RA

The strongest element of Eloy has always been the rhythm section with the wonderful bassist Matziol and the pretty strong and characteristic drummers Rosenthal and Randow. On Ra none of them is present, instead we have synth bass and very electronic sounding drums played by a non-drummer (except Udo Dahmen on Invasion of a Megaforce but he doesn't sound much better which is a pity because I know he has more in his hat). Put on top an obsession with the most thick and showy 80s synthesizer sounds and Bornemann's ever so bombastic lyrics and thin voice. You can imagine that the result is a desaster. It's not so much the typical 70s prog band goes 80s commercial desaster. Eloy, you've got to give it to them, are in some way true to their progressive past, at least they still try to put something more into a song than verse-chorus-verse-chorus. Unfortunately, replacing their inspiring and lively rhythm section by something boring and unengaging strangles the whole thing. As songwriter, Bornemann can come up with the occasional well working melody and chord progression, but without his former partners it all lacks groove, becomes static and is ultimately hard to bear.

I should probably note that I can imagine why some die hard Eloy fans are still able to like this; if I imagine Matziol/Randow shaking up the compositions, some potential for acceptable prog may be revealed, some guitar and keyboard arrangements on their own are fine if the listener is able to forget the overall sound for a moment, but as things stand, my verdict is "hands off"!