Time - Electric Light Orchestra

ELO's Time album was released in 1981, and was written (in my opinion) as a comment on the way society is heading, and whether we were really ready for the 21st century. It's true that it is set in the future, and clearly makes no mistake in saying they prefer things as they are (or were in the 1980's), with the theme flowing through every track on the album. The Prologue sets the scene "Just on the border of your waking mind, there lies another time, where darkness and light are one, and as you tread the halls of sanity, you feel so glad to be unable to go beyond. I have a message from another time". The following tracks suggest a throw ...  Read the complete review

Listening through the back catalogue of ELO leading up to this album it goes from the sublime Out of the Blue, then came Discovery which was merely good but worse was to come with the Xanadu Time was to some extent a return to form and is at least as good as Discovery. On this outing Jeff Lynne was experimenting with what I guess would be called synth pop but not pure synth pop because pianos and guitars are prominent and often the driving force of the backing track. Time is indeed a concept album with space as it's theme and it works quite well even though it does lead to some strange lyrics in songs that honestly could have done without ...  Read the complete review

Released: 1981 All words & music by Jeff Lynne **NB: For those who don't like itemised tracks, skip to the end** ELO's "Time" album reached no.1 in the UK album charts in August 1981 Three singles were released from the album, the first of which was "Hold On Tight" reaching no.4 in August 1981, the second was "Twilight" which got to no.30 in October 1981, and the last was a double-A side, "Ticket To The Moon/Here Is The News", making no.24 in January 1982. This album is performed and produced in what was considered a futuristic fashion, both in the area of electronically-produced ...  Read the complete review