Time [Expanded] [Remaster]

Performer: Electric Light Orchestra
Engineer: Mack
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Electric Light Orchestra: Jeff Lynne (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, piano, synthesizer); Richard Tandy (guitar, piano, synthesizer); Kelly Groucett (bass, background vocals); Bev Bevans (drums, percussion). Producer: Jeff Lynne. Reissue producers: Jeff Lynne, Al Quaglieri. Recorded at Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany. Includes liner notes by Jeff Lynne. Digitally remastered by Joseph M. Palmaccio (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York). Composer: Jeff Lynne. Personnel: Jeff Lynne (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, strings, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, background vocals); Richard Tandy (vocals, guitar, strings, piano, electric piano, keyboards, synthesizer); Kelly Groucutt (vocals, bass guitar, percussion, background vocals); Bev Bevan (vocals, drums, percussion); Sandi, Ghislaine (vocals); Rainer Pietsch (strings). Liner Note Author: Jeff Lynne. Recording information: Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany. Photographers: Frank Griffin; Charlyn Zlotnik; Paul Cox; Scott Weiner. Unknown Contributor Roles: Christine Wilson; Electric Light Orchestra. The Electric Light Orchestra was in a precarious position by 1981. Not only was Jeff Lynne's brand of immaculately produced Beatlesque pop out of critical fashion in those new-wave days, there was a new brand of video-friendly bubblegum on the rise that made such classic radio hits as "Sweet Talkin' Woman" sound passT. The band's heavily hyped participation in the box-office flop XANADU, including the title duet with star Olivia Newton-John, hadn't helped. Typically, though, 1981's TIME finds Lynne and company ignoring trends and simply doing what they do best: pristine, endlessly-multitracked, ultra-melodic pop. There's a theme of sorts running through the record, a meditation on sci-fi apocalypse that runs through songs like "Yours Truly, 2095" and "From the End of the World." The concept is easy enough to ignore, as the real focus, as always, is on Lynne's immense melodic and production skills. TIME is an underrated gem. Time takes its cues more from such bands as the Alan Parsons Project and Wings than from Jeff Lynne's fascination with Pepper-era Beatles. Sure, all the electronic whirrs and bleeps are present and accounted for, and Time did spawn hit singles in "Hold on Tight" and "Twilight," but on the average, ELO had begun to get too stuck on the same structure and content of their releases. "The Way Life's Meant to Be" echoes very early ELO hits like "Can't Get It Out of My Head," and the "Prologue" and "Epilogue" segments try and bring about a unifying concept that doesn't quite hold up upon listening all the way through. Time proves to be competent ELO but not great ELO. [The 2001 CD reissue on Epic/Legacy adds three bonus tracks, all B-sides of singles: "The Bouncer," "When Time Stood Still," and "Julie Don't Live Here."] ~ James Chrispell

Q (Summer/01, p.120) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...TIME allegedly concerned time travel, but Jeff Lynne would never surrender his humanity: even the hero of 'Ticket To The Moon' weeps as he leaves Earth..."

ELO began as an outgrowth of '60s UK psych-rockers the Move and the Idle Race, but when former Move frontman Roy Wood departed early in the game, Jeff Lynne fashioned the band as a high-tech Beatles for the '70s. Featuring a full-time string section, ELO picked up where "Strawberry Fields" left off, creating orchestral Britpop without the pretense of prog-rock. The band's slick, lush sound helped define '70s pop, and proved influential decades later to the likes of Air and the Polyphonic Spree.

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