Customer Reviews

Time

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first album I have memory of playing as a 9 / 10 years old kid. I don't remember if I purchased it along with my old man or bought it alone.

All I remember is that I stayed for HOURS in front of the LP (yes, LP record), listening to this "magical" record that allowed me to travel in time and space. :)

Back then, I didn't even know english well enough to understand the lyrics, but the music was very moving and powerful. Now back in time to 2003... I found this record ... by pure chance ... and purchased the CD.

When I heard again songs like "Rain is Falling", "The way life is meant to be", and the robot-voiced (vocoder) introduction, along with "Twilight" and "Here is The News" (in my opinions two of the best songs in this record), or the '70s disco-sounding "From the end of the world" the goose flesh was instantaneous!.

You have every coincevable rythm on this single album... beatiful instrumental, sci-fi -slightly darkish-, disco, Beatles-sounding "Hold on tight to your dream". For instance "The lights go down" is a mix of ballad, reggae, country and the Bee Gees. Hard to explain, but beatiful. :)

When I heard the record again (after 20+ years since I played it on LP as a kid) some sort of light went off in my head as if to say "That's it! That's the feeling I have been trying to find that expresses what I feel."

I love this record. You will too!!. Everyone should make new generations listen to this... so they can learn what M-U-S-I-C is about before the current cr-p currently sold as music came along (can you say Eminem....

Can you think of any concept album coming out after this one? Let alone one of any substantial quality? I never heard this album until the past year or so and I was quite literally disappointed...that i didnt hear it years ago and have it to enjoy for the past few years! This album is one complete thought, and is a bizarre, dreamy escape to some sort of future dream world. Thats really the best way to describe it. Its one of those albums that is truly appreciated listened to from beginning to end. Picks up sonically where Discovery left off, with stomping beats, added with an interesting mix of orchestral and synthesized backing (the last fully orchestrated ELO album too, i beleive). Any ELO fan, new or old will love this undiscovered masterpiece. The only complaints I have is with the remastered sound quality...it's a bit shrill with too much treble and very little bass. There's also passages where the sound is muffled, like it was taken from an old master tape with wear. You have to strain to listen but it is there. Still not a reason not to buy, but you'll have to fiddle with your sound to get it to sound right.

"Hold On Tight" was racing up the Australian charts when I first encountered this album; it was played on Casey Kasem's American Top 40 (which we all listened to in Australia), and so I heard how well it did in the US (top ten). Someone else in my dormitory (boarding school) had the album, and played it nonstop. I listened to it nonstop. I couldn't get enough of it. It's one of those CD's that I can play end to end and not get bored with it... like U2's "Joshua Tree" and INXS's "The Swing." I've introduced this album to people who've not heard it before, and are now huge fans like myself. In fact, I've bought this album almost a dozen times... each time, I let someone listen (and get blown away by it), and then let them have it, and get another for myself. This is definitely on that "5 albums you'd take to a desert island" poll for me. It does sadden me that it didn't get the attention it deserves... that opening piece just sends me away every time. I think, as concept albums go, this is a benchmark. I am glad that others out there like it as much as I do. Way to go, Jeff! Vince

From the opening notes of "Prologue" you know this is not going to be your typical ELO release. After the ultra-slick pop of "Discovery" and ELO's contributions to the "Xanadu" soundtrack, Jeff Lynne took the group, now a quartet, in a new and unexpected direction. Here ELO's signature strings are very much in the background and it's synths and guitars that drive this release - very much in keeping with the futuristic concept of the CD. Lots of interesting sound and vocal effects also add to the unique sound of this one. All the numbers are linked both musically and thematically in one of the best 'theme' releases of the era - about a "time-traveller" unwittingly trapped in an apparently cold and lonely future.

Jeff's songwriting and production abilities are as strong as ever. Highlights include "Yours Truly, 2095" a humorous, yet frightening number about amorous thoughts for a robot ("I met someone who looks a lot like you, she does the things you do, but she is an IBM"), the Latin-flavoured "The Way Life's Meant to Be", the driving opener "Twilight", and my personal favorite - "The Lights Go Down".

Oddly enough the hit from this one, "Hold on Tight", sounds almost like it was tagged on as a afterthought. It doesn't seem to fit the theme or style of the rest of the material. Perhaps the label felt ELO needed to add a radio-friendly ditty to sell the album. It's a shame really, as several outtakes, which found their way onto the 3-disc "Afterglow" anthology, are better tracks and would have nicely rounded out the release.

Still, this is ELO's last GREAT album.

TIME by ELO is my favorite album of all TIME (no pun intended!) If you are a fan of the Beatles and the Moody Blues you will love ELO's "TIME"... (As you probably know, one of the reasons ELO became ELO was because of the influence of the Beatles I AM THE WALRUS...) TIME captures ELO at their best. Truly a TIMELESS album... Sounds as fresh today as it did when it was released 20 years ago! (HEY CBS/EPIC: I think an ANNIVERSARY DIGITALLY REMASTERED BOX SET is in order here) ...SECRET MESSAGES, the follow up album is also excellent... in fact I always thought the two should have been released as a double album... (HINT to CBS Records) And as we celebrate TIME's 20th ANNIVERSARY... BE SURE TO LOOK FOR THE NEW ELO ALBUM "ZOOM" with the RETURN of JEFF LYNNE to the band... due out this month! (April 2001)

I have read that this isn't the best ELO album, but, if you analyze it as a stand alone production I think it is superb.
It is a "conceptual" album where time (as a concept) is the essential thread thorugh a series of different musical style songs.

It contains a story that could have two interpretations. One being the melancholic adventures of an unintentional time traveller (Prologue, Twilight, Yours truly 2095), that describes the misfortunes of being lonely in a strange future (Ticket to the Moon, Rain is falling, Here is the news), without love and feeling very nostalgic (Yours Truly 2095, From the end of the World, Lights go down, The way Life's meant to be, Another heart breaks); not missing a chance to criticize inhuman progress (21st century man). At the end, it gives a ray of hope and advice on how to cope with a very unfamiliar World (Hold on tight, Epilogue).

The other interpretation could be that the lyrics are about an aging lonely man, uncapable to adapt himself to a frantic ever changing modern life, thus feeling nostalgic, unloved and wishing to go back to a simpler, happier life:

"Remember the good old 1980s?
When things were so uncomplicated?
I wish I could go back there again
And everything could be the same", Ticket to the Moon, J.Lynne

The Time album by ELO was Jeff Lynne's best work. First the album is like a novel. Describing the events of an individual who is lost.(Lost in Time)The vocals are excellent, the music, and the music mix is futuristic. Jeff Lynne payed attention to details though every track and sound on this album making it the sharpest, clearest and brightest of his and ELO's past works. They were Jeff Lynne was ahead of his time when he produced this album in 1981.

TIME (1981) is a very ambitious and important album in the tradition of ELO's 1974 masterpiece, ELDORADO. Sonically, it is much different, with the chill of synths replacing ELDORADO's warm washes of orchestral grandeur. Nonetheless, the two albums both touch very profoundly and effectively on the potency of dreams. "Twilight" is an incredibly powerful statement musically and lyrically...it's one of the greatest techno-rockers ever recorded. Certainly, it was a pioneering track in terms of much of the synth-rock that followed throughout the 80's and 90's, though few of those other other bands were ever able to match ELO's excellence. (Keyboardist Richard Tandy proves once again on TIME that he belongs in the pantheon of great rock instrumentalists.) "Yours Truly, 2095" is funny, sad, prophetic, and disturbing all at once. "Ticket to the Moon" begins with a great melancholy line: "Remember the good old 1980s/When things were so uncomplicated." It's the perfect sc-fi weeper love song. "The Way Life's Meant to Be," "Here is the News," and "21st Century Man" were all hits in England, and should have been smashes in the U.S. All of them are insightful lyrical observations on the human condition, with all the pop brilliance of a Phil Spector or Brian Wilson masterpiece. "Rain is Falling" is one of a series of cathartic Jeff Lynne "rain" songs, which surface on a number of ELO's albums. The pinnacle of the album is "Hold On Tight," which is one of the most effective inspirational rockers ever recorded. It's got a good beat, and you can think to it. As one listens to the entire TIME album, what appears at times to be a bleak meditation on the future finally breaks free into the sunlight of hope for a better tomorrow. At least, that's the way life's meant to be.

I was a fan of ELO as a kid, but by the time, "Time," came out I was into more punk and new wave stuff. My only exposure to the album was the single, "Hold On Tight," and I wasn't too impressed. I have remained a fan of ELO, but always a bit distant because I've always felt Jeff Lynne could cross the line into cheese a bit more often than he should. The fact is, in my peer group, ELO wasn't all that cool - not hated, so much as tolerated in a "not bad 'cause I liked them when I was 6,and it could be worse," kind of way. So, between the single and my state of mind at the time, I passed on this one.

Then a year or so ago, I read the reviews of this album here on Amazon and was pretty shocked. Had I ignored a classic album? I thought I might need to check it out, but I didn't.

Well, a few months ago I saw a used vinyl copy in pretty good shape at a local store for $5 and picked it up. But I just put it aside and figured I'd get to it sometime in the future.

Then a few days ago I found the new remastered CD for about the same price and got it. I popped it my car as I drove down the 101 freeway from Ventura to LA and I was immediately taken by it.

Yes, it opens with a "Mr. Roboto"-esque vocoder, is chock full of cheesy 80s keyboards and contains one of my least favorite ELO hits, but this may become my favorite ELO album because it's kind of brilliant. The reviews here are not wrong, at least not if you are familiar with all of the over-the-top sonic qualities of Jeff Lynne's music and appreciate intricate power-pop songwriting.

It is ELO's new wave album, and it's clear Jeff Lynne realized that popular music was changing and ELO needed to adapt if it wanted to remain relevant. Or is it that he was rebelling against these changes by creating a concept album about the coldness of technology? Couldn't the lyrics, "She's only programmed to be very nice, but she's cold as ice," not just be referencing a robot lover, but also the nice, but cold sound of synths in 1981? That may be a bit of a stretch. But I don't think it's a stretch to say this is ELO's attempt to adapt to the times and the concept of the album may represent Jeff's discomfort with having to do that. His comments in the liner notes (Yours Truly 2095 - "Typical, it's about a bloke who falls for a robot. Say no more." or, The Lights Go Down - "I guess the lights went down.") seem to suggest he has mixed feelings about it, as there is plenty of sarcasm in his words. I have a feeling he's saying, "I was poking fun at all of this 80s reliance on electronics, so I wrote a song about a guy who is in love with a robot, much like everyone was so in love with the synthesizer at that time."

But my speculation has nothing to do with how this album sounds, so I'll get back to that.

It sounds great. It is very much of its time, but because of Jeff Lynne's skills as a songwriter, it also transcends it. In this album I hear much of what is in popular music today. The epic qualities in The Killers' songs and production owe a lot to ELO, and this album in particular. Daft Punk could have recorded "Yours Truly 2095" (this track reminds me of DP's "Digital Love"). I could see a current female Diva covering, "From the End of The World," and having a hit with it today, if she camped up the vocal even more than Lynne does on the original.

As other reviews have mentioned there is a wide range of styles explored - new wave, Beatles pop, 50s rock, a little prog and ELO's unique sound made familiar with their classic 70s recordings.

What I'm shocked by is that it may well be their most consistent album, containing some of their most underrated songs. And I'm nearly 30 years late in listening to it.

So, if you're reading these reviews and wondering if all of the claims that this album is "pure genius," "a definite desert island disk," and "the best album ever," have any real merit, they do. To be clear, such praise is very subjective and I'm not sure I'll ever consider this the best album ever. However, if you are even a casual ELO fan, it's worth picking up. And if you love great classic synth sounds (think the Buggles), there's much to enjoy here.

ELO's 'Time' is unsurpassed as the epitome of melodic, atmospheric and sensitive music. For me, 'Time' has never been bettered by any band in either its formative or compositional sense or its arrangement. I love it - I never tire of it. I can listen to it repeatedly and hear echo's of everything from Puccini to the Beatles, from the Rolling Stones to Rachmaninov. And of course, that is why Jeff Lynne makes such wonderful music, he has an enormous knowledge, appreciation and understanding of what makes lovely music and song. He has consciously and instinctively taken the qualities of the best aspects of popular music from every era. He knows what makes a good tune, and how to compliment it to its fullest with a top composition and arrangement - he is never frugal, he gives it all to us in one overwhelming and saturating delivery. 'Time' is the pinnacle, never disappointing and never failing to deliver - every track has its own special quality so that collectively the album is nothing short of miraculous. Wonderful stuff, and in future years will be afforded the accolades it deserves.
BBC 2005