Time

Great cd

This album ranks third, after Out of the Blue and Eldorado, on my best-of ELO list. This remains the only album that I bought on the day it was released. I was at the store the day before, and I saw them sitting there, but they would not sell it to me. I wasn't sure what to expect, since the last album Disco-very had its moments but was quite sub-par. Xanadu was half an album with half an effort. A couple of the songs must have been Discovery rejects. So I displayed remarkable confidence in ELO by buying the new album without hearing a song. Incidentally, Time was the album on which Lynne remarked, "I finally got that violin out of my arse." (ha-ha)Upon first listen, the opening three-track medley Prologue-Twilight-Yours Truly, 2095 blew me away. It sounded sooo cool and still does. I was suprised to hear the sound from the pinball machine Black Knight in the transition between track two and three. They did not give it a credit on the liner notes.Ticket to the Moon is another brilliant Lynne song, and I bought the "death star" themed picture disc 12" single because it looked great. Many of the later songs on the disc really have a good groove, like From the End of the World (the lone disco-y number -- it holds up very well) and the classic Here Is The News (this one ranks up there with Twilight and some of the all-time best future rock songs popular back then, like the Fixx's Stand or Fall and Deeper & Deeper, Zebra's Who's Behind the Door, Red Rider's Lunatic Fringe, Aldo Nova's Fantasy, and Golden Earring's Twilight Zone).What I feel is the album's worst track, Hold on Tight, was released as the first single, and it was one of the band's biggest singles ever. Lynne chose the order of tracks, but the record company choose the singles. Sometimes the worst songs get put out there and hit big. It was probably the final of their record-setting streak of Top 40 singles without a #1. Lynne likes to write one rockabilly track on most albums, and Hold on Tight was it for this album. I don't feel it fit in well with the other tracks, and that is probably the reason Lynne placed it at the end, just before the bookend Epilogue (a 21st Century Man reprise). Hold on Tight didn't win any bonus points in my book when it was used for the coffee commercial either.From top to bottom it's the last completely great ELO album. Discovery had 3-4 good tracks. One-half or more of Secret Messages is excellent. I have yet to buy the remastered Time, but with the very positive reviews for Lynne's remastering on the three disc compilation Flashback, which was released the year before, I will have to pick up the remastered and expanded Time. BUY TIME.

As I have found out previously, the cases sold and shipped by Amazon are in... less that stellar condition. For the third time in a row, I have opened my package to see the plastic case broken in some manner. Because of these issues, I need to buy a CD holder.The actual CD is in good condition. If you like ELO, you should enjoy this CD then.

I love ELO, I saw them on the "Time" tour in 1981 but it tookmany years for me to really appreciate how good the album is.(I was caught up in the 1977-era ELO)When "Time" was re-released it was expanded with three bonus tracksbut sadly they were just tacked on to the end of the CD.As this is my favorite ELO album, I decided to see if I couldplace the three outtakes into the original album's sequenceand still maintain the feel and narrative established byJeff Lynne after the final mixdown in 1981.The story in "Time" has a character that is both distinct anddelicate. It is obvious that Jeff Lynne put a lot of work intothis project and my goal was to imbed the outtakes so perfectlythat not even Jeff would notice the changes.The first challenge was to support the original 1981 narrative.The three outtakes were not included on the CD's enclosed lyricsheet so I listened carefully to the words of each in order todetermine their eventual placement in the final sequencing.It was important to maintain not only the integrity of thestory's Timeline (pun intended) but the overall flow of themusic as well. In some places the songs segued which furtherlimited my options.There was but one small adjustment to make and that was just amatter of inserting some dead air before an imbedded track. Thetempo changes and this calls for a rest in order to not startlethe listener.RUNNING ORDER: Time - Electric Light Orchestra (1981/2009) 1. Prologue 2. Twilight 3. Yours Truly, 2095 4. Ticket To The Moon 5. The Way Life's Meant To Be 6. Julie Don't Live Here (Imbedded Bonus Track) 7. Another Heart Breaks 8. When Time Stood Still (Imbedded Bonus Track) 9. Rain Is Falling10. From The End Of The World11. The Lights Go Down12. The Bouncer (Imbedded Bonus Track)13. Here Is The News14. 21st Century Man15. Hold On Tight16. Epilogue[Insert 1.5 seconds of dead air after #5]I converted the CDA files to WAVs and stacked the files so thatall sixteen tracks would be a single track when burned to CD.This was to eliminate that annoying interruption some CD playershave when playing back sequed songs.

Love ELO music

I bought this CD for the song, "Is This The Way Life's Meant To be!" I could still sing parts of the song, "With your ivory towers and the plastic flowers, I wish I was back in 1981!" Took me forever to find it, as it is not the original cover, but that song I remembered most. Released in 1981 and Time is indeed Furturistic but, timeless too. The two hit singles were Hold On Tight & The Lights Go Down and Twlight was big on underground stations, as well as Your's Truly.When I put it on, I was stunned at all the fantastic songs I had forgotten! Begins with Prologue and ends on the 13 song, Epilogue.I love them all, but this one has to be one of the best, aside from Out Of The Blue! Third cuit is Your's Truly, Meant to Be, Another Heart Breaks, Rain is Falling, (what a vocal for Jeff) well, all are but this one stands on it's on. From the End of the World, very upbeat, The Lights Go Down, Here Is the News, 21st Century Man, and Hold on Tight. Over 30 years later and I am still in awe at how good it is and all the memories flooding through your mind. Not to mention prophetic! It really will get your attention.And it gets even better, they added three songs I had never heard before, The Bouncer, When Time Stood Still and Julie Don't Live Here. You will love them all! Julie is a very upbeat song. And they too are futuristic in this Time travel concept and journey. I highly recommend this CD to any & all!

This classic album .. is an example of why the Album must never die. The theme of voice from the future runs through it ... even though ... and lyrics that hark back wistfully back to the simpler times of the 80's become more and more relevant as "Time". I simply love this Album.

Back in the early 1980's, Jeff Lynne's panoramic orchestral compositions seemed a million miles away from the zeitgeist, what with the New Wave, Adam and the Ants and the rise of the New Romantics. As a result this album has been rather unfairly glossed over by many, especially as it even dared to be a concept album of sorts. Talk to many ELO fans however and they will tell you just how well this album measures up against the band's 70's zenith.The strings had seemingly been ditched in favour of modish synths, but that's about all that had really changed. Even the missing strings hadn't vanished, they were just a little less obvious to the ear and done in a slightly different way.The beginning of the album can leave you in no doubt as to who it is, a short prologue leading into 'Twilight', a song that for some reason reminds me a little 'Tightrope' from ' A New World Record ' (I'm not quite sure why), but in any case has that lush, wide sweep that all the best ELO songs do. The next song is the first major surprise, 'Yours Truly 2095' is a stab of bittersweet electro-pop that leads into the drum-heavy 'Ticket To The Monn', before we arrive at the lovely, acoustic flavour of 'The Way Life's Meant To Be'. The following trio of 'Rain Is Falling', 'From the End of The World' and 'The Lights Go Down' are rather downbeat and melancholic, but not in a bad way, giving the album a flow and a resonance that points out the more uptempo numbers around them.At this point we hit the album's real stride, first with 'Here Is The News', another elctro-pop song; a fabulous song actually, one of the very best on the album, then into 21st Century Man, a song which wears its Beatles/Lennon influences firmly on its sleeve, before climaxing with the impossibly bouncy Hold On Tight, complete with French lyric in the middle eightThe thing is, as 80's and synthy as this album sounds (though not as much as the later Balance of Power or parts of Secret Messages) it is still recognisably ELO with all that that entails. And that's really why this album is so good; it manages to retain the spirit of the ELO who went before and marry it well to the fast-encroaching new technology. A New World Record

The best ELO album in my opinion even if your young and may not have heard of it, made in 1980 but way ahead of its time (no pun intended) I can play this through without skipping a song, amazing songs written by a genuine genius in Jeff Lynn, less than £3 paid and CD is like new, recommend seller

A grower. Loved Discovery and Out of the blue. This took a while to get into but boy does it pay off. Great melodies.Can't really see this as a concept album. A few mentions of the future in the lyrics but mostly a collection of great melodies. The singles seem out of place somewhat. Hold on tight and Twilight,Way lifes meant to be are out and out rockers, not among my favourite elo tracks. Here is the news/Ticket to the moon seem more apt and fit in better.The filler tracks on the album are all terrific. Not a bad track among them. From hearing the singles i would never thought of buying the album but the rest of the songs make up for them. Shame no strings but never mind. Great stuff

Agree with other reviewers here that this was the last "great" ELO album, although things are on the slide here....Opting to forgo the strings for a more Electropop sound is a brave move and it pays off most of the time. The Prologue at the start of the album is possibly the best start to any of the albums I own, still sends shivers down my spine. Another heart breaks and The lights go down don't really work for me but all in all I do have a fondness for this album. My advice is that this price is a steal, give it several plays (preferably) on a decent set of heaphones and you will find a lot to enjoy here.