Time (Electric Light Orchestra album)

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Time
Time cover
Studio album by Electric Light Orchestra
Released August 1981
June 12, 2001 (reissue)
Recorded 1980-1981 Musicland Studios Munich
Genre Rock, Art Rock, Electronica
Length 43:57
Label Jet Records Jet Records & Columbia Records
Epic/Legacy (latest reissue)
Producer Jeff Lynne
Professional reviews
Electric Light Orchestra chronology
Xanadu
(1980)		 Time
(1981)		 Secret Messages
(1983)
CD insert cover
ELO 1981
ELO 1981

Time is a concept album by Electric Light Orchestra released in 1981.

Contents

[edit] Concept

The album tells the story of a man, circa 1981, who is taken away by time travelers to the late 21st Century. Once there, he marvels at the wonders that the future offers, but is also increasingly amazed to find that he longs for his own time (the past) and the woman he left behind because of his journey forward. Although he has been provided a robot woman, who obeys his every command without question, he quickly realizes that this is a poor substitute for his lost love: the robot companion can never love or be loved by him. His desire to return to the past grows stronger once he is told that he cannot be returned to his own time, and he attempts an escape using his captors' time transporter equipment. His premature escape is foiled by his captors, and he subsequently discovers that they had only been keeping him in their future to illustrate to him how it suffers from the choices that had been made during his time. The man is finally returned to his year of origin (1981), armed with the understanding necessary for him to make a positive impact on the future.

The theme of Time bears similarities to the group's earlier concept album, Eldorado. Although Eldorado features strings much more prominently, and Time features more three-minute pop songs, both albums tell the story of a man who daydreams of being whisked away to a new and better world, only to become disenchanted, homesick, and even alienated by what he finds.

In 2001, the album was remastered and reissued on CD with three additional bonus tracks, two of which ("Julie Don't Live Here" and "When Time Stood Still") had already been released as B-sides of singles ("Twilight" and "Hold On Tight" respectively) from the original album, while the other ("The Bouncer") was originally released as the UK B-side of the 1983 single "Four Little Diamonds" from the follow-up album Secret Messages.

[edit] Musical style

Rainer Pietsch took over conducting the strings, although Louis Clark did appear (for the first time) playing keyboards in the live line-up on the subsequent Time tour. While the two preceding ELO albums (Discovery and Xanadu) were heavily influenced by disco, Time is much closer to ELO's roots of progressive rock music. Songs like "Ticket To The Moon," "The Way Life's Meant To Be," "Rain Is Falling," and "21st Century Man" are reminiscent of material from the A New World Record/Out Of The Blue era of ELO, while other tracks explore new influences such as new wave ("Twilight," "Yours Truly, 2095," "Another Heart Breaks," "From The End Of The World," and "Here Is The News"), reggae ("The Lights Go Down"), and rockabilly ("Hold On Tight") with the core ELO sound. The album reached #1 in the UK Albums Chart (see list of UK #1 albums from the 1980s). The hit single "Hold On Tight" proved to be the band's last top-ten single in both the US and UK, and the album itself achieved Platinum and Gold status in the UK and US respectively.

Lynne has since admitted that Time and the two subsequent ELO albums (Secret Messages and Balance Of Power) were only recorded to satisfy contractual obligations, and while material from every other ELO album was performed during the short-lived Zoom tour in 2001, none of the material from these three albums was included (with the exception of "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" from Secret Messages, although this song was omitted from the DVD release of the kick-off concert).

[edit] Subsequent musical influences

The musical style and theme of Time were echoed in later albums such as The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy, who cited the album as a great influence; and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips.

In an early 1980's Rolling Stone magazine interview, Steve Winwood said that Time had influenced him.

In 1999, Cher sampled a synth sound from "Prologue" and "Epilogue" at the beginning of her #1 hit single "Believe."


[edit] Track listing

  1. "Prologue" – 1:15
  2. "Twilight" – 3:35
  3. "Yours Truly, 2095" – 3:15
  4. "Ticket To The Moon" – 4:06
  5. "The Way Life's Meant To Be" – 4:36
  6. "Another Heart Breaks" – 3:46
  7. "Rain Is Falling" – 3:54
  8. "From The End Of The World" – 3:16
  9. "The Lights Go Down" – 3:31
  10. "Here Is The News" – 3:49
  11. "21st Century Man" – 4:00
  12. "Hold On Tight" – 3:05
  13. "Epilogue" – 1:30

Bonus tracks on the 2001 edition:

  1. "The Bouncer" 3:14 (B-side to "Four Little Diamonds")
  2. "When Time Stood Still" 3:33 (B-side to "Hold on Tight")
  3. "Julie Don't Live Here" 3:42 (B-side to "Twilight")

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Tour Line-up

[edit] Chart Positions, Chart Runs


Preceded by
The Official BBC Album Of The Royal Wedding by Various artists		 UK Albums Chart number one album
August 29, 1981 - September 11, 1981		 Succeeded by
Dead Ringer by Meat Loaf

[edit] References


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Electric Light Orchestra
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