ELOY

Good performance for the 1st album. "Isle of sun" - is my favorite. However, there are several musical styles (there is hard among them, which does not become them) just squeezed into the album, so it looses it's consistency. Anyway, you'll like it (like I do :-) if you are devoted to Eloy.

3.5 stars really!!

Eloy's first album came in with the famous gimmick cover of the garbage can you could lift the lid from and look inside. If I may, please overlook those that claim that this album is not prog or inferior to others. It's Eloy's first and it's normal it is not yet fully refined, but it holds plenty of proto-prog that -if from the UK - it would be applauded as a lost gem or something similar. Recorded in Hamburg in April 71, produced by Conny Plank and released on the Phillips label,

Musically we're having an organ-driven heavy prog (even if the main songwriters are the singer and the guitarist) that followed Uriah Heep or Purple of the era, groups that Eloy opened for in local shows. It's not like the songwriting or the playing are particularly brilliant or exceptional, but the album is very enjoyable especially in the longer tracks like the 8-mins+ Something Yellow or the cosmic intro of the opening track, Today or even the eponymous track with its drum solo .Only the lengthy closer Dillus Roady sounding like early Uriah Heep can seem a bit poor an idea, as it is simply too repetitive, despite some exciting guitars.

By the time that their second album Inside was to be recorded, the group had suffered its first major line-up change, in that only the guitarist and the keyboardist remained and they'd slimmed down from a quintet into a quartet. Anyway, Eloy's debut is a very worthy one, no matter what Bornemann or my mistaken fellow reviewers would have you believe, with its organ-driven hard prog that reeks the early 70's with all of the clichés that usually come with that era. Sometimes compared with Camel's debut album, this is under-rated and the only Eloy album where Bornemann is not signing..

ELOY's debut album is one of Germany's 70's heavy weights and one of my personal favs. This stonker of an album captures the wonderful underground 70's krautrock magic, clearly standing up though as a very different sounding ELOY than subsequent album would prove for sure. Like so many great 70's German prog recordings, ELOY's debut album was produced by... yes you guessed it Conrad Plank. The overall sound is dark and deep with a heavy focus on electric guitar and percussion. From this albums original lineup, 3 of the 5 would stay behind to work on subsequent albums and retain the core of ELOY... Frank Bornemann (guitar, harmonica, percussion), Manfred Wieczorke (guitar, bass, vocals) and Wolfgang Stöcker (bass) with Erich Schriever (lead vocals, keyboards) and Helmuth Draht (drums) exiting after recording this masterpiece. Lead vocalist Erich Schriever has actually a great tock voice and adds that extra rough sound which adorns this album. Songs are exploratory and full of great 70's instrumentation with loads of wild guitar solos and great percussive sounds. Their overall sounds is quite heavy and does not yet introduce the space sound ELOY became associated with but I put this album in a different category and think of it as ELOY MK2. I only wish ELOY had recorded a few more albums with this lineup... brilliant stuff!

Album is very similar to "Indian Summer", isn't it? I thought that it 'll be a great album and I must say that I'm a little bit concerned, that it isn't... Majority of prog-bands had their best albums at the beginning, Eloy didn't... Of course, that albom is better thing than "mish- mash" from MTV, like Linkin Park, Korn or sthg like that, but I thought that it is a essential album...It is "only" a excellent prog-music....

This album is important because it's the first album of Eloy. And it's not easy to find it. That's why Eloy/Eloy is one of the important CD of my collection. But music is not excellent like Inside, Floating, Power and Passion, Dawn, Ocen, Silent Cries and Mighty Ecoes, but of couers better than the albums after 80s. And cover of it i think one of the interesting cover of pschidelic groups' album. It's for collectors but not only for them.

Fabulous album, and among the best Eloy albums I know. Produced by Conrad Plank, Eloy enters the music world with a classic rock attitude, combined with Floydian space atmospherics. The music sounds a bit like Uriah Heep, with some Cream influences. Very good instrumentalists and great songs. Eloy are often compared to Pink Floyd, but on this album that influence is not as apparent as on later releases.

1. Today (5:56) A very Uriah Heep like rock song, especially in the vocals, starting with some spacy guitar extravaganza, soon to take off into great classic rock. the nanananna vocal section is almost a direct rip off from Uriah Heep, but original enough to not get upset about it. Great guitar solo from Frank Bornemann. 2. Something yellow (8:15) Starting with fabulous keyboards, then a July Morning Uriah Heep like guitar takes the song to a more classic rock format, the end of the song is spacy blues with some great guitars.

3. Eloy (6:15) A Jan Akkerman (Hocus Pocus) type lead guitar, creates the back-bone for this song, again the vocals remind me of UH, great song, with a great soft drum solo in the middle, after which the music returns to good spacy classic rock. 4. Song of a paranoid soldier (4:50) Hey, they can play Cream type music also, maybe they should disquise their influences better, but a nice song all together, not brilliant though.

5. Voice of revolution (3:07) Again some Cream influences, mainly in the vocals and the drum/bass play, good song. 6. Isle of sun (6:03) A soft ballad, with great vocals, but mainly carried by the fabulous and compelling keyboards, very very good. 7. Dillus roady (6:32) Blues rock at most, again fairly reminiscent of Uriah Heep, especially the organ/bass/drum interplay, with the high edgy guitar on top of it. Great song.

In this review i've often compared Eloy to Uriah heep, but I just remembered this album was released in 1970. Anyway this is a great album, and a good listen to all who enjoy the softer Uriah Heep songs (July Morning, Salisbury). After this they became more space-rock oriented. I liked their debut album very much, and I recommend you give the band a listen, when you get the chance.

Not a masterpiece, but very good indeed.

I have mixed feelings about this album. This is not really a progressive rock album. This is a classic rock album with elements of other genres (and a few touches of prog) that does not sound like Eloy at all (except for the spacey guitar soloing). The musicianship is good though, and every member gets some time to show their talents. The music is influenced by Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Uriah Heep.

Today starts this album, and it shows that this is not the eloy we know and love. This is just classic rock. Same for 'Song of a Paranoid Soldier'. 'Eloy' is another track in the same vein, except that there is a good drum solo in the middle. Fortunately, the first half is saved by the song 'Something Yellow' which has amazing led-zeppelin like solos, and black sabbath-like Guitar riffing. The bass guitar is something to pay attention to. Isle of Sun is the song that may remind you of the next albums of Eloy : It is spacey, it is focused on keyboards, and it contains good melodies. The song concludes with a classic rocker 'Dillus Roady'.

1. Today (4.5/10) 2. Something yellow (6.5/10) 3. Eloy (5/10) 4. Song of a paranoid soldier (4.5/10) 5. Voice of revolution (4/10) 6. Isle of sun (7/10) 7. Dillus roady (5/10)

My Grade : D+

Eloy's first album is a strange fruit, that holds in disguise seeds of what would became one of the better progressive groups of 70's. Being a pure hard rock, it is not interesting to progressive listeners, but to Eloy completionists or hard rock explorers. Listening to record, almost nothing reminds me of latter great epic albums and songs. At one moment I had a though that on that time they still hadn't a keyboard instrument, but at my surprise it finally appeared in last two songs, making it a little bit different, but more average. The rock was good, even ambiental at some moments, but the best was still to came.

Charming sometimes, but very uncharacteristic. This is a completely different record from anything Eloy has released afterwards. It's basic your typical early 70's hard rock with few touches of psychedelia and a hint of prog here and there. Nothing original. Competent, yes. Essential? Not really, unless you´re a completionist. No wonder Bornemann does not like it. His contribution is far less important here than in any other Eloy album and the style is nothing we're accustomed to hear from them. Sometimes it is not even mentioned on some discography of Eloy. The leap from this album and their sophomoric release, Inside, was a giant one. In fact, it was a completely new band by then. This one serves more as a curio than anything else. For completionists, only. Or maybe, if you like early 70's psychedelic hard rock, for the ones who enjoy looking for obscure stuff from that period.

Like many bands of the late sixties / early seventies, this debut album is not really in-line with their later production. I would say that there are two mainstreams here : the psychedelic side which is influenced by "Floyd" as well as "Jefferson Airplane" to a certain extent and a harder side with lots of mighty guitar. "Purple Mark I" is of influence as well (mainly noticeable during "Song of a Paranoid" but not only).

This album sounds a bit outdated. No real highlights to be mentioned and just one very weak number "Voice of Revolution". Things will get better with "Isle of Sun". Vocals definitely remind me of Rod Evans ("Purple - Mark I"). It's a pleasant rock balad with a good keyboards solo. Here again, Jon Lord is not far away.

"Dillus Roady" is more on the "Heep" side. So, actually there are very little personality in here.

"Eloy" will be in better shoes when they will start playing their great space-rock for which they are better known. Some good psychedelia here, but not as much as I would have liked. An average album which is interesting to the ones who are willing to compare the early "Eloy" with their later production.

Two stars.

Unless you are hell bent on discovering a band chronologically, or you have a penchant for faceless if competent early 1970s hard rock, you can pass by this anomaly in the Eloy catalogue. While some might consider it an advantage, Frank Bornemann is not even the lead vocalist, with the less distinctive Erich Schriever taking the reins. Nonetheless, his slightly bluesy voice is properly suited to this style.

Influenced far more by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and maybe even Black Sabbath than by the prog stalwarts who were already well established by 1971, Eloy's debut is an honest effort containing plenty of appealing yet plodding guitar riffs, political lyrical themes, psychedelic percussion, organ and Bornemann's developing and already impressive lead guitar licks. While most of these rockers are redeemable, on "Voice of Revolution" and during other segments the fast forward button beckons.

It is true that here and there one can discern the germ of a psychedelic/space rock band, thanks partly to Bornemann's axe work but also to melodies like "Isle of Sun", which almost vaults over the next phase of Eloy's career in anticipation, even if it is more organ based and less orchestral. Interestingly, the title of the first song on the 2nd album, "Inside", called "Land of No Body", is referenced in the song "Eloy" here, which is otherwise nothing like that subsequent effort.

The band splintered after this production, with Bornemann firmly in control, and my curiosity about where they might have gone from here had they stayed together is mild at best. A historical document.

eloy founded in 1969 by guitarist Frank Bornemann, the band has endured several line-up changes, with Bornemann being the only consistent member of the group. this line-up unfortunally made only one album !! the sound quality of this album its not great and not relavent for the future eloy sound nevermore it has carring all german krautrock characteristic.this is only album we cant heard of Frank Bornemann's vibrant voice, he is just playing electric guitar someting yellow, isle of sun and song of a paranoid soldier are pretty good songs..i asked to Frank Bornemann directly what do you think about debut album? he said Eric's vocal was great!!!

While I particularly like the debut and self-titled Eloy album, I do understand why some of the Eloy fans would not second my opinion. The reason for that is - believe it or not - that "Eloy" is not exactly a progressive rock album, but a classic 70's rock album.... And a fairly good one by the way, despite having come as a big surprise to someone who discovered Eloy listening to Dawn (1976), Ocean (1977) and Planets (1981) albums like me. If you don't consider yourself a hardcore/radical Eloy fan, you will probably enjoy listening to the space guys from Germany with a true rock and roll attitude, a more raw sound and infinitely less effects..... One will find signs of what Eloy will turn into on the following albums in songs like "Isle Of Sun" and "Something Yellow" but they are mixed with traditional (and very nice) rock n roll songs such as the opening act "Today" and "Song of a Paranoid Soldier"... I will rating as 3 starts just cause this album would not fit so well in a prog rock collection, but hey, you have 2 very good reasons to not to discard this album: first because is a great rock and roll album and last but not least, because it's ELOY :-)))

Maybe the worst in the Eloy catalouge, but it's an alright Rock album. It's got some good vocals, good guitar parts, and some nice keyboards and basslines. This album isn't as interesting or as sucessful as their progressive rock efforts, but they don't do all bad on this album. At least they can hold down a decent rythym, something they would stretch in their next albums.

"Today" has a floating intro, then gets into the rocking part. The guitar is fairly good, and the drumming is superb. The lyrics are terrible because I don't find politics in my rock very good for my listening. The vocals are great on this track, with some harmonies with Frank on this track as you can hear in the background on the "na na na" part. "Somthing Yellow" is the longest track, and is fairly soft and boring. Not much to say about this song other than it has some decent parts, but most of it is unlistenable. "Song of a Paranoid Soldier" has some terrible lyrics, but the music overall is pretty good. The riff is very nice. "Voice of a revolution" is all about movement, but I don't find it an interesting track. Sounds a lot like the Beatles stuff to me, but with a German vocalist. The music is okay, but I don't find it rewarding in the end overall. The rest of the album is the same, subpar with good music and terrible lyrics, but "Isle of the Sun" is the only song that stands out in any way possible.

Worst in the Eloy catalouge, because of it's terrible lyrics and par music, I have to give it a one star for effort, at least. The next albums are much better.

I agree with the special collaborator that Eloy's first album is a way for them to find their musical identity. That's why it is somewhat poor in production and orchestrasation (considering all the difficulties they had to face in their beginning - financial problems, equipment deficiency, etc). On the other hand, the hard-rock riffs and the mellow organ give them a raw, authentic and interesting-to-listen-to sound.

However, in my opinion, we should judge an artist ,primarily, from their content (that is to say the lyrics) and what they want to express with their music, if we want to fully understand their music. So, I have 2 points to state here:

1. Eloy, their name, is taken from H.G.Wells' book, Time Machine. But how many people really know what it means? In that book, a man travels into time and reaches the distant future (about 800.000 AD). Then, society is divided into 2 classes: Eloy and Morlocks. Eloy are the upper class, who lives in the surface of the earth under perfect conditions, without working, only enjoying the fruits of life. Morlocks are the lower class, who lives underground and work all day, for the world to advance, but every night they come up into the surface, through holes, grab some Eloys and eat them. So, in the band's opinion, their name selection means an attempt to have a better world, without Morlocks. This idea is periodically shown in the album's songs (for example: Eloy, Isle of Sun) and in all Eloy's albums.

2. The first lineup included singer Erich Schriever, who was involved in politics, in the anti-war movement (a reference of this is Song of a Paranoid Soldier), in the liberal movement, etc. He intended to transform the band into a musical commune [collectiva], in the styles of Amon Duul. In the other members' disagreement, he left the band after this album. As Frank Bornemann later said: "Erich Schriever was a politician with a guitar. I was a singer with political ideas." That's the difference between them and that was present in Eloy's history.

*You can find Fr.Bornemann's interviews in Eloy's site. You can also read the aforementioned book oh Wells for more information about the story (It's an interesting science-fiction story!).

The first album from Eloy is more or less an hard-rock album with influences from the entire spectrum of bands of this particular genre. There is nothing out of the ordinary but is not a bad start.

Erich Schriever is the lead vocal and because of this it's almost as it wouldn't be Eloy. The sound doesn't have that spacey touch of the later albums and it is more like an average hard rock band of the seventies. On some songs(e.g. Something Yellow or Dillus Roady) the rhythmic guitar sounds a bit too repetitive and boring. The most interesting, inspired and memorable song here is probably "Isle of the sun". It is a low tempo melodic keyboard driven song and the only sign of the great albums Eloy produced in that decade.

Recommendable for Eloy and hard-rock fans only. Prog head buddies will probably want to check out some of the later releases of Eloy catalog because this one is for sure not representative from them.

Mixed opinions about this hard-rock styled debut from Eloy. The main criticism seems to be a lack of originality. It's one I can sure subscribe to. The song-writing is fairly standard early 70s hard rock, somewhere between Uriah Heep, Hawkwind and most obviously Jethro Tull, not only due to the bluesy guitar riffs but also due to Erich Schriever's vocals. His voice and approach resemble Ian Anderson's wail from Stand Up and Benefit a lot. It's all a bit flat and predictable though, sometimes even ripping off their examples such as on Dillus Roady, which is more then just a nod to UH's Gypsy.

The sound has a spacey and slightly psychedelic feel, and that's why the album sure can't be discarded as entirely unoriginal. Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull never had that German kraut-feel that is quite strong on this album. The band tried to integrate the UK heavy rock with their own German roots, a mix that I also hear on the first two Scorpions albums by the way.

Nice hard rock album with a space vibe and not as dramatically bad as the ratings would have you believe.

After one minute of spacey sounds the first track of the first Eloy album starts with guitar and voice like a song of the Who, but soon the rock vein emerges and if I have to compare this debut (the whole album) to another band this is Uriah Heep.

There's much of the early 70s British rock in this album. The intro of "Something Yellow" is very similar to the one of "Gipsy" and also Schriever would sound like Byron if it wasn't for his strong German accent. With Uriah Heep they share on this song the use of silence pauses. Not that's a bad track. I don't think Eloy can be considered an original band in any of their early works, this doesn't mean that this is not good music. By the way, silence pauses are a thing that in general I don't like in rock.

"Eloy" has a Black Sabbath's mood. Imagine Schriever singing one octave higher and he will sound like Ozzy. I have to say that this song reminds me of Sabotage that the Sabbath released 4 years after this album. The hippy bongos solo is unneeded but it's in line with the rock "policies" of the period.

To enforce the link to Black Sabbath, the next track is "Song of a Paranoid". We can hear Uriah Heep or Sabbath influences here. I think they are generically influenced by the early 70s hard rock scene, not by a particular band. In this sense they can be forgiven for being not original.

Things don't change with "Voice Of Revolution". Another song in the Heep's style. The lyrics are meant to be political.

Listening to "Isle Of Sun" after long time I'm surprised. I remembered it as a Uriah Heep song. Nothing bad. This is a song on which Schriever sounds like Byron, of course without the high pitched screams for which Byron was famous. A sort of "Come Away Melinda".

The last track, too, is a regular hard rock song to which the organ give the touch of Uriah Heep.

In the end, this is a non-essential album. Unless you want to know this side of Eloy, I suggest looking at the originals (Uriah Heep), but this is a good album. The songs are good and well played. Schriever is not a bad singer even if he can't compete with Byron, so I think 3 stars are exactly what this debut deserves.

The first Eloy album sees them picking up a lot of cues from Black Sabbath - this much is obvious from opening track Today, which includes a competently imitated proto-doom drum and guitar attack after the spacey introduction - but it is possible to over-emphasise the influence of Ozzy and crew on Eloy at this point in time. Even when Rick Wakeman made a guest appearance on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, the Sabs never quite got a full Keith Emerson- esque keyboard assault like Wieczorke provides on many of the tracks here. The album is competently performed, but rather directionless - the band seem to be trying out whatever musical ideas come to mind in the process of working out exactly what they want to do, something they should probably have decided before entering the studio. Can't give this one more than two stars, but it's a decent enough start to their career and if you especially enjoy Eloy and are curious about their beginnings it's probably worth a listen.

The debut album from these German space rockers with such a huge discography.

I really like their first live album, but that is my only exposure to them. So it's about time to run through their discography, aided with a fistful of Eloy CDs.

The music in this album is obviously rooted in the 1960s heavy blues and space rock scene. A scene that also spawned Black Sabbath. But Eloy has already taken a far more space rock direction on this album than Black Sabbath would ever take. Yes, there are some heavy guitars here too, but they are still very space rock'ed. The vocals are very much pop and flower power influenced. The same goes for the songs which are space rock flower power. We are not talking Pink Floyd (yet !) but a crossover between them and Black Sabbath is not far off the mark. That and the, by default, strange German sound, later to be labelled as Krautrock. Add a large dosage of Agitation Free to the mix too and (phew !....... I am out of breath !) you get this album.

The songs are very good. There are no killers here, but the overall quality is good enough for me to find this an enjoyable listening. Hence my sprinkling of stars.

3 stars

"Eloy" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by German psychadelic rock act Eloy. The album was released through Philips Records in 1971.

The music on the album is blues based rock with a psychadelic edge. Sometimes I´m reminded of the early Jethro Tull albums and especially the voice and singing style of lead vocalist Erich Schriever points in that direction. The material is decent and there are enough adventurous ideas on the album to keep it entertaining throughout the playing time, but I wouldn´t call "Eloy" more than a solid release. It´s not exactly groundbreaking either as many of the ideas on the album had already been explored by other groups a couple of years prior to the album´s release. The jamming style rythmic approach, the lengthy solo sections, the "odd" experiment here and there and a basis in blues. Pretty familiar territory if you enjoy late sixties/early seventies rock with a psychadelic edge.

What speaks in favor of "Eloy" are the solid musicianship, the decent sound production and it´s entertainment value. A 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

Eloy's debut is a promising start to one of my favourite bands. It is classic rock first and foremost rather than the prog they would cling onto so dearly in their next few albums, which are masterpieces. It is interesting to hear Eloy revved up with fuzzy guitar riffs and Sabbath like atmospheres. From the outset the guitar riffs crunch along on 'Today' with a Deep Purple style, then it moves to the glorious lengthy 'Something Yellow' driven by psychedelic heavy guitar riffing and a brilliant lead break from Frank Bornemann. He is always integral to the success for the group on vocals too, but I like the vocals also from Erich Schriever on this early Eloy incarnation. The other musicians are Helmut Draht on drums, Wolfgang Stöcker on bass, and Manfred Wieczorke on keyboards. They are all amazing on 'Something Yellow' perhaps the highlight of the album.

'Eloy' is the only time the band refer to their name's sake and this is basically Uriah Heep in sound, and the vocals are similar to Deep Purple. I love the cool riff that ploughs along nicely over a simple beat. The instrumental break is broken by fast conga percussion, a nice lead break and then it locks back to the hypno riff. They speak of a "land of freedom" here and on their next album "Inside" they would speak of a "Land of No body." The band literally transform from this more simple style 2 years later and never look back.

'Song of a paranoid soldier' continues the heavy guitar riff and solid melodic singing. It shifts time sig in this song that is about not wanting to kill anymore, and a desire to return to the green countryside; poignant feelings at the time of recording in 1971. The lead break is terrific and I like the way it captures the 70s paranoia.

'Voice of revolution' has another grooving riff that grabs me but I really like the more peaceful and relaxing vibe on 'Isle of sun' reminding me of where the band would eventually go, producing some of the most beautiful music on the planet. 'Dillus roady' closes things with a Uriah Heep riff sounding very much like 'Gypsy', which I adore so no problems.

Overall, Eloy's debut shows what the band are capable of and features some psychedelic Classic Rock sounds and very cool guitar. The ideas are solid and it is a good start to where they were headed. Of course they took on lengthy compositions with ambient keyboards and very intricate structures later. Nevertheless, a lot of bands would like to have a debut this good and it deserves it's place in birthing one of the greatest space rock bands of the 70s and beyond.

It may be called an Eloy album released before Eloy became Eloy. Or, if you prefer, the first and only non-Eloy album released by Eloy. In fact, no sign of genuine Eloy music yet - most likely because there's almost no musical material composed by Bornemann there. Something is interesting, something is impressive, even innovative - but nothing is Eloy-like yet. Anyway, this album is of great interest as a historical document from the band's archive, and a megawanted collector's item. Two bonus tracks on the CD reissues, Walk Alone and Daybreak, were previously released in 1970 on the 7 inch single which is now almost impossible to find in acceptable condition.

Wow, this album impressed me from the get go. It is not much heralded by fans of the band, so I wondered what i was getting into, but was pleasantly pleased with the sonic result.

This self titled debut album is definitely a showcase of the band's heavy prog past, with a tiny bit of spaciness thrown in for good measure. And this is REALLY great heavy prog at that. The songs are cerebral, a touch quirky, but never trite, always holding your interest with their nifty time changes and such. And the atmosphere created is real krautrock, back when the term just meant "German rock"-i really dig the early seventies, continental European vibe to "Eloy".

I love this record. I never thought that they would surpass their second opus "Inside", but the debut holds it's own with that great second album of theirs. The songs are complex enough that one can come back to this recording over and over without loosing interest in the cohesive spirit it displays. I feel the recording is good enough to warrant the designation "essential". Five stars.

'Eloy' is the self-titled debut studio album by hard rock/space rock band Eloy. Eloy is most known for their combination of hard rock/heavy metal and space rock on their 'Inside' and later albums, however with their debut release there isn't any space rock to be found here. This is a bluesy hard rock/heavy metal album not all that dissimilar to what they would make later, except without the space rock sounds.

Like previously stated, this is primarily bluesy hard rock/heavy metal with room for experimentation. The first comparison that comes to mind is Rush's self-titled debut. Both debuts are criticized, because a lot of fans of both bands find them to lack in comparisons to the albums they made during their height. However, when you stop comparing you really see just how great these albums are. The song 'Eloy' has some great heavy riffing, and a very beautiful chorus with the lyrics 'In a land of freedom'. After the beginning is where the experimental instrumentation comes in with an avant-garde drum solo during the bridge. I love how towards the end of the solo, you can hear the bass guitar subtly in the background. The 8-minute 'Something Yellow' has an awesome menacing guitar solo that foreshadows the amazing menacing solos on albums like 'Floating'.

Speaking of menacing, my favorite song from the album, and one of my favorite Eloy songs is 'Song of a Paranoid Soldier'. This song has all I want in early heavy metal, having anti-war lyrics, menacing Black Sabbath-esque diminished chords, and an amazing vocal performance that matches with the music. Another one of my favorites is the Deep Purple-esque stomp of 'Dillus Roady', with the marching stomp of the organ and guitar. Not to mention the great guitar soloing in the song. If you get the remaster with bonus tracks, you get a few short but sweet songs like the driving opening riffs of 'Walk Alone'.

Overall, for anyone wanting some hard rocking proto-metal, you can't go wrong here. Highly recommended for fans of Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, and other bands of that ilk.

4.5 rounded down to 4.

ELOY's self-titled debut album is not representative of the band. After winning a musical contest, the germans recorded a single in 1970, before releasing their first opus the next year. Overwhelmed by theirs british hard rock influences, they have not developed their typical fantasy space-rock style yet. Despite the nationality, the compositions cannot be assimilated to Krautrock either, but rather to early hard/heavy rock, with very discrete progressive elements. Furthermore, Erich Schriever's singing tries to sound like Ian Gillian. At this time, Frank Bornemann was only guitarist, and this record does not display his talents yet.

The opener "Today" is an enjoyable hard rock tune resembling DEEP PURPLE's "Hush" cover. The slightly progressive "Something Yellow" opens with a BLACK SABBATH-ian riff, and features more or less interesting variations. The title track is quite pleasant and clearly confirms the band's british influences. "Song Of A Paranoid Soldier" and "Voice Of Revolution" are also correct early heavy rock tunes, while the organ-driven "Isle Of Sun" is softer. The ending track, "Dillus Roady" is the weakest, rather useless and uninspired.

Arriving a few years too late (which will be a recurrent thing for ELOY), the record does not take many risks and sounds like a second-zone DEEP PURPLE. The progressive incursions are still shy and the musical transitions, abrupt and not very mastered. However, the songs themselves aren't bad. Definitely not the album to start with and lacking personnality, "Eloy" is nonetheless an enjoyable listen for early hard / psychedelic rock fans.

ELOY's debut album clearly stands apart from their later opus, in that it contains almost zero space/SF references, for which they would come to be well known and respected in the following years. This is a basic, heavy prog sound, more rooted in the bluesy hard rock than in prog. Heavy guitar riffs and solo parts are overwhelming, reminding sometimes of Rory Gallagher's TASTE lengthy improvisations. This is a fine rocking effort but some extended tracks sound a bit underdeveloped and repetitive. British heavy rock acts of the era were obviously influencing the ELOY's songwriting - the closer "Dillus Roady" is based on the guitar riff that was practically lifted from URIAH HEEP's "Gypsy" - which is not a bad thing per se. However, in order to come up with their own original ideas and identity ELOY had to work a bit harder, changing the band line-up in the process. This is a good heavy rock album but is not something essential.

Review #201

It is very interesting to see how different can a debut album sound from the classic and most popular following records by the same band, Eloy's debut record is an example of that: the essence of this record is very far from the spacey rock the band developed from 1973 to 1979, actually, this album is much more oriented to a bluesy Hard Rock that resembles more to bands such as Wishbone Ash, Atomic Rooster, Birth Control and Deep Purple (Evans days). The record is filled with excellent guitar riffs and very strong bass and drum lines throughout the entire piece, nothing really special or fully remarkable but absolutely enjoyable. The classic sound of Eloy would appear in their late records, this is a very nice debut but definitely not an indispensable album, entertaining and interesting to discover and occasionally listen to, but no more than that.

SONG RATING: Today, 4 Something yellow, 4 Eloy, 4 Song of a paranoid soldier, 3 Voice of revolution, 3 Isle of the sun, 3 Dillus roady, 4

AVERAGE: 3.57

PERCENTAGE: 71.43

ALBUM RATING: 3 stars

Depicting a garbage can lid on your debut album can never be a good idea really. I mean what is a music lover supposed to assume the contents of the package are inside, right?!!! Germany's early prog scene was notorious for some of the most hideously ill-conceived album covers of the entire genre despite some of the most innovative bands emerging from its borders. ELOY of course is widely known as the band that was named after a futurist race of humans from the H.G. Wells book "Time Machine" (only there it was "Eloi") and one of the most successful successors of the Pink Floyd space rock scene that continental Europe had to offer. So is this debut release really nothing more than rubbish? Many think so.

The band was founded in 1969 by guitarist Frank Bornemann who has kept the ELOY going for well over 50 years now with a huge array of members coming and going throughout the decades. Despite emerging alongside Germany's Krautrock scene, ELOY was one of those bands that took a different path as they looked more towards the inspirations of the British scene rather than joining the fertile homegrown koschmische sounds that were emerging although still showing hints to its origins. Given the band was formed in Hannover, the same city which spawned The Scorpions, it's rather interesting that while The Scorpions started out more as a krautrock band and then gravitated to the world of hard rock and heavy metal while ELOY began as the exact opposite originating as a hard rock band that then delved into the world of psychedelia.

ELOY's self-titled debut album which was released in 1971 is the odd album out of the band's substantial discography as it found the band the band hitting the scene as a heavy hitting bluesy hard rock band borrowed a lot from Black Sabbath, Atomic Rooster and even early Jethro Tull however even on this early offering ELOY was already employing moments that could be interpreted as psychedelic rock or Krautrock, it's just that those moments were reserved only as opening moments or mid-song excursions rather than being teased out into lengthy psychedelic rock compositions. Nevertheless this album proved to be a testing ground where those secondary elements would soon become the dominant force. The band would quickly figure this out and emerge with its following album "Inside" as the fully gestated progressive space rock band that it is better known as.

While not unpleasant, ELOY's debut unfortunately lacks identity and certainty as it seems to flail around throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. While the opening "Today" opens with a glimpse of its future space rock with a trippy Krautish intro but then jumps into a fiery display of hard rock guitar riffs that are obviously more inspired by Black Sabbath and fellow Hannover rockers Jane than Pink Floyd. While competent this early album pretty much is following in the footsteps of other bands rather than innovating and unfortunately Frank Bornemann's somewhat limited vocal style doesn't animate the heavier rock style very effectively. While the album pretty much follows in the opening track's wake, there are a few notable exceptions. "Song Of A Parnanoid Soldier" features a style that would sound more like the future ELOY than what the rest of this album presented.

The second track "Something Yellow" which is the longest at over eight minutes showcases the band's early prog characteristics with a piano based riff that jumps into energetic hard rock but then three quarters of the way through takes a sudden turn into the psychedelic with a slow burning guitar sequence before dissolving into an avant-garde extravaganza into free improvisational trippiness much like the most out there Krautrock bands would adopt. While the keyboards and synthesizers would become ELOY's best friends in their atmosphere-soaked psychedelic rock of the future, on this debut such sounds are rarely implemented however the closing "Dillus Ready" does evoke a Uriah Heep or Deep Purple inspired organ based hard rock style. Bornemann's vocal style seems to be inspired by Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson (although unconvincingly) for much of the album as he inflects his words in a similar manner.

ELOY's debut isn't as bad as many make it out to be as it delivers a competent slab of hard rocking heavy psych throughout its seven track run however at the same time the band sounds a little generic even by the standards of the early 70s when prog, heavy metal and other faster musical styles were diversifying. The album is rather uneven and unsure of itself as it drifts from one track to another as if it's exploring options in how to proceed. Personally i've never been a huge ELOY fan at all mostly due to Bornemann's vocals which i find unsatisfying in how they interact with the music but also because i feel ELOY borrowed too heavily from the psychedelic wellspring that Pink Floyd had been gestating since the mid-60s. The same exact dilemma is presented to me on ELOY's debut as it is too derivative for my liking. It's a perfectly listenable album and checks all the proper boxes for hard rock but compared to the British scene very much a second rate band at this point.