Written by Ben Garcia
Released in July 1981, the Double album “Time” by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is an excellent example of a future that never was, but could be. The concept album was put out by the group after their 1980 soundtrack release from the movie “Xanadu” and marks a significant deviation from the orchestra in their name with heavy use of synthesizers and extensive production along with the plot of the album reaching into themes of losing your way of life, land your are from, and the love you shared with that special someone.
Tracks 1 and 2 are combined together as Prologue/Twilight, with the Prologue introducing us to the main motifs and general sounds of the album, coming in an array of computer effects backed up with a full bass synth and the robotic voice of Jeff Lynne framing the album as a “message from another time”. It then rolls directly into Twilight, the lead single of the album, and boy, we start off strong; Twilight is a complete bop with an upbeat rhythm, soaring opening synth, and little bits of electric texture all around to create a big full mix. Jeff Lynne singing overdubbed with backing harmonies as the main character experiencing a dream-like state in this far future. There is this brief pause with just the piano, drums, and a little bit of synth where “the character” is asking if this trip he is going on will be going back to his place, and it is a surprising breeze of fresh air in this wall of sound being thrown at you. The backend of the song is filled with this beautiful harmony as someone’s footsteps are heard in the background(I am unsure what’s up with the steps, maybe this guy is walking into the future?), and then ends with the ELO special of the Violins and then the sound of a telephone dialing, leading us into the next song.
Track 3 Yours Truly, 2095 is very strange. It opens with this harsh synth motif, and it sets the uneasy tone of the whole song. The song follows “the character” as they try to cope with being teleported a little over a century into the future(I would be freaked out too) and having feelings of loneliness and isolation in this strange world. Jeff then uses a vocal effect to describe a robo-girlfriend (yes apparently they had that idea in the 80s) from the perspective of our lost time traveler as a cold, unloving, rude, and unlovable highly advanced machine faking human emotion; can’t imagine that relationship is very good. The robotic voice of the machine responds, asking over and over again, “is that what you want” to him, almost in a mocking tone, creating this tension between these two beings, neither of which is happy with what is going on(be it that the robot doesn’t feel emotion). Besides the futuristic elephant in the room, the song musically speaking is meh; there are more violins in the mix, but that’s all of the stand out enjoyable parts of the song I like. The rest of it has this really anxious sound to it with the piercing synth, continuous drums, and backing effects all seeming to lead to an end that never really happens. An interesting song to analyze, but not listen to.
Track 4 Ticket to the Moon is beautifully somber and sad with an intense feeling of longing for the embrace of a lover. It’s slow, it has some passionate piano backed up by some weeping strings, and it’s got Jeff with no vocal effects crying his heart out in poetic brilliance. The chorus comes in with some dubbed vocals, synth solo work, bringing some heartbeat-like drums all underpinned by this real simple acoustic bassline. All of this then falls into a real quite section with string filling most of the mix and with the bass taking lead; however, this is short lived as we are interrupted by the drums to bring us into a short vocal section of dubbed vocals to then drop us right back into the sounds of the start of the song but this time with the heartbeat in full effect. We continue, slowly building with vocal intensity as our main character sits in a boarding room waiting to be rocketed off to Satellite Two realizing just how lost he really is, flowing into the chorus once more we get one more quiet section till an ascending synth lead takes center stage and we are greeted to another reprisal of the chorus with extra vocals echoing the main the character’s grief and sadness. I think this song does a great job displaying how it must feel to be this character, as it truly captures how much jeopardy this man is in this dangerous world, mainly due to that slow build in vocals we have at the end. Also, we are starting to get introduced to more of the physical landscape(or I guess spacescape if you want to go there) as we hear of Satellite Two, which we come back to later, and there is also some form of interspace transport implied by the whole ticket ordeal. Keep this in mind as we go forward.
Track 5 is a bit underwhelming in my opinion. The Way Life Is Meant to Be does have some good moments, but really, it is just the bridge that has this certain surf rock to it. Not really much else to say. The same story for track 6, Another Heart Breaks, as it is the same throughout the whole song; it is a drum and synth mix, and in my opinion, is the worst song of the whole album. It is so bad that I am not sure why it is in the album, and I think they should have cut it.
Track 7 Rain is Falling is a personal favorite of mine, as it is slow but in a sober kind of way. It opens with the sounds of a thunderstorm with a piano in the background, adding a little tension into the mix along with some dubbed vocals and racing violins. All of this leads up to a full, big release of the piano and of the bass and the ever so electrified voice of Jeff Lynne. This song is by far the most similar to the rest of ELO’s other albums, such as Discovery, and it shows. The word to best describe this song is texture; there also sorts of sounds literally all over the mix, and there are mostly acoustic sounds with only more electric sounds in a few arpeggios and backing synths and dubbed backing vocals. It captures the vibes of rain so well, and more importantly, it gives us an almost perfect insight into the main character’s mind and the slow, quiet sadness within.
Track 8, on the other hand, is such a groove. From The End Of The World returns to the plot of our main man, and it makes quite an entrance with a chaotic sting section taking us out of the melancholy. The funky synth bass drives the whole song in this persistent motion; you could almost dance to this song, a tasteful counter to our lead vocals by Jeff. But it is the Theremin that brings a unique futuristic sound to this song that brings out the strangeness of this new world while also playing ever so well with our bass line, delicious. Overall, it doesn’t give much more insight to the world or the characters in the plot; we already know you are sad, so get new material bro, but in comparison to the preceding tracks, it is a breath of fresh air. The song is textured with some strings and a quick pulsing synth on the right side of the mix, giving the song something to chew on when you boogie on the dance floor.
Track 9 is a return to form if the form we are returning to is sadness, which it is. The Lights go Down does a similar thing to The Rain is Falling, but with less stuff going on, and it sounds more like a George Harrison song with its clear blues guitar, which is no dig at either artist. I like both of them; in fact, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison were close friends, but the song seems to not really go anywhere with itself besides wherever Jeff and George might hang out on the weekends. It is fun to sing along with, as the vocals are real simple and the song is fairly consistent. And it is this stillness that is what fails the track, maybe if The Rain is Falling didn’t show us what could have been, I would be a little more forgiving, but alas.
Track 10 Here is The News is a strange one, even for this album, as it is a synth heavy song after a run of more gentler songs. It is a song that contains a chaotic mix of news stories from inside the universe of the plot, and it is a bit disorientating. And we learn that our main character apparently is a criminal and that Satellite two is a space prison, neat, so he is now a wanted man, and this has turned into a rather exciting adventure for him.
Track 11 21st Century Man is basically the conclusion to the plot, although in my opinion, it doesn’t really conclude the plot; The main character wakes up from the dream setup in Twilight and has gained new knowledge from the world he just visited. There isn’t anything that connects the events of Here is The News so it fails the plot there and the overall gist of the track can be summed in a couple of quotes from it: “You should be so happy, You should be so Glad, So why are you so lonely, You 21st Century man” and “Though you ride on the wheels of tomorrow, You still wander the fields of your sorrow, What will it bring”; That is the whole vibe of the album really. It is great, but it doesn’t go anywhere in particular, and neither does this track. It is a fine track, but there isn’t much reason to describe it; it sounds like everything else on the album, but with a slight deviation in tone to the overall vibe, not nearly as sad, due to it being the last plot track.
Track 12 is the quickest and most rock n roll track on the whole album and is another single off of it. Hold on Tight does what it says on the tin; it is an upbeat song encouraging you to stay with it even in the hardest of times, and honestly, it is really good. Kind of strange in the context of all the other tracks being such downers, but it is a great way to end the mainline songs. It sounds like if the Beatles in the 60s had 80s synths, which is not too far off from how ELO operates sound-wise. It has the droning, fuzzy, heavy guitar cutting through the mix of piano, stand up bass, and drum, which is awesome. The vocals as at one point about little over half way they do the same cut as the guitar and write before they switch into french for some reason; I don’t know, but I dig it.
Track 13 is called Epilogue, and it is a collection of all the different themes and sounds of the album, and puts them into one track. It is cool to hear everything together, but it is not necessary to the album or your listening.
Overall, Time is an interesting, although at some points not enjoyable, attempt from ELO to experiment with new sounds of the 80s over old motifs from the 60s and 70s. It has a plot that is somewhat there but mostly is taking a back seat to the vibes and to the sounds of the album, and honestly is not necessary to your enjoyment of the album. If the plot were more developed, the album could be more than it is, but alas, here we are. The best way to some up Time is the sounds of a sad man getting his Beatles records out and shoving some synths in and crying alone in his recording studio while he hallucinates a future land filled with robo-girlfriends and space prisons; one crazy trip, both figuratively and literally.
Time is an ok album with a few standout songs that just happen to be on the record. The tracks I would recommend are Prologue/Twilight, Yours Truly (2095), Ticket to the Moon, Rain is Falling, and Hold on Tight. It gets you all the major sounds and gets the best parts of the plot in as well and basically does what the album does but in less time. I also would recommend listening to Julie Don’t Live Here, one of the B-sides of the singles, as it puts a name to our mystery girl and tells us exactly how much our main man feels in clear detail, but it is not necessary if you wish to make your adventure as brief as possible.