The 1980s saw a lot of rock and roll stalwarts trading in their electric guitars and drum sets for synthesizers and drum machines. Not even hair metal heroes like Van Halen were safe from the new wave revolution.
Even so, it stung a little harder when Electric Light Orchestra traded in their strings and horns for analog synthesizers.
However, it’d sting a whole lot more if the songs weren’t so damn catchy.
Admittedly, huge ELO fan that I am, if I were to have found this album in a record store and looked it up, I probably would have passed on it. It is consistently one of their lowest ranked albums in their catalog, most of the reviews railing against the change in instrumentation. While other artists were able to make the change to synths pretty seamlessly, the critics looked at the lack of strings on TIME and said, “Jeff, buddy, that’s like, your whole deal.”
Instead, I found it in a box of records given by a friend to sell for them in exchange for whatever I wanted to keep. Since I love ELO a whole lot, I took a chance. And that chance paid off.
While it’s true that orchestral flourishes were a huge part of the Electric Light Orchestra, treating it like the end all be all of ELO overlooks what has always been the main attraction: Jeff Lynne’s impeccable songwriting and arrangements. Both of which escape the synthopocalypse unscathed.
In fact, some of ELO’s catchiest songs are on this disk. “Twilight,” the first proper song on here is as urgent and hooky as anything on their more celebrated albums. “Ticket to the Moon” is a heartbreakingly gorgeous piano ballad augmented by synth strings and big harmonies. Apart from the lack of strings, they could easily fit alongside tracks like “Turn To Stone” or “Mr. Blue Sky.”
Not to say that it sounds entirely like the ELO of old. The instrumental “Another Heart Breaks” introduces some elements of dub reggae in a creepy, morose electronic track (the intro of which may have been borrowed by Bright Eyes on Digital Ash’s “Easy Lucky Free”). “Yours, Truly,” a song to an ex lover about a robot the singer has fallen in love with (I’ll come back to that) rides hard on a pulsing synth line.
That said, this isn’t just synths for synths’ sake. This isn’t a mere trend hop. TIME is a concept album about a man from the 80s who gets trapped in 2095 (where he falls in love with a robot). As such, the coldness and jaggedness of the synthesizers augment the album’s purpose rather than detract from it.
Don’t let the critics fool you. Despite the shift in their sonic palette, this is classic ELO. It maintains the same intricate arrangements and Beatles worship as their best records, mixed with a tasteful dose of disco, new wave, and world influences. I will never let the critics scare me away from ELO again.