Time (Electric Light Orchestra album)

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Time
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 FZ 37371 Epic EK 85421 (reissue)
Producer(s)	Jeff Lynne
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link George Starostin 8/10 link Popmatters (Favourable) link
Electric Light Orchestra chronology
Xanadu (1980)	Time (1981)	Secret Messages (1983)
CD insert cover
ELO 1981

Time is a concept album by Electric Light Orchestra released in 1981 (see 1981 in music).

Contents 1 Concept 2 Miscellaneous 2.1 Similarity To Eldorado 2.2 Chart Position 3 Track listing 4 Personnel 5 References

[edit] Concept

The album tells the story of a man circa 1981 who is taken away by time travelers to the late 21st Century. Here he sees the wonders of the future but longs for the past and the woman he left behind. He is told that he cannot be returned to his own time. He has a robot woman who will do anything he wants ("Is That What You Want?") but who can never love or be loved by him. He tries to escape and considers using their time transporter equipment to return to the past. Finally they track him down - apparently only keeping him there to show him how the future is suffering from the choices we make today. They return him home where he has a chance to help make a difference. The musical style and theme are echoed in the later albums The Sophtware Slump by Grandaddy, who cited Time as a great influence, and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips.

Time bears similarities to the group's earlier concept album Eldorado. Although the latter makes greater use of strings, and Time features more three minute pop songs, both albums tell the story of a man who daydreams of being whisked away to a fantasy world but becomes homesick and alienated. Songs like Rain Is Falling and The Way Life's Meant to Be are reminiscent of material from Out of the Blue. The album reached number one in the UK Albums Chart (see List of number-one 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.

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) were B-sides of singles (Twilight and Hold On Tight) from the original album, while the other (The Bouncer) was originally released as the B-side of the UK release of the single Four Little Diamonds (from the 1983 album Secret Messages).

[edit] Miscellaneous

• 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.

• Twilight is particularly famous amongst fans of Japanese animation and comics (commonly known as otaku). The song was initially used (without authorization) as the theme music for the opening animation for the 1983 Daicon IV science fiction convention, which has gathered a lot of acclaim in the general anime fandom. In 2005, the music was used again for a similar animation that formed the opening for the television series Densha Otoko, a series featuring an otaku as the main character (along with several recurring extras). The song is now considered somewhat of an anthem for otaku.

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

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

[edit] Similarity To Eldorado

Time is a notable departure from ELO's previous style; while Discovery had been leading more towards a disco pop style, Time was the most "progressive" album since Eldorado over six years earlier; it parallels Eldorado in many ways, being ELO's only other concept album, using a plot involving an escape from the present reality ending with the need to return. Both albums were surrounded by relatively "normal", more pop-oriented albums; Eldorado by On The Third Day and Face The Music, and Time by Discovery and Secret Messages. Finally, both albums use a prelude and epilogue.

[edit] Chart Position

• #1
• #3
• #16

[edit] Track listing

• All tracks written by Jeff Lynne.

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. "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

14. "The Bouncer" 3:14 (B-side of Four Little Diamonds)

15. "When Time Stood Still" 3:33 (B-side of "Hold on Tight")

16. "Julie Don't Live Here" 3:42 (B-side of "Twilight")

[edit] Personnel

• Jeff Lynne - Lead vocals, Backing vocals, Electric guitar, Acoustic guitar, Piano, Synthesiser
• Bev Bevan - Drums, percussion
• Richard Tandy - Piano, Electric piano, Synthesiser, Guitar
• Kelly Groucutt - Bass guitar, Backing vocals

[edit] References

• Jeff Lynne (2001). Time (reissue) [CD liner notes]. Epic Records.

Electric Light Orchestra
Founding members: Jeff Lynne | Roy Wood | Bev Bevan Other members in Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra discography
Studio albums: The Electric Light Orchestra/No Answer | ELO 2 | On the Third Day | Eldorado, A Symphony | Face the Music | A New World Record | Out of the Blue | Discovery | Xanadu | Time | Secret Messages | Balance of Power | Zoom
Live albums: The Night the Light Went On (In Long Beach) | Live at Winterland '76 | Live at Wembley '78
Compilation albums: Showdown | Olé ELO | The Light Shines On | The Light Shines On Vol 2 | ELO's Greatest Hits | A Box of their Best | Afterglow | ELO's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 | Strange Magic | Flashback | The Essential Electric Light Orchestra | All Over the World
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