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Post by pelo on Apr 2, 2017 16:52:26 GMT
But I hate Another Heart Breaks, it's lazy filler material for me and I agree with tightrope that When Time Stood Still would have been a far better track to include. AHB is just that - A Horrible B-side Rubbish! Another Heart Breaks is a fantastic ambient instrumental piece. "Time", of course, is the best album ever, by any artist. Magical. Jeff Lynne, at the time, called it a major departure, but in my opinion it was just another facette of how ELO could sound. I've always liked the synthesizers. What some people just don't get is that ELo wasn't just about using strings. You could just as well say that they explored the world of synthesizer sounds. This also holds for their albums of the Seventies such as On The Third Day or Out Of The Blue.
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Post by queenofthehours on Apr 2, 2017 17:33:32 GMT
I love Time. It's like "grown up" ELO. Not the pop ELO or the messy rock ELO but the adult of substance and care.
I think the album works best as a whole more than any other ELO LP and not just because of the story. Each track blends into the next and the mood never jumps between songs too sharply as it does on albums like FTM.
'Another Heart Breaks' I'm not a great fan of because I'd not be sorry to skip it. However, when listening to the album end to end it fits perfect and has a purpose. The first three tracks on Time are without a doubt the best trio on any ELO record IMHO.
Of the bonus tracks that didn't make the LP, I love them all and quite like hearing them separate as it's like you are getting a "sequel" to Time.
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Post by hoyosenr on Apr 3, 2017 9:18:43 GMT
Well here it is my preferred ELO subject: Time, so....very sorry for the long entry!
FIRST: My album opinion, just from the subjectivity of my own feelings:
This is the best album I’ve heard. No matter The Beatles are my first musical heroes. There is no Revolver nor Sgt. Pepper’s matching Time for me.
Time was the first ELO album I entirely listened. And I was blown away. Before that, ELO were for me just one of those many bands making nice pop music and blasting my ears on the radio, as Discovery was a smash hit in Spain, as well as Xanadu. I just payed casual attention. But Time took me into the ELO universe, and after that I became a huge fan, I got all the former and next albums….though no one manage to make the same effect to me.
SECOND: A sort of album review, trying to become more objective:
I think this album has these relevant features:
1.- It is a sort of conceptual job, where the story-line is not narrated with clarity and precision. I see this fact as a strength, making the listener’s imagination fly which, in combination with the attractive time travel subject, results in a powerful experience.
2.- Beyond all the fuss about synths, non-strings and all those usual discussions, I think the musical diversity here is outstanding. Some songs sound radically different to others, but there is some kind of subtle ability in the performing and production leading to a rather homogeneous musical essence all across the album. The songs are also ordered in a very clever way. Just shuffle them and see.....
3.- The songwriting quality is high, and on the melody department, it is superb. I don’t think there is any other ELO album ranking at this level on this particular matter.
THIRD: Going through the details, here I go with some comments about the songs:
Prologue: this is probably mirroring Eldorado’s intro spirit, here fueled with futuristic sounds but….analyzing the chords you find out a carefully crafted stuff just for so short and maybe secondary piece (it’s just a prologue, not a “real song”).
Twilight: I see this one as one more step into ELO’s tradition of starting an album with an unforgettable terrific track. A very honorable successor of Turn to stone, Tightrope and so on, stuffed with fine chords and intricate synth arrangements, one of them a clear nod to the Who’s Baba O'Riley.
Yours Truly: I always love mid-tempo or fast songs written in a minor tonality. I don’t dislike the tweets, the filtered vocal rever and echoes, nor the generous use of vocoder, but if you do….just forget them and enjoy the really beautiful melody, especially on the verses.
Ticket to the moon: Absolutely impressive. This passes with maximum points my Melodic Quality Test (*)
The way life’s meant to be: I am light years away from objectivity here. I wasn’t at the time biased by Heroes and Villains and not even by Across the Border, I hadn’t hear them yet. The song sounds fantastic to me. The descending melody, the bombastic backing track and of course the lyrics, which definitely slipped me through the shoes of that guy starring the time travel to 2095.
Another Heart Breaks: I’m not immune to all the comments about this. And I dig When Time Stood Still. But here we were in 1981, on the two-sided vinyl world, and perhaps this was a more suitable way to end A side before standing up to turn back the record, after having been bombed with all the previous stuff.
Rain is falling: I have no words to describe how beautiful is the melody of this song and how wonderfully sung it is. No words.
From the end of the world: a clear example of the musical diversity. What the hell is this song doing here? Again a typical four-in-the-bar derived boogie riff like in Last train to London (later in Train of Gold)…..but it does sound futuristic, it works A LOT!!! Not to mention the vocals exhibition: as weird as fantastic and terrific.
The lights go down: another radical sound change….another wonderful melody….and more superb vocals from Jeff.
Here is the news: I think this is an example of clever songwriting and arranging. Perhaps not extremely brilliant, but smart. The repetitive synth riff, taken from the initial five notes in the intro, surfs through different chord progressions and becomes very effective, and very likely the envy of some synth-pop/new wave bands of the era.
21st Century Man: the evocative power of both music and lyrics of this song is terrific. If you still don't feel yourself as the album's protagonist, then at least you can enjoy another beautiful melody.
Hold on tight: never a masterpiece, the song is very well produced to match the album. An example of that subtle production ability I mentioned above. This is even more obvious when listening some bootlegs out of live gigs (Time tour, Heartbreak) where it was played lacking the album arrangements.
FOURTH (and final): Just to finalize, it remains a mystery to me why Jeff Lynne behaves so distant about this job. Besides the short song-by-song comments on the remastered CD, I have just heard from him the comments on the Afterglow issue mini-book, when he puts the last three 80’s albums on the same bag of uninspired efforts just for the sake of contractual links.
And now that we’ve been gifted with his unexpected public revitalization, I firmly believe that it’s a pity that he’s not including anything from this album in the current gigs. I can’t understand they are even playing Secret Messages and Rock’n’Roll is King and nothing from Time.
Not expecting that Jeff explains anything, the last hope I have is that ShardEnder’s book drops some light about this particular period of ELO’s 80’s story.
(*): if someone is interested I'll comment it on a further post
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Post by babyzoomer on Apr 3, 2017 12:57:42 GMT
Thanks Enrhoy; what a mouthful! After OOTB, Discovery (and blushingly Xanadudu), we all rather expected more sugar (nothing wrong with sugar!!!) - but what we got with Time was meat, potatoes, entre, dessert, afters & the WHOLE experience - with massive highs and crunching lows - a real operatic experience (and many of you will be thinking I mean 'a fat lady with a horned helmet warbling awfully' - NO! - what I mean is a narrative that carries us along thru an very emotional journey). I agree totally about the lack of clear narrative providing room for the listener's imagination to flesh out the story; 'less is more' - but TIME's less is STILL so much more than anything else comparable....
I repeat that I suspect JL poured more of his creativity into Time than any other album; and like anyone who has 'hung it all out in public' he feels exposed - so we fans are here to tell him his bared soul was worth it!
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Post by babyzoomer on Apr 3, 2017 13:51:58 GMT
Has anyone not noted that Supertramp's song "It's Raining Again" is a close emotional copy of JL's "Rain Is Falling"?
How many early 80's songs had a meteorological theme?
(Due to the vagrancies of the music industry in Australia, I got copies of both albums at almost the same time).
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Post by babyzoomer on Apr 3, 2017 13:52:50 GMT
Double posting again.....is there no end to my shame?
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Post by Timeblue on Apr 3, 2017 15:36:37 GMT
Great summary enrhoy,I have always loved Time and so glad the love for it is everywhere on this site and you,like myself, appreciate 'Another Heart Breaks' too. Your English is very good (I wish I could speak Spanish as well as you speak English...) This is a great letter from Spain. (See what I did there?)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2017 15:47:09 GMT
As I've said many many times on here,'Time'is my fave album (clues are in my avatar and name....) like you say,it just flows from one song to the next and is a complete story of a man finding himself in the future,not liking it and wanting to return home. Even 'Another Heart Breaks' fits well (most fans seem to find this the weak link) Again,like I have previously mentioned, my only criticism is the hit' Hold On Tight' it just doesn't sit well with me and sounds out of place even though I love the song as a stand alone piece.No album is ever perfect but 'Time' for me comes close.... What?!?! Why you little......
Just kidding. I do get what you're saying about 'Hold On Tight'. Great song but it does feel a bit out of place on the album. It's different and I guess maybe that's why I like it, and although my name indicates otherwise, it wouldn't be at the top of my list of favorite ELO songs. But I do like it in that it offers a nice bright closing. And just to add my two cents about the Time album in general, I think it's an amazing work. Full of beautiful songs, and just like the Eldorado album, imo is a masterpiece both musically and conceptually. A very important and significant part of the ELO discography.
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Post by Timeblue on Apr 3, 2017 15:53:35 GMT
Most fans favourite ELO albums I'm guessing,would be 'Eldorado' and/or 'Time' they are quite similar in structure and theme. 'Hold on tight' is a great song but just feels out of context on here,IMHO.
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Post by queenofthehours on Apr 3, 2017 16:14:57 GMT
'Hold on Tight' feels strange to hear on Time but that's because it's one of ELO's most well known songs. It kind of spoils the album by standing out so much but if it wasn't a single I think it wouldn't be as noticeable.
At least the album isn't full of well known songs - like the Beatles for example. Because then you would notice the non-single album tracks and they would be inferior in comparison. There was one album I had once (Blur? Oasis?) and almost every song was a top 10 single apart from around three - those were the three I always skipped.
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Post by Horacewimp on Apr 3, 2017 16:20:19 GMT
I shouldn't admit this but for years and years I was unaware that Time was a concept album. Don't forget in those days the internet didn't exist, I purchased the album on the day of release and although different thought is was a good collection of songs. There is no mention on the album cover or sleeve about the time travel concept, how was I suppose to know? When I did find out apart from the embarrassment I saw the album in a different light and the songs meant more to me.
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Post by Timeblue on Apr 3, 2017 17:08:47 GMT
'Hold on Tight' feels strange to hear on Time but that's because it's one of ELO's most well known songs. It kind of spoils the album by standing out so much but if it wasn't a single I think it wouldn't be as noticeable.
At least the album isn't full of well known songs - like the Beatles for example. Because then you would notice the non-single album tracks and they would be inferior in comparison. There was one album I had once (Blur? Oasis?) and almost every song was a top 10 single apart from around three - those were the three I always skipped. Also as well I think, it's the fact that it's an all out rock n roll song,with little evidence of the albums trademark synth sound on it.
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Post by hoyosenr on Apr 4, 2017 8:42:55 GMT
Thanks Enrhoy; what a mouthful! After OOTB, Discovery (and blushingly Xanadudu), we all rather expected more sugar (nothing wrong with sugar!!!) - but what we got with Time was meat, potatoes, entre, dessert, afters & the WHOLE experience - with massive highs and crunching lows - a real operatic experience (and many of you will be thinking I mean 'a fat lady with a horned helmet warbling awfully' - NO! - what I mean is a narrative that carries us along thru an very emotional journey). I agree totally about the lack of clear narrative providing room for the listener's imagination to flesh out the story; 'less is more' - but TIME's less is STILL so much more than anything else comparable.... I repeat that I suspect JL poured more of his creativity into Time than any other album; and like anyone who has 'hung it all out in public' he feels exposed - so we fans are here to tell him his bared soul was worth it! You all are very welcomed! Actually I might spend hours talking about ELO, and Time would be a starring subject, but Secret Messages and Balance of Power too....That's why I pray everyday to see ShardEnder's book published. Though I've admitted I was paying just slight attention to ELO's pre-Time efforts, I still had an eye opened and, yes, I agree with you: one of the reasons why the album impacted so much to me is the sharp departure in terms of musical and lyrical approach. I read a short magazine entry of that period where Jeff was pointing out that he wanted just that, a sound change based on more keyboards and less strings thus leading to a heavier sound. The sound that most of us "Old Timers" love after that "sugar" poured in Discovery and Xanadu. And yes, this doesn't mean at all that those records suck, but that we the audience had had enough of that. I also think that this effort to search for new sounds and musical diversity kept being present in later ELO records. But the results were not so brilliant. Secret Messages, to my ears, shows a too forced attempt to be diverse, but here I agree with Jeff's statement in Afterglow: lacking some inspiration, especially melodic. Balance of Power, in my opinion, retrieves some melodic strength, and of course displays a very heartfelt lyrical content, but despite having been made with Jeff putting a lot of work on it, it can't help sounding rush dispatched. But well.....those are other subjects....
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Post by hoyosenr on Apr 4, 2017 8:58:03 GMT
Great summary enrhoy,I have always loved Time and so glad the love for it is everywhere on this site and you,like myself, appreciate 'Another Heart Breaks' too. Your English is very good (I wish I could speak Spanish as well as you speak English...) This is a great letter from Spain. (See what I did there?) Thanks! I might write hundreds of Letters from Spain when Time is the subject going on Though my English has been shaped by many years on a job where I needed to use it, the reality is that The Beatles, and ELO, were my first teachers. And Time was one of the main reasons. I spend many hours looking at the dictionary trying to understand what the lyrics were describing.
As I've got several thumbs up for the review, I'm taking the chance here to explain what is that personal Quality Test that Ticket to the Moon passes with maximum marks. When a song has a fantastic melody? When you sing it just played with an acoustic guitar and still sounds magical, almost as magical (if not more.....) as with all the arrangements poured on the recorded version. Ticket to the moon works that way. For example, I am the Walrus, doesn't work in the same way, which means that the melody is not the main feature why that songs seduces to the listeners.
Curious that Jeff, and Roy, took that precise track as the starting point for the ELO project. A track not displaying the most superb of the melodies inspired to create a band that ended up producing tons of memorable melodies.....
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Post by babyzoomer on Apr 4, 2017 12:53:04 GMT
Thanks Enroy... that's why the Bungalow Palace "almost unplugged" performances of JL & Rick Tandy were sooooo eye-opening for me; the 'classics' stripped back to their basic melodic content - and they still knocked my socks off!
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