When I was a child, I was a sponge for music. Everything my parents played interested me immediately, and I spent hours downloading my father and mother’s CDs to a nugget-sized USB stick that served as my only connection to the music. for years. My dad was a huge fan of the Smiths, AC / DC, Journey and all the other typical daddy music. My mom, on the other hand, was my window to artists like Elton John, Daryl Hall, and John Oates, and, more importantly for this review, Electric Light Orchestra.

Electric Light Orchestra, if you didn’t already know, is an iconic band who are best known for their albums released in the ’70s. Their music evolves with their discography, and each has a distinct sound that the band has cultivated alongside whatever he was trying to bring out in the specific album.

You probably know some of their popular music like “Mr. Blue Sky”, “Don’t Bring Me Down”, “Livin ‘Thing”, “Evil Woman”, etc. However, when I try to talk about my favorite album, no one seems to remember it. The album in question is their 1981 album, Time.

This album has everything you could possibly want. Fabulous instrumentation with strings galore, in tandem with a futuristic theme that was popular at the time. What sets it apart from other ELO albums is the way it has a specific theme and it sticks to it.

Welcome to the future

The album opens with a grandiose uniquely instrumental track (there is a robotic narrator, but since they don’t sing, I’ll say it’s only instrumental) simply titled “Prologue”. It serves the same purpose as the opening instrumentation of a musical and prepares you for the thematic narration of that album. It almost reminds me of being in a planetarium. It’s just how big he feels. It makes you feel small with its grandeur, which makes sense due to the futuristic and spatial theme.

You are then immediately and smoothly in the first song on the album with singing vocals. “Twilight” is hugely underrated. I love her to death. It’s still so upbeat and the drums of this song are played so well. There’s a great amount of mix between traditional rock instrumentation and more unique stuff like all those synths that make you feel like you’re in the cockpit of a ship taking off to a futuristic civilization.

“Yours Truly, 2095” is our next track and I interpreted it as a man falling in love with some kind of artificial intelligence. That premise alone makes it a smash hit to me, but the chorus where the song opens and they sing “Is this what you want?” sends you towards the dystopian concept of something that is programmed to help you fall in love with yourself, or the futility of falling in love with something that could never understand you. It’s like they turn “2001: A Space Odyssey” into a romantic comedy.

I don’t like “Ticket to the Moon”. It’s just a depressing trip to the moon where this guy is like, “I’m sad about the moon or whatever.” I don’t know, it’s just not interesting enough until you hit the 3:00 minute mark where the song picks up and gets some good feelings. Construction is too slow. If this song was only the last half, I would appreciate it, but alas, it’s not.

Longing for those days gone by

Now, unlike “Ticket to the Moon,” “The Way Life’s Meant to Be” is much more like an adventure set on Earth. It almost gives it a Wild West vibe, where someone wonders how much the world has changed. I guess that’s the whole theme of the album, the effects of time on the world around us, and how that might change, but this song handles the whole concept a lot more. The heavy percussion of this song moves it quite well and the chorus is engaging. Since the song is about wanting to go back instead of going forward, it’s only fitting that it is made up of more traditional instruments like a tambourine and lacks synths.

“Another Heart Breaks” is extremely boring, and that’s all you need to know. He’s probably there to serve as a transition into the future, but I hate him and don’t think he should even be there. Correct. Ugh.

“Rain Is Falling” is much more ballad than the other songs. It follows the same arc as “The Way Life’s Meant to Be”, where the song has someone longing for Earth naturalism. The lines “With their brand new time transporter / They will think I fought to get away / But with all their great inventions / And all their good intentions, I stay here”, tell the story of someone who has fled the futurism of their modern day and retreated to relive the nostalgia of the days they were with the person they desire in this song. I love the subtle electric guitar in this song. It adds a nice mellow layer to the melancholy but hopeful feel of this song.

“Du bout du monde” IS THE BEST. If you liked “Twilight” this song will not only blow your mind, it will blow your mind. The backing vocals for this song are so precise, and for me, it’s a very hyped song. There is some clear piano that takes you from the chorus to the next verse, and the audio overlay of this song is so good. They intrude so much into this song, but it can never be too much, as it only increases your experience to the fullest.

“21st Century Man” has a similar vibe to “Rain is Falling,” but more so from the perspective of a man who has it all because of the circumstances he was born into but still can’t be happy. It touches on the idea that we don’t know what the future holds and while it’s the best thing we can imagine, there will always be things that we will miss or miss. Regardless of our progress or our past, it is human nature to wish for what we cannot have. The song itself is a bit boring, but it’s a beautiful, calming song compared to its predecessor, and the song’s vocals are nice when put in the spotlight.

Accept reality

“Hold On Tight” is the piece de resistance of Time. The chorus of this song is so good, which is why it remains the most famous and notable song on the album. He connects the ends of this album’s theme by acknowledging that no matter how long the human race lasts nothing will ever be perfect and no matter how much time passes the most important thing is to remember what makes the value of the life. live – your dreams. The composition almost reminds me of a dinner party, but it’s still engaging and has an impressive electric guitar.

“Epilogue” is a reminder of “21st Century Man” with a very sad electric guitar and echoing vocals. It just reinforces the idea that while the world can be a sad place at times, you have to remember that it’s all a part of the passing of time.