Eloy - Rarities (1991)

                                    

 

This is a very nice compilation of Eloy tracks, but is not altogether as the title may suggest. Most of the songs already being available on various albums. We do however have one or two little gems in here not to be found elsewhere, most notably the song "Let the Sun Rise in Your Brain" which is in typical Eloy space rock mode with some excellent flute breaks in Jethro Tull vein. There's also a different version of ' Child Migration" and a longer version of " Wings Of Vision " and also has some single versions of other well known songs.

Rarities is more for the Eloy completist, but is nevertheless an excellent compilation in itself by germany's premier space-rock outfit!
SC&ME

Good compilation of Eloy tracks here, ranging from 1973 to 1984. But Rarities may be a little daring as a title; in fact, only 60 % of the record is rare. So I will focus on these novelties.
The first half of the disc is hardly composed of A and B sides that cannot be found on official albums/lives. It opens energically with the psychedelic hard rock instrumental Daybreak, carved in the same stone than Floating. On the Road sounds very Deep Purple-ish with its omnipresent organ and is very catchy. The best rarity here is the cosmic mini-epic Child Migration (different and as less as good as the track of the same name from Colours). The song begins trippy synthetizer to go on with high-pitched vocals and powerful guitars, definitely worth the trip. The calms reappears with Let the Sun Rise in Your Brain, relaxing musical piece featuring beautiful flute playing. On the contrary, Wings of Vision is not much welcomed in this compilation it is a little bit cheesy.
The second half of the compilation is merely composed of top tracks taken from Eloy's classic 80s albums (Colours, Planets, Time to Turn and Metromania), with the lengthy version of Wings of Vision.
Not the best place to start with Eloy, but surely a good investment for Eloy and space rock fans.

  "Eloy" didn't release any new studio album between 1988 and 1992. It was maybe the kick for their label to release these "Rarities".
Several songs do have an historical interest but not more. It is the case of "Daybreak" as well as "On The Road". Good old "Eloy" songs. Fully psychedelic. Both were released on the remastered version of their debut album. The most interesting is "Let the Sun Rise in Your Brain". It is one of their few (if not only) "Tull" oriented songs. This flavour is provided with a good fluting break. IMO, it is one the best number from this complilation.
I also lilke very much "Through a Somber Galaxy". The great guitar solo is fully Floydian and it was one of the very few good songs from "Time to Turn". This version has been edited slightly (almost one minute). There are two additional songs from this abum as well but they are really painful : "Wings of Vision" and the title track "Time to Turn" (even featured twice here)! These single (or extended version) won't do any good.
Their album "Colours" which I didn't really appreciate will provide the core of this album. Four numbers actually : "Child Migration ", "Horizons", "Silhouette", and "Sunset" which was one of my fave from this average album.
This collection of songs is by no means of deep interest. Just a couple really deserves any attention. Two starsReviews from Progarchives.com

Songs / Tracks Listing

  1. Daybreak (3:39)

2. On the Road (2:30)

3. Child Migration (4:03)

4. Let the Sun Rise in Your Brain (3:28)

5. Silhouette (3:30)

6. Horizons (3:20)

7. Wings of Vision (3:50)

8. Sunset (2:56)

9. Time to Turn (4:33)

10. Through a Somber Galaxy - 5:16

11. The Stranger (3:59)

12. Wings of Vision (12'' version) (4:14)

Eloy - Inside (1973)

This is the first truly progressive album ELOY recorded. Frank Bornemann certainly wasn't too happy with the political direction the band was heading on their first album. Of course original member Erich Schriever was mostly responsible for that, but of course, Frank Bornemann didn't think music and politics should mix. So Schriever was given the boot, and original drummer Helmuth Draht left too. So Fritz Randow came in for drums, Manfred Wieczorke switched to organ and Frank Bornemann now started to sing as well as play guitar. Bassist Wolfgang Stöcker lasted long enough to appear on this album.

So of course, all the left-wing political statements are now gone, in place of sci-fi oriented lyrics, with a spacier sound, more in the PINK FLOYD realm. The album consists of four extended cuts, beginning with the side-length "Land of No Body". Lots of PINK FLOYD references here, but parts of it also remind me of CAMEL. I just love that experimental spacy organ in the middle, it really trips me out. "Future City" sounds a whole lot like JETHRO TULL, but without the flute. Apparently certain FM stations in America were flattered by that, and so they played it ( Inside did receive an American release, on the Janus label - the German version was on Harvest, which is their first album for the label), of course, if "Future City" was ever played on American radio, it was on "progressive free form" FM stations (the FM format that existed before the rise of AOR in the mid 1970s). The album closes with the mellow "Up and Down". It wasn't sung by Frank Bornemann, but by Manfred Wieczorke, which comes to prove that he shouldn't sing (and he never did afterwards). Plus there's some narration that sounds like a German Bob DYLAN. And while the vocals are the weak part of the song, the spacy organ and atmosphere more than makes up for it. Great stuff, especially if you like that underground early '70s guitar/organ-driven prog.Revew from progarchives.com

Songs / Tracks Listing
1. Land Of No body (17:14)
2. Inside (6:35)
3. Future City (5:35)
4. Up And Down (8:23)

Remaster edition bonus tracks:
5. Daybreak (3:39)
6. On the road (2:30)

Total Time: 43:07

Line-up / Musicians
- Frank Bornemann / guitar, vocals, percussion
- Fritz Randow / drums, percussion, acoustic guitar, flute
- Wolfgang Stöcker / bass
- Manfred Wieczorke / organ, guitar, percussion, vocals

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Eloy - Planets (1981)

Second album with the '80s lineup, and the first to record a concept, in this case about the Planet Salta and the inhabitants known as the Ikareens. Originally "Planets" was meant to be a double album, but EMI/Harvest didn't quite like the idea (especially in the early '80s when double albums went out of fashion), so the band was forced to conclude this album the following year (1982) with "Time to Turn". I could not be more surprised with "Planets", especially since the album has often been looked at in a negative light compared to their previous, "Colours". I find little to complain of "Planets", it sounds to me like the band was making a compromise of their new, direct approach they explored since "Colours", and the spacy sound they explored when Detlev Schmidtchen and Jürgen Rosenthal were in the band ( "Ocean", "Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes")

The album is loaded with great Moog and string synths, done in the '70s style, but since this was the early '80s, some new polyphonic synths (such as the Prophet 5, or something similar) was starting to surface, as demonstrated on songs like "Point of No Return" and "Sphinx". You can be certain the band was still reluctant to let the 1970s go. The album starts off with "Introduction" (nothing to do with another piece they titled "Introduction" from "Power and the Passion"). This is a purely electronic piece, proving that Hannes Folberth could have made some great electronic music solo, but he preferred to be in a band. Fine with me. The music then segues in to "On the Verge of Darkening Lights". Here's all the proof you need of the band merging their new sound with the old. It's still in a more accessible, direct fashion, but they included some great, spacy Moog solos that could've been done by Schmidtchen. "Point of No Return" is mainly a song-oriented piece, with polyphonic synths dominating. There's a heartbeat (likely inspired by "Dark Side of the Moon") that segues in to "Mysterious Monolith". I like the introduction part of the song, and the end part with the atmospheric synth solos.

The second half showed the band was oddly wanting to move back to the sounds of "Dawn". The reason for that was the presence of orchestra on all but one of the cuts. "Queen of the Night" is that prime example. It starts off with a piano ballad, before the band rocks out, then the string synth solo come in. In there are the strings that sound like they came off "Dawn". "At the Gates of Dawn" is a very pleasant instrumental number with spacy Moog and piano, with the strings, once again. "Sphinx" is the only piece on side two without the strings, and is truly one of the album's high points. Stuffed with great playing, I especially like the '70s synths found here. It then segues in to the final piece, "Carried On By Cosmic Winds", with some more great cosmic sounding synths. The orchestra comes in, once again bringing to mind "Dawn"..ELOY Planets music reviews and MP3   Review from progarchives.com

It was 1981, MTV premiered, DURAN DURAN released their debut album, GENESIS released "Abacab", YES ceased to exist, ASIA formed (but no album released until the following year, of course), and ELOY pretended all the unfortunate things to happen in the world of music never happened (like new wave, the emergance of MTV, and old-time prog bands going commercial or ceasing to exist), making "Planets" one of the better prog albums I've heard from the 1980s. Definately the album to start first if you want to try '80s ELOY.

Songs / Tracks Listing 1. Introduction (1:58)
2. On The Verge Of Darkening Lights (5:37)
3. Point Of No Return (5:45)
4. Mysterious Monolith (7:40)
5. Queen Of The Night (5:22)
6. At The Gates Of Dawn (4:17)
7. Sphinx (6:50)
8. Carried By Cosmic Winds (4:32)

Total Time: 42:01

Line-up / Musicians - Hannes Arkona / guitars, keyboards
- Frank Bornemann / vocals, guitars
- Hannes Folberth / keyboards
- Klaus-Peter Matziol / basses, vocals
- Jim McGillivray / drums, percussion

ELOY point of no return PLANETS 1981

Eloy Point Of No Return from the Album Planets

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Eloy - Time to Turn ( 1982)

Probably the Eloys last true spacerock album before there music became much more heavy rock orientated.

ELOY Time To Turn music reviews and MP3

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Eloy - Ocean (1977)

Often touted as Eloys best album. I fail to think so myself. Excellent moments musically yes,  but for me there are far too many vocals / lyrics which detracts somewhat.

Still a great album though if not one one of my favourites and probably a good starting point for anyone not familiar with this band.

Songs / Tracks ListingLine-up / Musicians

- Frank Bornemann / guitars, vocals 

- Klaus-Peter Matziol / basses, vocals 

- Jürgen Rosenthal / drums, percussion, flute 

- Detlev Schmidtchen / keyboards, mellotron, xylophone, voice 

- The Boys Of Santiago / chorus (1)

Eloy-Incarnation Of Logos (Ocean)

Eloy - Voyager of the Future Race

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Eloy - Visionary (2009)

The latest album in a decade by "Eloy" sees them retreading the same sounds as on previous albums.

The opener "The Refuge" could almost be a track from there "Metromania" album with a more hard edged metal / rock type sound.

Elsewhere there's plenty of trademark bass lines from " Matziol" but far less in the spacey keyboards and guitars which the earlier albums had in abundance and unfortunately as with all there recent albums the vocals are not so good with too many repetetive moments and less inventive progressiveness for my tastes.

Not a bad album but far removed from the classic "Eloy" of old as we know and love.

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Songs / Tracks Listing

1. The Refuge (4:54)
2. The Secret (7:45)
3. Age of Insanity (7:56)
4. The Challenge (Time to Turn, Part 2) (6:44)
5. Summernight Symphony (4:22)
6. Mystery (The Secret, Part 2) (9:00)
7. Thoughts (1:22)

Total Time 42:03

Line-up / Musicians - Frank Bornemann / lead and backing vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
- Klaus-Peter Matziol / bass
- Michael Gerlach / keyboards
- Bodo Schopf / drums, percussion

- Hannes Folberth / additional keyboards (2, 3, 4 & 6)

Eloy - Age of Insanity

ELOY 2009 - Age of Insanity (HQ) - Song 3 of 7

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Eloy - Silent Cries & Mighty Echoes (1979)

Ah yes! The album my blog is named after. Definitely the Eloys most "Pink Floyd" inspired album. The highlight being the longest song " The Apocolaypse"

The vocals and guitars are particularly outstanding on this release and it certainly ranks as one of there finest.

Although "Ocean" is widely considered there finest i personally prefer this one which has less vocal parts and is more spacey progressive.

Excellent!

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Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Astral Entrance (3:03)
2. Master Of Sensation (6:00)
3. The Apocalypse (14:54)
a) Silent Cries Divide The Night
b) The Vision Burning
c) Force Majeure
4. Pilot To Paradise (7:01)
5. De Labore Solis (5:12)
6. Mighty Echoes (7:16)
Bonus tracks on remastered edition:
7. Child Migration (4:05)
8. Let the Sun Rise in my Brain (3:29)

Total Time: 51:00

Line-up / Musicians - Frank Bornemann / guitars, vocals
- Klaus-Peter Matziol / bass, pedals, chorus
- Jürgen Rosenthal / drums, percussion
- Detlev Schmidtchen / keyboards, chorus
- Brigitte Witt / vocals

Astral Entration/Master of Sensations - Eloy

Eloy - Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes 1979 - Pilot To Paradise

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Eloy - The Challenge ( 2009 )

Thia was the single for the recently realeased new album by Eloy, "Visionary".

Here we have 2 slightly updated and more modern sounding versions of there "Time To Turn" song. Personally i prefer the original which to me had better sung vocals from "Bornemann" and the female backing vocals were better too.......... major dissapointment though when comparing it to the original is the substitution of the slide guitar solo for a much straighter rock one. Having said that these two versions are probably still a good introduction ( for todays radio! )  to this band for anyone not famiiar.

Lastly we have the uplifting "Summernight Symphony" which if it were sung by "David Gilmour" you would think it was one of his numbers.

 Mmmm..... somewhat of a dissapointment all round for us real "Eloy" fans of old which doesn't wet ones appetite to go straight out and get the album.

Check out "The Challenge (Time To Turn Pt 2 ) below and see what YOU think!


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Songs / Tracks Listing
1. The Challenge (Time to Turn, Part 2 - Radio Edit) (3:47)
2. The Challenge (Time to Turn, Part 2) (6:46)
3. Summernight Symphony (4:28)

Line-up / Musicians
- Frank Bornemann / lead vocals, guitar
- Michael Gerlach / keyboards
- Hannes Folberth / keyboards
- Klaus-Peter Matziol / bass
- Bodo Schopf / drums, percussion

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Manfred Wieczorke- Transfer (1987)

First solo album from "Eloy" keyboard player. Lots of really nice synths here which only resembles "Eloy" in parts but has some splendid melodic spacey moments.

Tracks/Listing
1 Andaluz
2 Spirit Of Djema El Fnaa
3 Qued
4 54 Degree
5 Dance
6 Too High

Eloy - Codename Wildgeese (Soundtrack) (1995)

One of "Eloy's" more harder to come by albums. 


This is a stripped down line up of "Eloy" with the guitar/ keyboard and bass player only.

I remember seeing this film many years ago, a second rate action/ war film really, with an international cast....not so the music though....if you like your "Eloy" with lots of synths and a straighter space rock approach ( like Metromania but on the whole without the heaviness ) then this is for you i would say, and not half as bad as some might think....just my opinion. It has the trademark "Eloy" synth sounds for sure.

 I find this a most enjoyable album personally.

"Destiny" Mono version

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Patrol (2:47)
2. Hongkong Theme I (3:32)
3. Hit And Run (1:38)
4. Queen Of Rock'n'Roll (2:36)
5. Destiny (4:34)
6. Discovery (0:50)
7. Juke-Box (1:58)
8. Deadlock (1:30)
9. Cha-Shoen (3:35)
10. Sabotage (1:20)
11. On The Edge (3:30)
12. A Long Goodbye (2:13)
13. Face To Face (1:47)
14. A Moment Decides (2:07)
15. Revenge (1:13)
16. Hongkong Theme II (1:07)

Total Time: 33:30

Line-up / Musicians

Original soundtrack recording to the movie starring:
- Lewis Collins / Ernest Borgnine / Lee Van Cleef / Klaus Kinski

Performers include:
- Hannes Arkona / Hannes Folberth / Klaus-Peter Matziol / J. Nemec-Bolek

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Eloy - The Power And The Passion ( 1975 )

For those not in the know, Eloy named after the people"Eloi" from H.G.Wells's famous "Time Machine" were one of Germanys most succesful progressive space rock outfits from the early 70's and onwards. Power and the Passion comes from

the mid seventies when they were at there peak.

Somewhat softer and more symphonic on this release to the previous albums, this is nonetheless excellent throughout and Eloys first stab at a concept album. It was i understand initially to be be a double album but wound up a single.

Besides being softer "Power" is also more psychedelic than previous albums, with plenty of Mellotron, synhts and electric piano. I find the spoken words nice too, besides the vocals. The album artwork compliments the music perfectly as well, as we jouney on this colourful musical trip, which incidentally i find to be one of "Eloy's" more atmospheric works.It's all topped of by a really excellent last song " The Bells Of Notre Dame ". A dark and spacey, slow tempo organ/ mellotron driven piece.

If your a fan of "Eloy" ( as i am) , or not , this album is a very good place to start!

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Line-up / Musicians

- Frank Bornemann / vocals, guitar

- Luitjen Janssen / bass

- Fritz Randow / drums

- Detlef Schwaar / guitar

- Manfred Wieczorke / keyboards, mellotron

- Mary Davis-Smith / voice (3 )

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Introduction (1:10)

2. Jouney Into 1358 (2:56)

3. Love Over Six Centuries (10:05)

4. Mutiny (9:07)

5. Imprisonment (3:12)

6. Daylight (2:38)

7. Thoughts Of Home (1:04)

8. The Zany Magician (2:38)

9. Back Into The Present (3:07)

10. The Bells Of Notre-Dame (6:26)

Total Time: 42:23

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