ELOY

I agree with the special collaborator that Eloy's first album is a way for them to find their musical identity. That's why it is somewhat poor in production and orchestrasation (considering all the difficulties they had to face in their beginning - financial problems, equipment deficiency, etc). On the other hand, the hard-rock riffs and the mellow organ give them a raw, authentic and interesting-to-listen-to sound.

However, in my opinion, we should judge an artist ,primarily, from their content (that is to say the lyrics) and what they want to express with their music, if we want to fully understand their music. So, I have 2 points to state here:

1. Eloy, their name, is taken from H.G.Wells' book, Time Machine. But how many people really know what it means? In that book, a man travels into time and reaches the distant future (about 800.000 AD). Then, society is divided into 2 classes: Eloy and Morlocks. Eloy are the upper class, who lives in the surface of the earth under perfect conditions, without working, only enjoying the fruits of life. Morlocks are the lower class, who lives underground and work all day, for the world to advance, but every night they come up into the surface, through holes, grab some Eloys and eat them. So, in the band's opinion, their name selection means an attempt to have a better world, without Morlocks. This idea is periodically shown in the album's songs (for example: Eloy, Isle of Sun) and in all Eloy's albums.

2. The first lineup included singer Erich Schriever, who was involved in politics, in the anti-war movement (a reference of this is Song of a Paranoid Soldier), in the liberal movement, etc. He intended to transform the band into a musical commune [collectiva], in the styles of Amon Duul. In the other members' disagreement, he left the band after this album. As Frank Bornemann later said: "Erich Schriever was a politician with a guitar. I was a singer with political ideas." That's the difference between them and that was present in Eloy's history.

*You can find Fr.Bornemann's interviews in Eloy's site. You can also read the aforementioned book oh Wells for more information about the story (It's an interesting science-fiction story!).