DAWN

Eloy is a legendary band which was established in 1969 by guitarist Frank Bornemann in Hannover, started with the debut self-titled album (Philips, 1971) which contained as eight-minute epic "Something Yellow". Bornemann then had to deal with continuous changes of line-up and never quite returned to the sound of the first album. He became the lead vocalist of the band on "Inside" (EMI, 1973), continued with Floating (EMI, 1974), although the most accomplished composition was probably the shorter Castle In The Air. The concept album "Power and the Passion" (EMI, 1975) was the critical milestone of the band.

After Power and the Passion, Eloy broke up. Some members wanted the new concept album direction that guitarist/vocalist Frank Bornemann obviously wanted, and others didn't, preferring the old format like "Inside" and "Floating". EMI/Harvest gave Frank Bornemann a second chance to continue Eloy. So he found some musicians in his hometown of Hannover: drummer Jürgen Rosenthal (ex-Scorpions), bassist Klaus-Peter Matziol, and Detlev Schmidtchen, who at the time was more of a guitarist, but also a keyboardist. With this new line-up, the band recorded "Dawn". This album remarked the golden age of Eloy. Detlev Schmidtchen provided the symphonic arrangements that Bornemann desired, and Bornemann himself refined his vocal style to resemble David Gilmour. Not surprisingly, the resulting sound was a mixture of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon".

The production has improved significantly over their previous albums. An orchestra has been included on some of the cuts. Awakening kicks off with the stormy nuance, orchestra, then eventually the music kicks in with acoustic guitar and vocals. Between the Times is a rocker from the band. Appearance of the Voice, Return of the Voice and The Dance in Doubt represent the music that sounds like their previous albums. There are lots of string synthesizer and Mini Moog.

Overall, this is an excellent addition to any prog music collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW