more (hopefully positive) news on my project, but that was before I got carried away and wrote what amounts to quite a substantial preview in another thread, so please forgive me bumping this topic for a link to elsewhere on the forum: jefflynneselo.proboards.com/thread/1110/elo-1-2
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Post by Horacewimp on Jul 21, 2017 14:37:59 GMT
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Post by ShardEnder on Jul 21, 2017 16:21:18 GMT
If all goes to plan, my book will be released in November...
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Post by IvanDSM on Jul 21, 2017 20:17:58 GMT
If all goes to plan, my book will be released in November... YES! That's great, great news! Very happy to hear this, ShardEnder! Can't wait for it!
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Post by ShardEnder on Jul 29, 2017 2:48:18 GMT
If all goes to plan, I'll be able to share some more news regarding my project in the next few weeks. Here's a small gift to make the wait a bit less quiet, and please feel free to use this in your own work: sendvid.com/xg3wexwpUnfortunately, my previously unannounced proposal to include a complementary multimedia disc with every copy of the book was rejected on cost grounds, much like how CBS thwarted Secret Messages in its 2LP form, ironically enough. While copyrighted material was naturally off the proverbial menu, I'd hoped to treat you all to a selection of rare ELO pictures, print media articles and even vintage Jet adverts. However, the real surprise would have been items like the above sound clip, which I'm sure many of you will recognise, only not in as different a form. I should probably give a quick explanation for those who may not be able to hear the linked video: with the help of a certain source who provided incredible levels of detail, I've managed to conduct such extensive research that I could accurately reproduce samples from Time, Secret Messages and Balance Of Power to highlight isolated musical pieces that I thought were deserving of greater interest, backing up points I will be making in my finished text. This particular example is the drum loop from the first half of Hello My Old Friend, recreated using the same Oberheim DMX samples as the original. Even the swing and tempo settings are 100% faithful to Jeff Lynne's DSX sequence programming from August 1982, though I chose not to wildly pan across the stereo field as he did, mainly because the other elements aren't present for these combined tracks to "bounce" against. I was amazed to learn that the speed of this song actually drifts from 72BPM to 71BPM due to a hard edit made on the multitrack tape - by Bill Bottrell with a razor blade, no less! - just before the start of the middle breakdown section. If you were in any doubt as to the unprecedented levels I'll be going with this book, here's what I hope is a tantalising preview... How about guide on emulating some of Richard's custom OB-Xa patches, for instance? Maybe you want more bark from your DMX? Another snippet that I could potentially upload in the future is the unedited sound effect Jeff chopped up for the intro to Yours Truly, 2095. Fans of classic pinball machines will know this as the game over jingle from the Harlem Globetrotters On Tour, released in 1978 by Bally and present in the lounge at Musicland Studios. Indeed, you can see this very model during the short documentary on the making of Queen's One Vision, helping to confirm its identity. (Now if only I could figure out the specific brand of ashtray that Mack recorded Jeff throwing through the glass coffee table situated in the same area for the beginning of On The Run, or the type of fire extinguisher present on Mr. Blue Sky, though I guess that I'll need something worthwhile to justify the inevitable revised second edition!)
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