| A Secret Wish | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1 July 1985 [1] | |||
| Studio | Sarm West (London) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 40:28 (LP) 52:01 (CD) | |||
| Label | ZTT | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Propaganda chronology | ||||
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| Singles from A Secret Wish | ||||
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A Secret Wish is the debut album by German synthpop band Propaganda. Released by ZTT Records in 1985, it was produced by Stephen Lipson under the supervision of label boss Trevor Horn.
The singles "Duel" and "Dr. Mabuse" were both Top 30 UK chart hits. The track "p:Machinery" (a line from which gives the album its title) was also released as a single and was featured in an episode of the '80s TV show Miami Vice and also on the video "Drum" by Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon for his Whitbread Round the World Race in 1985.
Apart from the singles, the album track "The Murder of Love" began receiving airplay in Belgium in July 1985 [3] and Norway in August 1985. [4] The album's opening track "Dream within a Dream" starting getting adds on radio in Portugal in August 1985. [5] "The Chase" also received adds in Italy in September 1985. [6]
The album was followed up quickly in November 1985 by the Wishful Thinking companion remix album.
A Secret Wish has been reissued a number of times – including as a deluxe 20th anniversary edition and as a multi-channel SACD.
In 2010 a double CD deluxe edition which marked the album's 25th anniversary.
In 2018 it was released as part of the Sony Music BMG 'The Art Of The Album' series on both vinyl & CD with an accompanying 'art print/6 page booklet' on the vinyl issue and 'hard cover/32 page booklet' with the CD. Both were advertised as 'Remastered from the original tapes ‘for the first time’, the vinyl and CD reissues will replicate the original ZTT vinyl LP / CD track listings'. However both contain the longer version of 'Dream Within A Dream' which omits the original guitar solo.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [7] |
| Record Collector | [8] |
| Record Mirror | [9] |
| Smash Hits | 8/10 [10] |
European magazine Eurotipsheet named the album one of its "albums of the week" in its issue dated July 8, 1985. [11]
A – WITHIN
B – WITHOUT
"Dream Within a Dream" has the lyrics of the poem "A Dream Within a Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe. The original 8.04-minute version features a guitar solo, the longer version has the solo omitted. "Sorry for Laughing" is a cover of the 1981 single by Josef K. "The Last Word" is an instrumental based on "Dr. Mabuse". "Strength to Dream" is the opening line from "Dream Within a Dream". On the sleeve and label, "Jewel" and "Duel" were listed as a single track, whereas "The Last Word" and "Strength to Dream" were separate.
"Jewel" is the 'cut rough' 12-inch (vocal) mix, with the opening seconds replaced by the album intro. "Duel" has minor changes within the mix, as does "p:Machinery", appearing here as the single mix. The version of "Dr Mabuse" here is the first 12-inch mix ('Das Testaments des Mabuse'), with the final minute replaced by the end of "The Last Word/Strength to Dream" from the original LP.
The three-month delay between the vinyl and CD releases gave producer Steve Lipson the opportunity to remix the album to his satisfaction, and he said that he considered the CD to be the definitive version. [12]
The original US release contained the UK CD in a longbox. Several years later, a US printing was done that had the vinyl tracks but mislabeled with the original UK CD artwork. Most subsequent reissues featured a hybrid track listing, following the vinyl for the most part, but with the addition of the longer vocal "Jewel" and "Frozen Faces".
CD
DVD
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dream Within a Dream" | Edgar Allan Poe | Mertens | 9:09 |
| 2. | "The Murder of Love" | Brücken, Dörper | Brücken, Mertens | 5:14 |
| 3. | "Jewel" | Dörper | Brücken, Dörper, Mertens | 6:21 |
| 4. | "Duel" | Dörper | Brücken, Dörper, Mertens | 4:42 |
| 5. | "Frozen Faces" | Brücken, Freytag, Mertens | Brücken, Freytag, Mertens | 4:24 |
| 6. | "p:Machinery" | Dörper | Mertens | 3:49 |
| 7. | "Sorry for Laughing" | Haig | Haig, Ross | 3:28 |
| 8. | "The Chase" | Dörper | Mertens | 3:55 |
| 9. | "Dr. Mabuse" | Dörper | Dörper, Mertens, Thein | 10:42 |
| 10. | "Dream Within a Dream" (Analogue Variation) | Edgar Allan Poe | Mertens | 8:04 |
| 11. | "Jewel" (Analogue Variation) | Dörper | Brücken, Dörper, Mertens | 3:10 |
| 12. | "Duel" (Analogue Variation) | Dörper | Brücken, Dörper, Mertens | 4:42 |
| 13. | "p:Machinery" (Analogue Variation) | Dörper | Mertens | 3:49 |
| 14. | "Dr. Mabuse (First Life)" (Analogue Variation) | Dörper | Dörper, Mertens, Thein | 5:03 |
| 15. | "The Last Word (Strength to Dream)" (Analogue Variation) | Dörper, Mertens | Dörper, Mertens | 3:03 |
| Total length: | 79:38 | |||
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Do Well" (The First Cut/Duel/Jewel (Cut Rough)/Wonder/Bejewelled) | Dörper | Brücken, Dörper, Mertens | 20:06 |
| 2. | "Testament One" | (instrumental) | Brücken, Dörper, Mertens | 1:20 |
| 3. | "Die tausend Augen des Mabuse" | Dörper | Dörper, Mertens, Thein | 9:47 |
| 4. | "Sorry for Laughing" (Unapologetic 12" Version) | Haig | Haig, Ross | 10:12 |
| 5. | "Thought (Part I)" | (instrumental) | Dörper, Thein | 2:08 |
| 6. | "Thought (Part II)" | (instrumental) | Dörper, Thein | 0:29 |
| 7. | "p:Machinery" (Goodnight 32 Mix) | Dörper | Mertens | 4:12 |
| 8. | "The Chase" (The Goodnight Mix) | Dörper | Mertens | 3:55 |
| 9. | "(Echo Of) Frozen Faces" | Brücken, Freytag, Mertens | Brücken, Freytag, Mertens | 10:20 |
| 10. | "p:Machinery (p:Polish)" | Dörper | Mertens | 9:24 |
| 11. | "Testament Three" | (instrumental) | Brücken, Dörper, Mertens | 0:26 |
| Total length: | 72:28 | |||
"Do Well" is the cassette single version of "Duel". "Die tausend Augen des Mabuse" is an extended version of the 6'31" twelve-inch mix (aka "13th Life"), without the early fade out. "Thought" (parts one and two) appeared together on Wishful Thinking (part two is the "p:Machinery" reprise). The Goodnight 32 mix of "p:Machinery" was released in 1985 on a 7-inch single as "p:Machinery (reactivated)".
Also appearing: Andrew Richards, John McGeoch, Steve Howe, David Sylvian, Glenn Gregory, Trevor Horn, Johnathan Sorrell, Ian Mosley
| Chart (1985) | Position |
|---|---|
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [13] | 5 |
| European Top 100 Albums ( Eurotipsheet ) [14] | 20 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [15] | 24 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [16] | 21 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [17] | 25 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [18] | 14 |
| UK Albums Chart [19] | 16 |
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...Such is the tangled mess of drift and accident, chance and clanger, the confluence of business types and techno dweebs, theorists and contradictory panhandlers who contributed to A Secret Wish, it's a wonder they didn't end up sounding like some industrial Bucks Fizz. As the work of a committee of contributors, it should have been a mess with no significant identity to speak of. Twenty-five years on, it remains a very lonely highpoint of '80s avant pop — a cogent vision so durable it could easily have sustained serious further exploration, instead of collapsing in ruins after this one record, seemingly over money and because of personal conflict.
