...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? 

They're amazing, and they've still got it all these years later. They were Germany's #1 rock band until the Scorpions took the title.

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. 

I'm a fretless 5 player myself, and I won't lie - the bass work here is what pulls me in most. It's, pardon my language, f**king excellent. The tone, production, his use of phrasing; he never oversteps his boundaries yet he's the driving force for the music. Exactly what I look for in prog rock. The bass and the synth work seamlessly.

richardh wrote: 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.  Trippy - Inside and Floating Psyche/Symph - Power and the Passion/Dawn/Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes Pure Symph - Ocean Spacey - Colours/Planets/Time To Turn Metromania is also good although they were heading in a more basic commercial rock direction at that time finally reaching it on Performance in 1984 which is not so good. The band pretty much ended at that point although Bornemann has resurrected it many times usualy with Klaus Peter Matziol and random others. Tides Turn Forever and Ocean II of the later period are the best.

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.

agreed, and it might be precisely because those had shorter, punchier pieces that were rarely artificially elongated.  

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

Klaus' bass work is on another level. 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.

Surely Dawn, Ocean, Live and Silent Cries sold very well, and for some time they could sell out pretty big venues. The Live album is a good document of their most popular period. Not sure whether #1 rock band is accurate, but I can't think of anyone who did clearly better at the time (let's say Kraftwerk don't qualify as rock band).

Interestingly they were regularly slaughtered by the German music press, which made the band and particularly Frank very bitter at times. He regularly complained about this in interviews. Not sure whether you find any other band who was at the same time that successful and that hated by the home music press as Eloy in the second half of the seventies. The music magazines at that time wanted to be cool and forward looking and that meant from 1976 glam, punk or at best electronic. Eloy represented everything they were against. On top of that take Frank's German accent when singing in English... as I know very well of myself, Germans who want to feel international hate the German accent passionately, because this is what they want to get away from. (I have observed this in people from other countries as well such as Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, France... they all tend to hate their own accent most.)

I've got to say by the way that I'm not that keen on Frank's singing and many of the themes of their lyrics (Colours and Performance are best in that respect, in my opinion), and not even on his guitar playing. I was much more into that when I was much younger. On the other hand he clearly has always been the man with the vision and drive, and he comes over as a very warm accessible person live and in interviews. Certainly he always put 100% passion into everything he did, and I think among German musicians he is very well respected and has friendships with many (of the now older generation at least).

KPM plays fretted. Frank speaks very highly of his talent, and has said he's "second only to Geddy Lee."

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"!

It is true what you say in that album sales are often driven by the popularity of individual songs even if the song is not a hit single.  Would you happen to remember which songs were most popular from Colours?  Perhaps "Silhouette"?

chronicles 1 is amazing!  The clarity is incredible.  Chronicles II didn't really seem worth it given that most of the tracks had already been produced with modern production.  But more importantly, the material is just a whole lot weaker

I remember having heard Silhouette, Illuminations and Giant on the radio at the time, maybe also Child Migration, however surely not all of these were singles. I'd guess Illuminations was the one they promoted, but I'm not sure.

kenethlevine wrote: just noticed that "The Vision The Sword and the Pyre Part II" is now out.  I really didn't like Part 1 so I have low expectations for Part II.  Has anybody heard it?

 

Not in the UK , still a week or so away and too expensive for me going by the price on Amazon UK. Bloody Brexit!

Interesting note about the accent! It did distract me the first few times I heard Eloy (over a decade ago now), but now it's part of the charm of their sound. I'd imagine 99% of the planet attempting Arnold's Austrian accent doesn't help the opinions of that accent, yeah? LOL!

Frank is an excellent musician, and artist first and foremost.

Frenetic Zetetic wrote: I may be mistaken but I thought I read he was credited with fretless on Ocean and/or Planets? They guy is excellent. Prog rock has all the best "secret" bass players (like Ray Shulman).

 

I checked and you are correct. KPM plays Fender and Thunderbird fretless basses on Ocean. 

In this 2012 live concert, you can see him playing fretted.

You gotta have a keen eye to spot that stuff (I always check first, being a fretless 5 string bass player that uses a pick, none the less LOL). Bass gets so overlooked so easily! Someone's gotta be on the lookout for those fine, important details that contribute so heavily to bands sounds!

I was listening to Colors yesterday in the car on my way in, and I'll be damned if the track Giant doesn't scream "German Pink Floyd"...in all the GOOD AND RIGHT way (IMHO)!

I'll absolutely do just that. Thank you, my friend. Always looking for good bass players, past, present, and future. There aren't enough, lol.

I fully agree! 

Frenetic Zetetic wrote: The band keeps reinventing their sound a bit with each album.

That's actually true, no album sounds like the one before. Gotta say though that I haven't given the stuff after Metromania much time. However following their work from the first album to Metromania, tracking the developments is fascinating, and remarkable how they managed to change and at the same time keep their signature elements to always sound like Eloy (this actually also holds for Ra and Destination; problem is, the development there is a sharp drop in quality).

I never could make that much of the Pink Floyd comparison that keeps coming up... sure there are some connections but in my view not more than for example to Tull and Genesis; I think there are many bands that are much more appropriately described as "location XXX's answer to YYY". 

Eloy has been a source of great joy to me.

I'm only reminded of PF because of the production; the songs that remind me of PF were already out, if not simultaneously, so it's not like they were copying or subconsciously influenced by that sound or style at all yet. They couldn't have been lol. It's like a snapshot back in time of what all those prog bands were stumbling upon. Pure gold.

What are some of your all-time fave Eloy tracks, PA?

Isle of Sun

Inside

The Appearance of the Voice 

Poseidon's Creation

Illuminations

Impressions

Child Migration

On the Verge of Darkening Lights

Behind the Walls of Imagination

Magic Mirrors

End of an Odyssey

Broken Frame

All Life is One

Rainbow

Edge of Insanity

richardh wrote: The Silent Cries album is the one that sounds like other bands to me. You get dashes of ELP, Floyd and Tangerine Dream in there. It's a lot of fun! Colours , Planets and Time To Turn displays their most stable period for me. No one did sci-fi based prog as well except maybe Hawkwind. Eloy were an incredible band at this time and that's when I discovered them . Luckily the late British rock DJ Tommy Vance championed them on his Friday Rock show in the early eighties and they gained a bit of a following over here.

 

Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes also has a track called "Force Majeure" (Pt. III of 'The Apocalypse'). That album came out the same year as Tangerine Dream's excellent 1979 record, Force Majeure. Both bands are German...! 

great song!  I love the last couple of minutes of "In the Verge of Darkening Lights" and the way it segues into "Point of No Return"

f**king amazing! The synth intro to the record is incredible as well. Atmospherically perfect!!!

bump 

I got a copy signed by Frank!! 

nice