Artist: ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Album: TIME REMASTERED (CD)

Year: 1981/ 2001
Media type: CD

Time is a concept album by Electric Light Orchestra released in 1981 through Jet Records. The album tells the story, through its songs and lyrics, of a man from the 1980s finding himself in the year 2095 and trying to come to terms with being unable to return and adjusting to his new surroundings.

An immediate success upon its original release, Time would rank as the eighth highest charting album in the world for 1981.

In 2001, the album was remastered and reissued on CD with three additional bonus tracks, two of which ("Julie Don't Live Here" and "When Time Stood Still") had already been released as B-sides of singles ("Twilight" and "Hold On Tight" respectively) from the original album, while the other ("The Bouncer") was originally released as the UK B-side of the 1983 single "Four Little Diamonds" from the follow-up album Secret Messages.

While the two preceding ELO albums, Discovery and Xanadu, were heavily influenced by pop and disco, Time is much closer to ELO's roots of progressive rock music. Songs like "Ticket To The Moon", "The Way Life's Meant to Be", "Rain Is Falling", and "21st Century Man" are reminiscent of material from the A New World Record through Out Of The Blue era of ELO, while other tracks explore new influences such as New Wave ("Twilight", "Yours Truly, 2095", "Another Heart Breaks", "From The End Of The World", and "Here Is The News"), and Rockabilly ("Hold On Tight") with the core ELO sound. The album reached #1 in the UK Albums Chart (see list of UK #1 albums from the 1980s). The hit single "Hold On Tight" proved to be the band's last top-ten single in both the US and UK, and the album itself achieved Platinum and Gold status in the UK and US respectively.

Rainer Pietsch took over conducting the strings, although Louis Clark did appear (for the first time) playing keyboards in the live line-up on the subsequent Time tour.

All songs written by Jeff Lynne. Strings conducted by Rainer Pietsch.

TRACKLIST:

1."Prologue" – 1:15
2."Twilight" – 3:35
3."Yours Truly, 2095" – 3:15
4."Ticket to the Moon" – 4:06
5."The Way Life's Meant to Be" – 4:36
6."Another Heart Breaks" – 3:46
[edit] Side two7."Rain Is Falling" – 3:54
8."From the End of the World" – 3:16
9."The Lights Go Down" – 3:31
10."Here Is the News" – 3:49
11."21st Century Man" – 4:00
12."Hold on Tight" – 3:05
13."Epilogue" – 1:30

Bonus tracks on the 2001 edition:
14."The Bouncer" - 3:14 (B-side to "Four Little Diamonds")
15."When Time Stood Still" - 3:33 (B-side to "Hold On Tight")
16."Julie Don't Live Here" - 3:42 (B-side to "Twilight")

LINE-UP:

Jeff Lynne - lead and backing vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, synthesizer, producer
Bev Bevan - drums, percussion
Richard Tandy - piano, electric piano, synthesizer, guitar
Kelly Groucutt - bass guitar, backing vocals

Additional personnel:
Bill Bottrell - engineer
Mack - engineer
Strings conducted by Rainer Pietsch
Al Quaglieri - Reissue Producer (2001)