Elo - Time
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CD Details
Artist: EloEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Prologue
- Twilight
- Yours Truly, 2095
- Ticket to the Moon
- Way Life's Meant to Be
- Another Heart Breaks
- Rain Is Falling
- From the End of the World
- The Lights Go Down
- Here Is the News
- 21st Century Man
- Hold on Tight
- Epilogue
Music reviews of Time
Music Review: What took me so long?
Rating: 5 Stars
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.
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