COLOURS

ELOY's "Colours" is a 'must - have' album clearly representing IMHO one of their best pieces of work. Following close on the tails of "Mighty Cries and Mighty Echoes, "Colours" re-capitulates their classic boundless space corridors with some articulate song writing and deep tones. I think "Colours" may be the most accessible of all their mid period recordings and strays away from any musical allusions to PINK FLOYD and instead mixes in more of the sounds of say the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT and perhaps TULL. I think "Mighty Echoes..." although brilliant was more about a band looking for a fresh identity and it really did not begin to blossom until "Colours" was recorded. I guess this could be called their transitional album. As you would expect ELOY create their large tapestries of space mythos while Frank Bornemann adds his grand guitar solo overlays creating some pretty far reaching musical moments. On "Colours" ELOY opted for some real different sounds and musical expressions making the title of the album very fitting. Overall a great album representing a milestone in German Progressive Rock.

I got this album mainly following the advise of a couple of friends and out of curiosity. I have to be honest, my overall feeling regarding the album is mixed. I agree is one of the more accesible, when it comes to Eloy, and probably indeed a transition one after coming from "Silent Cries.....". The opener sound like a piece out of "any" of Allan Parsons Project albums around the late 70's, followed by two 6' tracks typical from Eloy, but again not as spacey. The fourth track is a very good surprise....Hello Flute!!!. great, but too short for my taste; from there on, with maybe one exception "Child Migration" (which is my album fav..) the music becomes more accesible, and again Parsons Proj. creeps in as a major influence, especially on "Silhouette"(as a matter of fact I personally like the 90's remix better), I guess Frank and Co. were trying to mainstream some of their ideas, with some other commercial influence of the moment and shorter songs. For somebody new to Eloy, may be a good idea to start with this album and work your self backwards (now, the newer Eloy albums are also pretty spacey and have very good stuff, an example... "Ocean 2") Finally after going thru the 8 tracks, progressible speaking I would not call this one an essential Eloy album; sorry Frank. Now, being said that I will probably keep listening and if my opinion!! changed in anyway, certainly I will let you know. In spite of everything I give it 3 stars, for old times sake, and because the album has its moments....You have been warned!!!

This record is probably more art rock than complex progressive, nearly hard rock. The tracks are not very long, and the compositions are not very elaborated. I would easily call it easy prog. There are some very good varied keyboards parts, but it is not predominant here. The listener should find it quite accessible, but I do not find it really catchy and sophisticated. It is well made, and the sound is modern and clean; actually, this record will give their 80's sound, like on the "Time to turn" and "Planets" albums. But those 2 albums have more elaborated keyboards. "Sunset" is a good relaxing Kitaro-esque track. "Horizons" has very good clavinet-like rhythms and choir arrangements, and "Silhouette" may remind you "Another brick in the wall" by Pink Floyd. "Impressions" has an excellent Focus-esque flute solo. It is one of their best album for the guitar sounds.

A new decade, a new lineup, with Frank Bornemann on guitar and vocals, Klaus-Peter Maziol (who stayed on from the previous lineup) on bass, Hannes Folberth on keyboards, Hannes Arkona on guitars, and British born drummer Jim McGillivray. This marked a new direction for the band, a more accessible, direct approach in their music. The guitars tend to be heavier, the keyboards aren't so drench in atmosphere as Detlev Schmidtchen had. Still, this is the sound of the band reluctant to enter the 1980s (and that holds true with their following two albums, "Planets" and "Time to Turn"), and Folberth sticks with strictly '70s keyboards here (but more early '80s keyboards will enter the setup after this album) like Mini Moog, string synths, Hohner Clavinet, and Hammond organ.

The album opens up with "Horizons", complete with clavinet and female chorus, with quote from YES' "Tales From Topographic Oceans" in the lyrics. "Child Migration", "Giant", "Silhouette", and "Gallery" all show the more straighforward direction, a lot of this reminding me of the ALAN PARSONS PROJECT. Some of this music borders on AOR. "Sunset" is an instrumental, synth dominated piece with spacy Moog.

To me, I found the album a bit repetitive, so I have a hard time understanding what all the fuss is (I find "Ocean" and "Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes" to be better albums, and although I might be in a minority here, I find their following effort, "Planets" a better album), but it's still not a bad album. It's still way better than what most other prog bands were giving us in 1980 (such as GENESIS' "Duke", or better yet, TRIUMVIRAT's "Russian Roulette").

It took me thirty years to discover this band but I'm making up for it now, I have purchased eight of their sizable catalogue in the six weeks and one more in route.

Eloy (name taken from H G Well's Time Machine) is a German Atmospheric, Progressive Art Rock band that was formed way back in 1969. Colours, their eighth album, was released in 1980, the tenth anniversary of their first self titled album. The web site doesn't show it but the album cover is a rather colorful painting depicting the back of a clothe less fairy.

Colours is considered one of Eloy's most accessible, mainstream albums. True enough, it does have lot of pop/rock elements which should have a broader appeal than previous and subsequent releases but I still feel strong Progressive vibes. All the songs on Colours range from slow medium to medium in tempo. There is a fairly good variety, with songs like the opening track, "Horizons" featuring a couple lady singers and a new age, Adiemus feel, while the fifth track "Child Migration" has a strong hard rock feel. Tracks two and three "Illuminations" and "Giant" have a spacey psychedelic ambiance with the later being somewhat Pink Floydian. All the singing by Bornemann while not bad seems to be somewhat suppressed, like he's singing from a well. Whether this is done purposeful or not I have no idea but it's very evident on Silhouette, which coincidently receives my vote for the best song. Track four, "Impressions" emphasizes some flute playing and "Sunset," the last track, sounds like a spacey pan flute, though it's probably a synth. In fact a synthesizer or keyboards is a prime instrument used throughout on this and many other Eloy albums

Track listing 1. Horizons (3:20) **** 2. Illuminations (6:19) ****1/2 3. Giant (6:05) **** 4. Impressions (3:06) **** 5. Child Migration (7:23) ****1/2 6. Gallery (3:08) **** 7. Silhouette (6:57) ***** 8. Sunset (3:15) ****

Total Time: 39:33

Line-up - Hannes Arkona / guitars - Frank Bornemann / vocals, guitars - Hannes Folberth / keyboards - Klaus-Peter Matziol / bass, vocals - Jim McGillivray / drums, percussion - Edna & Sabine / voices (1)

What I Like

~ Brings back some of the great seventies and eighties sounds. ~ Simple unpretentious melodies. ~ Compelling arrangements. Nice use of instruments. ~ Like a mellow Hawkwind on some songs. ~ Music doesn't try to overpower you. ~ Nice variety in song selections. What I don't Like

~ *39 minutes - too short!

* Several Eloy albums were shorter that forty minutes and can now be purchased with bonus tracks of two albums combined.

Conclusion

One of the interesting things about Eloy is that their music spans almost three decades and the changes from album to album are palpable. It doesn't seem so much like they were evolving, more like they were adapting. Eloy's music isn't like that of most other bands, which have high, highs and low, lows. It's very even keel, it's more like their music is created, not to captivate or repulse you but to pleasure you.

I now have eight Eloy albums each with it's own personality, none with any songs that I obsess over and have to play over and over but I have been keeping four, out of five, cds on my player for weeks, so I guess you might say that I'm consumed with the overall effect of the albums rather than individual songs.

One of the good things about Eloy is that the music is so damned enjoyable. It does very nicely as background music. It can be unobtrusive but it has enough character to be a focal point, something you could sit down with headphones and listen to for enjoyment. That is one of the reasons I can't seem to get them out of my cd player. They're not distracting and they're not boring. The strength of Eloy lies not so much in the individual songs but the whole album as a unit.

Final rating 4.25 stars

"...horizon serene, a rainbow where no man has been / love within reach, a truth with no needing of speech..."

Colours is usually referred as a transitional album. There is no concept or magnum opus here. The quality standard is still very high, though. Songs as "Illuminations" and "Child Migration" are two miliar stones in the whole Eloy's catalogue. The first one, in particular, is one of their most classic ones (and one of the most favourite of mine).

The angelic female chorus on the opener "Horizons" continues the tradition as in their previous albums such as in Silent Cries's masterpiece "The Apocalypse".

Some weaker songs, though. "Giant", for example, is often referred as a great composition. In my opinion it is not. I think the main problem with it is the too repetitive structure and the boring (somehow banal) lyrics. And in fact, who do we think we are to suggest the giants to change their natural behaviour? I don't like very much the simplicistic peaceful messages in music.

Fortunately it's up to "Impressions", a very good short track with lyrics painting dreamy and spacey landscapes. To be mentioned the great work on flute. Excellent.

"Gallery" is a good track, nothing more (an intelligent move to record it at only 3 mns). The following song, "Silhouette" is an excellent effort, just above the two wonderful tracks mentioned in the initial part of the review.

"Sunset" is the warm and sad closer of the album. An instrumental short tune (just below the 3 mns) with a very plseasant acoustic guitar. They end as good as they start.

The 2005 Harvest/EMI remeastered album features also two bonus tracks: the commercial single "Wings of Vision", a more pop influenced song with some references to Camel at the same period; then the single edit of "Silhouette".

All in all a very good album, with higher and lower points. Honestly, even if I adore it, it cannot be compared to the previous wonderful Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes. It is a more varied musical experience, though, deserving to be included in any proghead's collection cds. For that reason I think the correct evaluation should be around 3.5 stars. Three are too few, four seem to be too much, comparing with the previous and the next album.

It is the start of the 1980s, and as with other well known Prog bands, Eloy moved with the times and updated their sound to include a stronger keyboard presence. New keyboard player Hannes Folberth has brought a raft of fresh ideas and sounds, replacing the old spacey textures and grooves with a more structured 'symphonic' form of AOR. The addition of a second guitarist adds depth to full and imaginative arrangements, ably assisted by exciting rhythmical twists and a detailed and powerful production. Colours is quite a big jump from its weak predecessor, no more so than in Bornemann's vocals which were like a lead weight dragging down Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes. While still he would not win any polls for singing, here his voice is reasonably tuneful and provided with more interesting melodies to sing. Significantly, it is also recorded less 'dry' than before.

Pink Floyd references are not entirely omitted, but they are relegated to a supporting role only. Similarities to The Alan Parsons Band abound throughout the album, while several tracks point towards Trick Of The Tail era Genesis, for example the excellent Illuminations [Steve Hackett chiming guitar work] and Giant [Squonk?] have clear antecedants without ever being hollow imitations, while the heavier Child Migration can't make up its mind whether to be Genesis or Led Zeppelin! Impressions takes a different tack, its loping rhythm and uncredited flute is very Jethro Tull circa Thick As A Brick. Despite these pointers, the music does not generally sound derivative.

Guitars and keyboards vie for attention at all times, as typified in the stunning masterpiece Silhouette. This begins gently with Bornemann singing over atmospheric piano and 'flute' [Mellotron?], before a wonderful infectious bass and drum riff sets up a hypnotic groove that dominates the remainder of the track, even during vocal sections. This is not the kind of ethereal/trance groove that appeared on Ocean, but one that speaks directly to the body's motor organs. As the song ends with an ambient fade into the next track, you are left desperately wanting more!

Colours is a very strong set, with just a couple of weaker moments - Horizons, with its funky Clavinet based arrangement, makes a good starting-off point but never develops any further, while Gallery is an undistinguished up-tempo heavy-AOR song. That aside, it is an excellent album combining elements of space-rock and AOR with a degree of symphonic complexity that give it a broader appeal yet with enough twists and turns to satisfy a Prog fan.

After a second change of line-up (drummer Rosenthal and keyboardist Schmidtchen called it a day) "Colours" had been the follow-up to SC & ME and revealed a slight change in Eloy's style being not over-laden any more by broad keyboard walls and less pompous than their previous records. The more compact and rocking songs are mostly dominated by electric guitar and though they're not really outstanding and quite uniform in style the positive thing to tell about Eloy is that unlike other 70's bands with bigger names they did not drift into a commercial sound. The opener "Horizons" presents lots of clavinet sound and some atmospheric female vocals by two guest singers. Especially "Illuminations" and "Child Migration" are in a quite rocking up-beat vein and the more mellow "Impressions" features a nice flute solo probably accomplished by keyboards sounding rather unusual for them. The final "Sunset" is an instrumental track with soaring synths sound and some acoustic guitar. Overall this one had not been a very versatile nor excellent album, but a rather pleasant one, good enough for an occasional spin. The two bonus tracks on the CD-reissue are okay but not really worth mentioning. For the year of 1980 a nice one in 70's style but nowadays rather dated and certainly not an essential Prog record!

"Eloy" went from a hard-rock music with a strong psychedelic accented music in their debut to a more space-rock and peaceful music later on in their career.

"Colours" initiated their entry in the eighties, and the least that I can say, is that it doesn't start really well. To have a song like "Horizons" to start the album is quite a major mistake. Absolutely weak, dull. Even ridiculous. Fortunately the next "Illuminations" is better. Mainly thanks to a great final part.

Their great space-rock featured on a couple of albums seems to be past history when you listen to "Giant". Almost a return to their more hard-rocking debut. Not bad but not exciting. I far much prefer the short "Impressions" with its "Tull" oriented fluting. The "Floyd" influence is also recognizable during the opening and closing part of "Child Migration". Middle one is fully "Supertrampish". Not bad at all.

"Gallery" is a weird song. The beat is somewhat electro/ disco but the vocals are close to Waters ones. Not a great mix. And the next "Silhouette" is just of the same. Disco-ish and insipid. The early eighties were of course not the greatest era for prog- rock. "Eloy" falls in the same trap than other better-known bands. But even if the giants were not able to produce good music, how could "Eloy" be different ?

This album holds very little good songs. My fave is "Sunset". But it is already the closing number. A beautiful (but short : just over three minutes) spacey instrumental. Could have been an introduction to a great epic which "Eloy" will not produce. Very tranquil, melodic. Nice.

Two stars for this one.

It is the 1980s and Eloy must adapt to them like every other prog band, or die. Gone are the epics and the lush orchestrations. Gone are the core of the previous band, with Bornemann recruiting three new guys on guitars, drums, and keyboards. If early Eloy referenced Jethro Tull and late 1970s Eloy worshiped Pink Floyd, the "Colours" version seems to want to go Alan Parsons. Even the opening cut is rather reminiscent of, say, "I Robot". It doesn't add up to something worthy of Eloy on paper.

Yet ultimately it's all about execution and conviction, two qualities with which "Colours" fairly brims. Illuminations is a cracking hard rocker with dramatic keyboards, lyrics that conjure up adventure, and a masterful ending. Interestingly, certain versions of the 1982 "Time to Turn" album would include this track again, and it worked even in that context. "Giant" is another fine piece with an introspective rhythm section. People say that the spacey element is gone from the Eloy sound here, but it is really in almost every note, residing just below the surface. Even the icy guitars of "Impressions", and its dancing flute, carry a cosmic edge. I credit two hired Hannes' for this, Arkona on guitars and Folberth on keyboards. They brought a minimalist attitude to the group, or at least a less is more approach which kept Eloy viable.

The centerpiece both geographically and in musical value is "Child Migration", which borrows opening lyrics from Khalil Gibran. The title itself is intriguing, but the song is ultimately about migration to adulthood that cannot be stopped. While the song is only 7 minutes long, it is the lengthiest on "Colours" and actually fully merits epic appellation, as it flows through many phases, including an infectious hard rock riff and an acoustic guitar/flute section. Even the harder parts are intensely and subtly melodic. One of Eloy's best songs ever.

The only weak track is "Gallery", being a bit too frenetic, but it's all over rather quickly. "Silhouette" has a quiet opening section featuring cascading piano and voice before it develops into a full fledged Alan Parsons type rocker that has as much hit potential as anything by Eloy could. Think "I wouldn't want to be like" you meets "Games People Play". The closer is the instrumental "Sunset", which features acoustic guitar yet again but is otherwise like something one might hear by Japanese electronic wiz Kitaro. Pleasant but not developed enough.

This is an album that shows Frank Bornemann's ability to tap into the talents of his band members. While there is never any doubt who is in charge on "Colours", it is the synergy of the group members that generates the rich palette.

After a series of extraordinarily well received releases, the 1980s would see Eloy moving into a new direction. After the departure of keyboardist Detlev Schmidtchen and drummer Jürgen Rosenthal due to what Bornemann says were ego issues, Eloy found itself with three new members: Hannes Arkona supplementing Bornemann on guitar, Hannes Folberth on keyboards, and Jim McGillivray on drums. Bornemann had previously worked with Arkona and Folberth and was good friends with them.

Their first release together, Colours, would mark Eloy's first entry into the 1980s. Like most other prog bands before them, there was a trend to make shorter, more radio-friendly pieces. Eloy was no different. It just took them longer to get that memo. But the memo finally arrived on Colours.

Musically this album just does not compare to Ocean and Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes. It's not bad, but it's a far cry from the usual symphonic space rock this band was known for. Instead they opted for shorter, keyboard-heavy songs, slightly spacey in feel. Unfortunately, Folberth wasn't in the same league as Schmidtchen as a keyboard player. Oh, he was good, but Schmidtchen was the best Eloy ever had. Some of the songs, like Child Migration, showed a more hard rock feel. Much of the material bordered on AOR.

About this time (maybe it shows more on later albums), the band struggled with various members wanting to move Eloy in one direction or other, and it would show for the rest of the decade. Even so, Eloy's 1980s output was usually much better than other prog bands at the time. Colours is a disappointing follow-up to Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes, but not as bad as it could have been. A good album, but hardly essential. Three stars.

This is quite different from the previous album "Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes". Of course the band has had to replace three members who have left, and we're now in the eighties.This one isn't as spacey and FLOYD-like as the previous album and the tracks are shorter as well. More accessible is the bottom line. Very seductive cover art as well.

"Horizons" is a great opener with the female vocals and I really like the intricate guitar lines as the bass throbs. Drums join in around a minute. The bass is huge in this one. "Illuminations" features FLOYD-like synths as vocals and drums join in and then guitar. Great sound. This is quite catchy. A change 3 1/2 minutes in as we get synths and a beat. The guitar is back 5 minutes in sounding very cool. "Giant" has this nice mid-paced beat with fat bass lines. Vocals 1 1/2 minutes in. Spacey synths a minute later as the drums pound. Nice. The guitar solo goes on and on tastefully after 4 minutes. "Impressions" is 3 minutes of heavy drums and bass with lighter sounding synths and vocals.

Check out the riffs before 1 1/2 minutes on "Child Migration" ! A good solid sound follows and there's lots of piano after 4 1/2 minutes with riffs to follow. A spacey calm before 6 1/2 minutes to end it. "Gallery" is my least favourite song on here. It's uptempo with some backup vocals I don't really like. Guitar solo after 1 1/2 minutes doesn't save this one for me. "Silhoutte" is melancholic with piano and vocals out front. It all stops after 1 1/2 minutes and comes back with an uptempo beat with vocals before 3 minutes. This part is better than the first section. "Sunset" is a beautiful track with acoustic guitar and spacey synths.

For me this is a solid 4 stars and perhaps a good place to start for anyone wanting to check out their sound.

Can you see the Colours?

Colours is a rather odd Eloy album for many reasons. First off, the album is a transition album: it represents the bridge between the traditional space rock from the 70's that Eloy became so famous for and its 80's equivalent which will be presented in the band's next two albums (Planets and Time to Turn). Secondly, most of the band members left after Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes, so Frank had to rebuild the band almost from scratch, which also affected the band's music: Colours have undeniably a visceral sound, a hard rock influence, which was, sadly, dropped after Floating. Thirdly, starting in Colours, the guitars would have a bigger importance than before because there are now two people that would play only thew guitars, unlike before when Schmidtchen did guitars and keyboards in studio and only keys live.

Regarding the songs, musicianship and other features, there are somethings I would like to say

As I said before, Colours is a transition album and that can be easily seen whenever you put it side to side with Planets and Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes and make a simple comparison. Roughly a third of the album sounds somewhat similar to Silent Cries (the first example would be the song Illuminations), the other third sounds somewhat similar to Planets (the first example would be the song Giant), although, for obvious reasons, in neither case they sound exactly like them, and the last third sound like Eloy, but not any other album specifically. By the way, I know the album only have 8 songs. Those divisions are only approximately the amount of songs.

Also, Colours have some considerable hard rock influence, which was lost somewhere during the early 70's. The song that has most of that hard rock stuff is Child Migration, though it spreads throughout the album.

Grade and final thoughts

Despite being a great release, Colours is somehow ill-fated, having many bad or regular grades, which is, in my opinion, quite unfair to such a competent and entertaining album. Colours is very balanced and have very good songs, it is just different. Because of that, 4 stars is a fair grade.

The album sounds farther away from the psychedelic symphonic rock music and closer to The Alan Parsons Project. Despite its brevity, there's a sameness plaguing an otherwise excellent album that can make listening a bit wearisome. The synthesizers are the dominating factor, yet they revisit the same tones over and over again, and each piece usually sounds much like the one that came before it. All said, this is definitely a good album with spectacular moments.

"Horizons" Pairing a cathedral-like feminine vocal with a straightforward but funky guitar, drum, bass, and synthesizer backing, this piece is quite unlike the music for which Eloy is known. It has little in the way of derivation or evolution, as it just settles into a comfortable but non-progressive groove. The lyrics are not exactly original either- listen closely. A Yes man will be able to point out that they are taken from the mysterious and powerful incantation that begins the greatest album ever made. Sadly, it carries on as a pointless knockoff rather than a worthy tribute.

"Illuminations" Harmonic guitars underlie a synthesizer lead and the appearance of that familiar lead vocal. The synthesizer soloing over the creative rhythm far outshines the vocal sections, offering something akin to a heavier early Camel.

"Giant" The bass and lead guitar that emerge powerfully during the latter half of the introduction make for a great moment on the album, and the synthesizer, as usual, doesn't disappoint, but one must wonder if that same tone and those same riffs are going to be a staple of every song.

"Impressions" Light guitar and keyboard make for an impressive introduction and series of gentle interludes during an otherwise unimpressive song.

"Child Migration" This lengthier piece offers a Pink Floyd-like heaviness with crunchy electric guitars and a similar range of placid to angst-ridden vocals.

"Gallery" This shorter song picks up the tempo, but kind of grates along with more of the same shimmering keyboards and more of the same vocals.

"Silhouette" Following a gentle, keyboard-led introduction, straight-up disco music sets in. It gets a bit more complex in terms of the guitar and vocals, but mostly it's a simple disco song.

"Sunset" Brooding acoustic guitar underlies a hauntingly gorgeous keyboard lead in this Genesis-like instrumental.

"Pictures of redescending distance"

While "Silent cries and mighty echoes" appeared to demonstrate that this line up of Eloy was a stable one capable of taking the band to ever greater heights, behind the scenes things were not so great. Jurgen Rosenthal and Frank Bornemann were increasingly at odds with each other, the latter becoming ever more critical of the former's lyrical contributions. The result was that drummer Rosenthal and keyboard player Detlev Schmidtchen both left the band after the release of "Silent cries..".

In their place came drummer Jim McGillivray and keyboard player Hannes Folberth. Guitarist Hannes Arkona also joined the line up, returning the band to a twin guitar set up.

The first clue that this album will represent another switch in direction by Eloy is in the track listing. With no less than 8 tracks, half of which are around 3 minutes long, this is much more of a song based album, much less a gathering of prog epics. The Pink Floyd influences which dominated "Silent cries and mighty echoes" are less in evidence here, the emphasis being on the straightforward rock which appeared on the earliest albums. The overall sound retains the sophistication of more recent releases though, the instrumentation being diverse.

The opening "Horizons" has a funky synth rhythm, upon which is laid an ethereal female vocal chorus. It is actually rather pleasant, but somewhat different to what has preceded it. Interestingly, the lyrics quote liberally from "The revealing science of God" by Yes, with lines such as "Chased amid fusions of wonder". "Illuminations" is one of the four longer tracks which run to 6-7 minutes. The track is simplistic in structure with distorted vocals and almost pop like synthesisers.

"Giant" is a lyrically dense track with a plodding melody and a strong Genesis feel, including some Hackett like lead guitar. "Impressions" is the second of the short tracks; a lighter piece with an enjoyable melody and some nice flute touches. "Child migration", which was originally omitted from "Silent cries..", appears here in its final form (the remastered version of "Silent cries.." has an early version). In terms of composition and arrangement, this track is the most progressive on the album.

"Gallery" returns us to the simpler pop rock again, with guitar and synth interplaying between semi-chanted vocals. "Silhouette" is the last of the longer tracks. It sets out sound rather like the start of an Italian Prog number, with some nice piano backing phonetic English language lyrics. Strangely though, this stops quite suddenly and an upbeat melodic rhythm fades in. The rest of the track is a rather bland affair. The album closes appropriately with "Sunset", a sort of bookend for "Horizons" with some nice spacey synth and acoustic guitar.

In all, from a prog perspective this album is something of a disappointment. It seems to indicate that Eloy were finally giving in to the musical pressures of the day, and exploring a more pop orientated approach. The quality of the musicianship remains, but the album lacks depth. That said, this is still an enjoyable listen.

The remastered CD has the dreaded copy protection software, but it also has 2 additional tracks. "Wings of vision" is a sort of Magnum like power pop rock song which was released as a single. The other track on the single, an edited version of "Silhouette", is the other bonus track here.

Eloy enters the 80s without as much as a blink, continuing their rocking space sympho much where the left it on Silent Cries. The songs are shorter and less captivating, the sound somewhat smoother, and the combination of relaxed rocking material, lush synths and guitars has become less spacey.

The first few tracks are quite good, reminding me of a slicker kind of Hawkwind mixed with the Alan Parsons Project, especially in the I Robot-alike intro and the general sound. The song-material is more psych and a tad melancholic and sure never as commercial and poppy as APP.

Despite the good start, it's an Eloy album without the highlights of the preceding Silent Cries and even fans don't seem be go wild about it. Their next two albums would deliver a more successful execution of the same formula.

A more colourful album

Eloy entered the 80's with Colours which, in my opinion, was a major improvement over the previous Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes and also the beginning of the strongest period in Eloy's long career. The compositions here are a bit more to the point and the focus is on songs rather than nebulous sound scapes. This album is also more instrumentally diverse with a stronger presence of acoustic guitars and occasional flutes in addition to the usual electronic keyboards and electric guitars and, of course, bass, drums and vocals. Even comparing the respective sleeve pictures of these two albums can tell you that Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes is more Psychedelic and spacy while Colours is a bit more down to earth (even if it features a naked fairy!). The vocals of Frank Bornemann improved too and his often frustrating German accent was becoming less evident from this album onwards.

Colours opens with the instrumental Horizons which sounds more like Alan Parsons Project than the Alan Parsons Project themselves. I'm reminded of such great Alan Parsons Project numbers as the instrumental Lucifer that opened their 1979 album Eve. Illuminations and Giant follows and these are rather typical Eloy tunes with a sound and drive more similar to that of Ocean than to Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes. Impressions features a lovely Jethro Tull-like flute solo. Child Migration features a rawer electric guitar sound that might seem a bit dated for the 80's, but there are also some very tasteful acoustic guitar lines in the middle of the song. The album ends with another instrumental based on acoustic guitar and keyboards.

Overall a very good Eloy album, highly recommended

It's perhaps because of the comments received by their previous album but more likely because of the huge change in the lineup, specially the new keyboardist Hannes Folberth, but after the Uriah Heep, also the Pink Floyd influence is disappeared.

If I have to say who is the influencer on this first Eloy's album of the 80s, I would say Wakeman and Froese as the biggest change in the sound comes from the keyboard. In this change what appears clearly is that what has made the Eloy's sound distinctive is Frank Bornemann's guitar (in the good) and Frank Bornemann's voice (in the bad).

The album is opened by a Krautrock-styled track, mainly driven by keyboards and featuring the ethereal voices of two girls called "Edna und Sabine". A good intro a bit misleading. In fact this is the only track of its kind. Since the following track it's more rock. "Illuminations" contains some of the good things we've listened to on Ocean and going ahead "Giant" is another very good song with a huge presence of keyboards and a bit reminding to the YES. However this is not a so big influence as Pink Floyd on Silent Cries or Uriah Heep on the debut, also because Bornemann can't sing like Jon Anderson. "Impressions" is quite similar.

"Child Migration" can be considered a classical Eloy song. No many influences here, it starts similar to Atlantis' Agony but turns quickly to rock with a nice guitar riff. It already sounds a bit 80s in the instrumental uptime part in the middle of the song.

"Gallery" starts with a 4/4 tempo, highly influenced by "Disco", but we are close in time to "The Wall" and "90125", two albums who have payed a bigger tribute to the 80s. This song is unusually hard for Eloy.

That's why we need some piano. "Silhouette" starts more symphonic than everything else on this album, but after the intro it sounds a bit like Alan Parsons Project. Not so badly as Camel did with A Single Factor. What I'm trying to say is that this album has less weaknesses than some of its most famous contemporaries even if often sounding so 80s.

The guitar harping of the closer with the melody carried on by the keyboard makes me think to Camel's "Nimrodel". And this is surely not a bad thing. In addition, the whistled sound of the keyboard has a "spaghetti-western" mood, like some famous Morricone's soundtracks. It's a pity that it fades out without being developed better.

I think this album represents a little step forward respect to its predecessor. 3.5 stars, really, but I have rounded down Silent Cries, so I want to be more generous this time.

Eloy's first album into the eighties named Colours issued in 1980 caught Eloy in a diffrent direction. I mean is not so spacey as previous albums is more direct in places even toying with more harder edged moments, the result is not bad but I don't think is as good and great as Silent cries or previous albums or the 2 albums who will apper after this one. Change of personel, 3 musicians left, 3 new and is obvious in sound, also the band manage in some parts to keep the symphonic space arrangements as before, for ex Silhouette. A transitional album in Eloy career, while is far from being bad to me is the most unconsistent album from Eloy golden era 1975-1982. 3 star is best I can give, plenty of good moments here but is a release with no highlight.s

This transitional album finds Eloy refreshing and updating their sound to suit 1980s fashions in sound and production values whilst continuing the space rock direction of Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes; in other words, whilst that preceding album was dedicated to capturing the sound of past space rock triumphs, Colours was an attempt to project the style into the future. Whilst I don't think it entirely succeeds, it will entertain anyone who was particularly taken with that album and is generally much more accessible and mainstream-friendly than Eloy's prior material. Still, I wouldn't recommend it over any of the albums from Floating to Silent Cries.

Gorgeous spacey keyboards and innovation into the 80s.

"Colours" is a very good Eloy album following a plethora of classic releases during the 70s. The album has a retro sound as all 80s albums tend to have especially with the synth sound, but this is still a progressive release from Eloy with some of their best material.

'Horizons' features the high pitched vocals of guests Edna and Sabine over a quirky time sig driven by keyboards and the hypnotic guitar melodies of Hannes Arkona and Bornemann.

'Illuminations' has familiar Eloy vocals from Frank Bornemann and the strong synth sound of Hannes Folberth. The pace is moderate tempo, and some heavier guitars are heard sounding like Nektar. The riffs are catchy, with terrific guitar work throughout, incredible keyboard solos, and I would say this is a highlight on the album.

'Giant' has a Pink Floyd vibe and some innovative guitars. The keyboard phrases are spacey and it tends to hook into a hypno groove with beatific passages and nice vocals from Bornemann. The keyboard solo is wonderful, very soothing and so well played.

'Impressions' has a whimsical feel with beautiful flute sound, keyboards and guitar picking with the vocals taking on a laid back style. This is easy listening prog but very well accomplished musicianship especially that gorgeous flute solo using keyboards.

'Child Migration' is a keyboard domination, and the vocals are well executed. I like the way the crunching heavy guitar riff comes in later with an odd time sig. The release of tension into light passages is an outstanding touch, and it drives along with layers of keyboards. I love the Floydian keys at the end with spacey atmospheres. This is definitely one of my favourite Eloy songs.

'Gallery' has faster keyboard phrases with an 80s sound but Eloy somehow keep it progressive enough to hold interest. It is more straight forward in terms of structure but a nice diversion into rock.

'Silhouette' is the single and has a Pink Floyd style riff with a rock beat. The vocals are phased and effective. This has a solid melody line and scorching lead guitars.

'Sunset' finishes the album with acoustic vibrations and symphonic synths. The mesmirising beauty the instrumental is as captivating as the album cover artwork. I would dare to suggest this is one of Eloy's triumphant releases and it certainly caps off the 80s that was devoid of innovation like this for the most part. Eloy managed to capture a modern sound without giving into commercialism and creating an album of progressive virtuosic musicianship.

ELOY is mutating

New decade, new line-up. Frank Bornemann and bassist Klaus-Peter Matziol are the only ones remaining and recruit three new members. New decade, new musical evolution. Although keeping its personality, the style is now more concise and accessible. No more long epics and soli, the songs are shortened. More oriented into fantasy and sci-fi, due to the increasing presence of keyboards, ELOY reinvents itself and is now freed from its PINK FLOYD influences. Good point. Once said, "Colours" is a transition album, thus trying new directions and a little unequal. After their seminal two previous albums, the shock can be hard at first listen.

"Horizons" is a soft decent introduction, while "Illuminations" is good direct space-rock song, with a few variations. The following track, "Giant", is rather flat and uninspired. Not to be confounded with the track of the same name on "Rarities", "Child Migration" is clearly the highlight of the album. A spacey synth opening unveiling a heavy rock riff and a catchy melody. Wow! ELOY hadn't' been this ferocious since "The Zany Magician", five years ago. "Impressions" and "Gallery" are rather odd and cheesy, as well as quite unusual for the German band. On the contrary, despite its classical piano overture, "Silhouette" is more typical of them. The record ends with "Sunset", a pleasant ending track with a spacey western melody.

A short and uneven opus, with very good songs and weaker passages. "Colours" is certainly not the best transition album ever made. However ELOY shouldn't be blamed, and for several reasons. First, at the dawn of the 80's, whereas most 70's progressive bands have collapsed, the musicians manage to offer some original compositions. Second, ELOY tried to renew its style, to better embrace the new decade. Finally, as the FLOYD already mutated at the time, the space-rock genre do not have many representatives anymore, thus leaving the field open for Frank Bornemann and co. to develop their own fantasy-space-prog. This new direct style may not be appreciated by all 70's purists, but it's here.

For these reasons, "Colours" deserves a listen. This is just the beginning of an unexpected second life for ELOY...

A transitional album of sorts.It was to be expect, though. It was the early 80´s and the ever changing tides of musical taste were putting pressure: the days of long compositions and elaborated arrangements were gone by then. And so was the fine line up that made some of Eloys best records ever. Drummer Jurgen Rosenthal and keyboardist Detlev Schmidtchen were gone, only bassist Klaus-Peter Matziol remaining. They asked guitarist Hannes Arkona tojoin and also brought english born drummer Jim McGillivray to replace Rosenthal both as a musician and as lyricist for the new songs.

Colours is a good album, and I think, considering the pressures of the moment (no to count the recording company), it is even pretty bold, being doubtless a progressive album, although the tunes are shorter and simpler than before, with a nod or two to new influences like The Alan parsons Project. It is not as powerful as a dedicated fan at the perod should expect, but I think it was quite good for the time, since the group remained faithful to their style, only eliminating some excesses (as it was then labelled anything progressive). The two guitar front gave a more rocking sound and the keyboards are definitely less prominent here, even though they are still very strong. They even included an (uncredited) flute solo on Impressions, something definitely not cool for 1980. I really like Child Migration, which is the best track here, but none is bad. In fact I found I liked Colours a lot, and the stuff has aged well after all this time, although it is slightly inferior to the ones that preceded it and also to the others that followed. This line up would rise to rival the "classic" one and would produce some of Eloys best in the form of Planets and Time To Turn.

Rating: 3,5 stars.