Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Electric Light Orchestra
Label: Epic Records
Released: 1981
Length: 43:57
Rating: 3/5
By 1981, the star of art rock legends Electric Light Orchestra was sinking fast, both creatively and commercially. The first signs of decline for what had once been one of the most successful rock bands around showed up with the release of “Xanadu” (1980), the soundtrack to the film of the same name, recorded with pop princess Olivia Newton-John. That blatantly commercial pop project let down plenty of fans, who had been hoping the band would finally return to its art rock roots after the disco phase.
ELO boss Jeff Lynne, the charismatic singer, guitarist, occasional keyboardist and producer, finally noticed the rift that had suddenly opened up between the band and its longtime fans, but as it later turned out, it was already too late to save the band from falling apart, since the roots had by then gone properly rotten. The result of his sudden U-turn back to the band’s prog rock origins was the concept album “Time”, an ambitious project and a reasonably successful attempt at returning to art rock roots after a brief fling with disco.
Sound perfectionist Lynne went wild experimenting here with the hugely popular synthesizer technology of the day. Synths take the dominant role on “Time”, while the string section, once the band’s trademark, became a thing of the past. The orchestral sound is now the product of a complete synthesizer simulation courtesy of Lynne and keyboardist Richard Tandy. The result is a noticeably more electronic, synthetic sound, a typical product of its time that sounds pretty archaic today, but is perfect for anyone who wants to use music to travel back to the early ’80s. Which, slightly ironically, is also the central theme of the “Time” concept.
“Time” was their first concept project since the excellent “Eldorado: A Symphony” (1974). The story itself is nothing special or innovative, having been used plenty of times in sci-fi, but it still fits the nature of the individual songs in a fairly convincing way. It’s about a guy from 1981 who gets whisked away by time travelers to the late 21st century. Once he turns up in the future, he can’t stop marveling at the achievements of that era, but he’s also baffled by himself, since his mind keeps drifting back to his own time and to the woman he loves and left behind because of his journey. Even though he now has a robot woman who obeys his every whim, he realizes she’s a poor substitute for the love he’s lost. The robot companion is incapable of love, and can’t receive it from him either.
The longing to return to his own time only grows when his captors tell him he can’t go back. So he decides to try to escape by using his captors’ time machine. The escape attempt fails, and he finally realizes they’re holding him in the future until he understands for himself how the wrong decisions of his present have shaped his future. The guy is eventually able to return to his own time with the important insight that he can influence his future in a positive way. This existentialist sci-fi concept is in many ways similar to the one on “Eldorado”; both protagonists yearn to escape to a better world, only to realize in the end that things will never be better for them than in their own time or dimension.
Musically, the album is stylistically very eclectic, almost like in their best days, except that the emphasis is on shorter pop rockers, mostly around three minutes long. Besides the trademark ELO art-pop rockers (most of the album), on “Time” they also experimented with new wave influences (a good number of songs), reggae (“The Lights Go Down”) and even rockabilly (“Hold On Tight”).
After “Prologue”, a short orchestral intro on synths and electronic effects simulating a robot’s voice, comes “Twilight”, a fairly representative ELO pop rocker with excellent harmonies, a synth-driven orchestral section and an effective chorus. Setting aside the rather flat sound of Bevan’s drums and the heavy-handed synthetics, Lynne’s excellent vocal performance nudges it close to ELO classic status. “Yours Truly, 2095” is a pretty fun fusion of new wave and art rock, with heavy experimenting with electronics and digital effects. The splendid harmony-laden chorus, set over orchestral harmonies, is still that trademark ELO chorus in which the influence of Lynne’s idols The Beatles never disappeared.
The superb “Ticket To The Moon”, blending top-notch melancholy and drama, is one of the few real ELO classics on the album, and a song that could sit on any of their classic records. The orchestral swell of the synths is used to maximum effect here and fits perfectly with the central arrangement and the harmony-driven chorus. “The Way Life’s Meant To Be” is an interesting experiment too. After an intro on violin (a synthetic product), Lynne’s acoustic guitar moves to the front, and with its flamenco passages it pushes the song into Mediterranean sonic waters and sits nicely with the quality chorus.
“Another Heart Breaks”, not all that convincing, is a typical new wave instrumental with dominant synths and digital effects in the background. A whole pack of similar art rock bands tried comparable experiments with varying results around that time, all of them wanting a bigger slice of the pie in the ’80s too. The very good “Rain Is Falling”, loaded to the brim with romance, is on the other hand a thoroughly representative ELO piece with a strong orchestral section, quality harmonies and a gentle piano melody. “From The End Of The World” is a pure electronic new wave fiasco, the kind the band would indulge in quite a few of on their next two albums. Neither the quality piano solo nor the always-quality vocal harmonies can cancel out the effect of the boring, utterly monotonous rhythm line.
What the album misses most is a bigger contribution from Lynne as a guitarist. Sure, he was never among the top guitarists, but in the past he had quite a few good ideas that further enriched their trademark orchestral sonic dominance. On “Time” he often seems to be playing the same chords over and over, not to mention how stingy he is with guitar solos. The reggae-rhythm experiment “The Lights Go Down” could easily have turned out a disaster, but through a fusion of trademark ELO pop rock harmonies and an excellent chorus, it ends up working beautifully. Here too, Lynne eagerly followed the musical trends of the day, when quite a few bands (usually unsuccessfully) tried to catch the magic of the legendary The Police. “Here Is The News”, drenched in synths from top to bottom, is a cross between the traditional ELO sound and new wave. After a promising orchestral intro comes a repetitive rhythm line drowned in a sea of electronic synthetics, though the guitar, bass, piano and drums can still be heard clearly the whole way through.
The pop rocker “21 Century Man” is another example of top-notch ELO romance, with a hefty dose of The Beatles school stamped on it. Excellent. “Hold On Tight” is a totally unnecessary rockabilly experiment, something like what Queen did, with equally poor results, on “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”. This tasteless tribute from Lynne to Elvis Presley not only doesn’t fit the album, it also wrecks the whole concept right before the end. The fact that it was their last big hit single doesn’t improve its musical standing either. On the closing “Epilogue”, a classic ELO orchestral finale, Lynne, a bit too late, wakes up as a guitarist too, with some good moves on electric guitar backed by excellent harmonies.
The solid “Time” proved that Lynne and his crew’s return to art rock roots, despite the synthetic getup, still worked out pretty well. Though it can’t even begin to compare with their best work from the ’70s, this is Lynne’s last project before the brief comeback with “Zoom” (2001) that’s still worth your attention, even if you’re not a die-hard ELO devotee. Even though their popularity was fading fast at the time, “Time” was received very well on home British soil. It was followed by their last world tour, which was the first without string players. “Time” was the swan song of what was once one of the best art rock bands, one that, after a string of bad moves later in its career, never fully recovered.
Lineup
Jeff Lynne – vocals, backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, synthesizer
Bev Bevan – drums, percussion
Richard Tandy – piano, electric piano, synthesizer, guitar
Kelly Groucutt – bass guitar, backing vocals
Production
Jeff Lynne
Track list
1. Prologue
2. Twilight
3. Yours Truly, 2095
4. Ticket to the Moon
5. The Way Life’s Meant to Be
6. Another Heart Breaks
7. Rain is Falling
8. From the End of the World
9. The Lights Go Down
10. Here is the News
11. 21st Century Man
12. Hold on Tight
13. Epilogue
