Eloy Discovery Zone

verslibre wrote: I've a friend who's also an Eloy fan, but he won't order it because he says he's only buying vinyl now.

the 'Reincarnation on stage' lp was initially CD /CD-DVD only then released as fantastic triple vinyl, triple gatefold sleeve in a limited edition which I think sold out pretty quickly so I hope/ suspect that eventually they will put it out on vinyl.. maybe when part 2 is released??? I'd suggest contacting them directly through their online shop and asking..

Yep they have wandered into Kayak territory (Kayak have done 3 such things)

My main criticism is that you are stuck with the narrative and cannot push a button to remove it . Kayak had this option on the DVD of Merlin Bard Of The Unseen , a smart idea imo.

I realise though that Eloy have used narrative before on Ocean and Power and The Passion but I much prefer it when they stopped doing it and concentrated on the music. Colours, Planets and TTT are definitely where it's at for me.

Eloy made spacey and mythological conceptalbums like Planets/Time to Turn, Ocean/Ocean II, Dawn etc.

But this is much more in the vein of War of the Worlds. There's no spacey concept to this. It's a historical story and should be considered as such.

As a rockopera it works quite right. I don't really like rockoperas though, I'm more a fan of the spacey concepts of Eloy.

But the music on the new album is very good, the production is really warm and up front. The vocals of Frank are really nice, if you compare it to his singer colleagues of the same age (Ian Anderson, Fish, Justin Hayward, John Lees, etc.)

There are great synthsolos, guitarsolos, lots of dynamics, great bassparts, nice timesignatures changes, very tight drumming, etc.

So on the surface there is really nothing wrong to this album.

By the way: this is not the first time, that Eloy uses narrative parts (Atlantis' Agony has spoken parts, and on Ra there's a female voice that narrates).

Also the parts that are recycled are from the same concept; Jeanne d'Arc was already the subject of two songs; on Destination and on Tides Return Forever, so in that light, it's more of a reprise.

Savatage did exactly the same when the reprised When the Crowds are Gone on Streets.

Also Mike Oldfield, Dream Theatre, Rush, Saga and millions more recycled old ideas and concepts in new albums, or divided concepts into several albums.

So, I don't really understand that that would be a good argument for a 1* rating. A 1* rating would mean that absolutely nothing on this album resembles progrock or Eloy. And that's so far from the truth.

I don't know if this album is a 5* album, because I'd rather hear a Ocean III, I really am a sucker for spacey themes. But this albums is at least a 4* star album. The production and calmness of the songs is something that a lot of bands can take an example from.

Eloy manages to pull the listener into the story, and that's really something.