A$# 004 Electric Light Orchestra | Time

I’ll get straight to the point about this record: Time, the 1981 album by ELO, is a masterpiece.

It came out after the group was at its commercial peak (A New World Record through Discovery) and its critical nadir (Discovery and Xanadu), so it didn’t stir a whole lot of fuss, despite single Hold On Tight making it into the top 10 on the singles charts. Many fans had moved on to other artists, and some of the remaining fans were distressed that synthesizers had largely displaced the trademark ELO strings on many tracks. Also, this was from the period that Jeff Lynne has called the group’s contractual obligation era. To him, this album is not among his greatest accomplishments.

Why, then, do I make so much fuss about this album? Well, first of all, I’m not alone. Reviewer Robert Burrow calls it “the last truly great album from the Electric Light Orchestra” at Amazon.ca, and many customers there concur.

Time is a sci-fi concept album about a traveller displaced in time and space, a man who finds the future to be cold and alienating, but manages in the end to find hope and redemption. There is not a tight narrative to the set; rather, it speaks more of feelings and impressions, rather than plot points.

Plus, Jeff Lynne has written some of his most masterful songs here. From the vocoder-voiced opening track, Prologue – "Just on the border of your waking mind / There lies... Another time / Where darkness and light are one" – through to the rousing 50s-style rocker, Hold On Tight, and then a succinct wrap-up in Epilogue, Jeff presents a series of great songs that add up to more than the sum of their parts.

He sings about one-way tickets to the moon, cybernetic lovers, a computer that metes out justice, and plastic flowers. My all-time favourite ELO song is here – The Way Life’s Meant To Be. Our time traveller looks around at this brave new world and realizes he is a stranger in a strange land:

Although it's only a day since I was taken away
And left standing here looking in wonder
(It's your life, it's your life)
Ah, the ground at my feet, maybe it's just the old street
But everything that I know lies under
(It's your life, it's your life)
And when I see what they've done
To this place that was home
Shame is all that I feel
Oh, and I wonder (oh, I wonder)
Yes, I wonder (wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder)
Is this the way life's meant to be?

In the end, though, the traveller, even if he can’t get back home, finds his humanity and optimism for the future. In the dreamy 21st Century Man, the traveller learns he is not of that time (“Though you ride on the wheels of tomorrow / You still wander the fields of your sorrow”), he faces the future courageously, because he can "Hold On Tight" to his dreams.

The lyrics are not the only strength of the album. Jeff and his colleagues played exceptionally on this recording, from the swirling synths to boisterous guitars.

To me this is the perfect metaphor for alienation and disaffection, with a dash of hope. Time is a brilliantly conceived and executed pop music novel.

The bonus tracks on the CD are just as excellent. The Bouncer is very bouncy (a stripper’s theme, perhaps?), and When Time Stood Still is atmospheric and moody. Julie Don’t Live Here is probably the most infectious track of the whole disc.

Track listing:
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
plus bonus tracks on CD:
14. The Bouncer
15. When Time Stood Still
16. Julie Don't Live Here