Time by ELO, Side 2

Side 2

Once Another Heart Breaks washes me back to the shore, I’m greeted with the cleansing sound of heavy rains and operatic tones as Rain is Falling begins. No matter the time of day, when this song is on, a new dawn is breaking in my mind. Barry Manilow’s I Made It Through The Rain comes to mind. After the heaviness of the last song, Rain is Falling is as palette cleansing as a joyful dance in sweet summer rain.

Now that the music has given leave for a fresh start, Rain is Falling is replaced by the saucy and funky From the End of the World. The headspace this song creates for me is sitting around in my room, dressing up in my sexiest outfits, dancing around, making up my face, and letting loose. Perfume-infused, lipstick-kissed love letters come to mind. This song is the dark side of Venus in her disco phase: wine-colored, whispering lips, fingertips that spark at the slightest touch, and hips that seriously do not lie. This song is all love, past, present, and future.

The big finish of From the End of the World whirls into applause, and then warps into The Lights Go Down. In my mind, From the End of the World and The Lights Go Down are coupled in that the first song is the party, and the second song is the post-party wind down. Mental picture: toes plodding through cool sand on a dusk-drowned beach with the straps of my heels draping from the tips of my tired fingers, swinging lazily to the beat of Lights Go Down. Laughter is still on my lips, but my lungs are fatigued and my face hurts. The salty breeze teases my hair and kisses my cheeks as I slowly stalk through this timeless mental moment.

This careless, sweet moment fades into quiet, and then the silence is met with an epic, horn-like composition that makes me feel like I’m drifting through space, once more. Thus, Here is the News begins! This song begins with the feeling of watching news anchors spreading bullshit day after day, week after week: a dizzying, overwhelming amount of negative information conveniently coming to me ‘every hour, upon the hour’. It has a very business-as-usual feel to it up until the breakdown at the bridge, which evokes feelings of laying in bed every night missing that one person who got away and wishing for just one more shot at their heart… And then it’s business as usual, once more. It’s an accurate depiction of life, as it is now; having to cope with emotions while maintaining professionalism on a daily basis and keeping up with bills.

From Here is the News, Time washes into 21^st Century Man. This song is a wistful, day-dreamy landscape depicting displacement and disorientation while growing old in the age of technology and disconnection. However much I love every single song on this album, 21^st Century Man is the song I relate to the most. As a person who craves closeness and authenticity, I’ve often found myself feeling like I’ve stepped out of time, like I don’t belong where I was born. The over-shadowing experience of my life is disenchantment with the reality I have awakened to, and this song brings those feelings to life, helping me feel less crazy.

After 21^st Century Man’s quiet fade out, the beginning of Hold On Tight is pretty abrupt and energizing. This wholesome rock-n-roll song is not only great to dance to, it also works as a great reminder to keep trying when failure seems like a plague hovering around my dreams. I also love the verse sung completely in French because it gets my brain working on translating what I’ve heard. This song has caught me off-guard in some of my deeper depressive moments and reminded me that everyone looks failure in the face from time to time. The only way failure counts as a victory is how I choose to rise from those ashes and relentlessly chase my passions.

Following Hold On Tight is the epilogue, the bookend to this glorious piece of art. They leave you with the lyrics from 21^st Century Man: “You should be so happy. You should be so glad. [So, why are you so lonely?] 21^st Century Man…Though you ride on the wheels of tomorrow, you still wander the fields of your sorrow. Time. Time. Time.” A beautiful end to an achingly, nostalgically beautiful album.

And, now, to hit replay…