Electric Light Orchestra – Time Review

The charts have been topped and a film soundtrack, peddled like jury service to popular artists of the time, has been checked off. What was next for Electric Light Orchestra? A spell in the commercial good books had done little, if anything, to affect the writing style of Jeff Lynne or the ear for interesting instrumentals found on Richard Tandy. Time, then, is a solid effort. A space-based shockwave which leans a little too heavily into their sci-fi flourishes and ditches the E.L.O. standard flying saucer. Travel forward in time with a band which had burst through, growing from manageable fun on the road to dedicated life-ruler. Lynne sounds fatigued, and rightly so. He has devoted his life to the Orchestra for it gives him riches like no other. But winding it down was inevitable after the band had dotted their final I’s and crossed those inevitable T’s. Time feels quietly sombre because of it. 

Despite the fatigue and malaise now affecting the Lynne classics, Time perseveres with some grand opportunities to reignite the band. Hidden gems and cuts of quality just below their golden age. Pieces like Twilight offer left-field entry points into the work of the band. But with this space age and time travel blur, Lynne falls down the gaping hole dug by The Buggles. Yours Truly, 2095 would not sound out of place on The Plastic Age and, as such, sounds a bit novel. Passable work but the first warning sign of fatigue found on an Electric Light Orchestra record. Time is a flare gun fired off into the potential-filled night and would be the last true hurrah for the band. A post-high spell of mediocrity cannot be all too annoying given the hot streak before Time. It houses one of Electric Light Orchestra’s best songs, but the rest is filler. 

Ticket to the Moon is a repetitive slog which only keeps itself alive with the orchestral arrangement, slightly out of the mix and quieter than needed. The Way Life’s Meant to Be is a rare gem worth sticking around for, another best-of-contender. Soft acoustic guitar work and a golden Lynne performance mark it as another salvageable piece. Hold On Tight has the same appeal but Turn to Stone offers the same thoughtfulness and a punchier effort. Ultimately the best bits of Time are pieces turned in better, before it. The rest is dreck. Perhaps that is harsh, but it lines up with the feel of the band at the time. Burnt out, knowing they can do better and, ultimately, not as effective as they once were.  

E.L.O. is a rare beast. Such consistency was heard over so many albums during their peak and it came to a close not because they ran out of contemporary interest but because the main players avoided the need for a break. We could all do with time off and Time sounds like the signal to call it a day, momentarily that is. The band would fracture and stagnate from here and ironically it would see the band itself run out of time. Lynne would move onto other, more interesting and creatively lucrative projects while other members of the collective shot off with spin-offs and continuations. These moments poison the water. It is like realising Yes still tour and release music. Sinister stuff, but enjoy Time for what it is. A last hurrah for Lynne and the band in their best era, albeit one with a spluttering cough at the end of its whoop.