PLANETS

Eloy took a more concise and streamlined approach starting from this album. There's nothing to blame them for - times were changing, the keyboard world was preferring synths now; long compositions were considered dated.

Eloy were still more progressive at this stage than 80% of their contemporaries from the 70's. We still have instrumental moments especially when keyboards lead the pack such as on "On the verge of darkening" that actually only has the rhythm and vocals

that signal the 80's had started. I like stronger atmospheric feeling by the synths that was for example very evident in the central European progressive rock scene (SBB, Collegium Musicum, Blue Effect).

However, in case of Eloy, it was less connected to melancholy or feelings of nostalgia but some moments are more reflective. The compositions are solid and more memorable at first listen.

As we are getting to the end, we have more pop elements such as on "Sphinx" that would instrumentally not be out of place on "Abacab", I really like how the band combined the prog synths with straightforward melody and beats.