Eloy Is AMAZING

...Until recently! Holy hell! Ocean and especially Planets are still my faves, but I had NO idea how over these guys were in the early 70's (lots of sales apparently). The fretless bass work, production, and synth are perfect.

Let's discuss this awesome classic German prog band in detail, shall we? 

I wish there was more footage of them playing live , especially around 1982. I have a DVD and they were easily the best band in the world at that time. A very German band in all the best ways. Technically precise to the nth degree. Even the very recent stuff is not terrible just a bit patchy but as said up to 1982 is their classic period. I like the idea of it being a journey. 

FYI Metromania came after Performance (1984 vs 1983).  I think both are relatively weak but both have some great moments.  Performance is a little better IMO.  I agree that Tides and Ocean II are the best since then.  I though "The Vision the Sword and the Pyre" was tied with Destinations for weakest.  But it did get great reviews for the most part

I've seen them live twice in the eighties. Particularly the second gig (Performance tour 1984 or 1985) was very strong, one of the best I've seen. They had an extremely good stage sound, very powerful and direct, astonishingly "earthly" given their space themes, and the rhythm section with Matziol and Fritz Randow just absolutely killed it. It was a smaller venue, there wasn't much light show and stuff, and they were very direct and tight. The venue of the concert I had seen before (Planets/Time to Turn) was quite big, they had overestimated a bit how many would come (people were turning their backs on prog despite Eloy still selling fairly well in Germany) and they still did a lot with lights and projections, which was fine but created some distance between the band and the audience; two years later there would be much more interaction, and although I think Frank loved a bombastic show, just having the music without any distraction served them very well.

I've got to say though that after Performance (which is a mixed bag with some strong highlights) I couldn't get into their work anymore. Metromania is so-so with two tracks I really like, but I think Ra is diabolical, and afterwards OK, they still have a great sound and bass, but the compositions bore me, things tend to go on for much longer than the musical substance would support (there are instances of this among their earlier work as well), and by and large it spells "we want to revive our great times in the 70s/80s without the spark" to me, I'm afraid. Their best run in my view is Colors/Planets/Time to Turn, although when I was younger, I was more attracted to their earlier stuff between Inside and Silent Cries.

Some special credit should go to drummer Juergen Rosenthal who like Matziol had his own signature style and brought a lot to the band. Randow also was a very good drummer, hard rocking and solid, if not quite as unique as Rosenthal.

I think Inside is fantastic Doug, and Floating was a letdown after that.  The first album was a bit too raw for me, though I liked a few songs

Frenetic Zetetic wrote: He appears to play fretless with a pick...just like myself! I didn't think that combo existed elsewhere, ever. His sound is very prominent and his style is definitely above average.

Tony Franklin's main basses are fretless and he plays both fingerstyle and with a pick. Tony's one of the very best bassists out there. He's why we throw around colorful terms like "bass god"!