Gary Owen's Blog

With Michael Nesmith (2015): Click here:  Grand Ennui - Michael Nesmith & The First National Band  Click here:  Grand Ennui - Gary Owen

Well, here's an interesting one..... In 1983, ELO delivered their album "Secret Messages"  to the record label as a two-record set. CBS promptly told Jeff Lynne it was too expensive to press it up so he was forced to trim it down to a single platter. Many tracks were dropped- but over the course of a few years- some trickled out as "B" sides to 7" and 12" singles. Others finally saw the light of day via ELO box sets and "Hello My Old Friend" is one of them. It finally came out as part of ELO's 1990 US-only  "Afterglow" box set. I've read that- by 1983- Jeff Lynne wanted to end ELO to pursue a solo career- and as a sort of majestic send-off for the band- this epic 7-minute-plus opus was to be the closing track on "Secret Messages" .  The band owed CBS two more albums and I guess Lynne thought he could fulfill the contract with this double release. When it was finally released in 1983, the LP reached #36. ELO w

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Here is a video montage sample of some of the music I perform.

"Sea Of Tranquility" hails from one of my favorite Gordon Lightfoot LP's:  "Dream Street Rose" (reached #60). The hypnotic melody- with it's wistful and clever lyrics- describe life in and around nature (forest, rivers, ocean). Lightfoot has a knack for clearly describing all the colorful elements like "old rusty nails" or "where the varmints hang out". Quite an ethereal tune and one of his best. "Dream Street Rose" (1980):