Thoughts on Eloy
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Bands, Artists and Genres Appreciation
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=100793
Printed Date: November 25 2024 at 22:03
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Topic: Thoughts on Eloy
Posted By: aglasshouse
Subject: Thoughts on Eloy
Date Posted: December 28 2014 at 18:59
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I know this has probably been done for every band on this site, but I just wanted to hear your thoughts on Eloy. How do you guys think Eloy made their own unique sound in the world of progressive rock even when there were much more famous notable bands at the time? ------------- http://fryingpanmedia.com |
Replies:
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: December 28 2014 at 19:10
They copied Floyd  .....Nah, not entirely anyway. Love these guys to death. From the earlier, more heavy-Prog oriented albums, through to the sophisticated, space-Prog later in the 70's, and the amazing heavy synth, almost new-Wavey 80's stuff - just superb. In short, my personal faves are : Floating, Ocean, Silent Cries, Colours and Planets. Their latest, Visionary, is enjoyable, though I feel they may have squandered their potential somewhat. |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: December 28 2014 at 19:16
| Not gonna' mince words here. Simply put - enjoyable! |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: December 28 2014 at 20:26
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One word : Outstanding ------------- |
Posted By: aglasshouse
Date Posted: December 28 2014 at 21:35
I'm glad people like Eloy as much as I do. I'm also thankful they aren't tagged as Floyd copies either. ------------- http://fryingpanmedia.com |
Posted By: Horizons
Date Posted: December 28 2014 at 22:44
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Bad vocals ruin an otherwise good band. ------------- Crushed like a rose in the riverflow. |
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: December 28 2014 at 22:50
| ^ Same thought here: Bornemann's voice for lead is a horrible choice. |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 03:59
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There is a nice thread going that has got a bit lost on page 10 but I think its worth a link http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=86928&KW=Eloy&PN=1" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=86928&KW=Eloy&PN=1 I like Eloy a lot , certainly in my top twenty bands of all time. Probably one of the most consistent bands I can only think of Ra that is below a 3 star rating in my personal book. Many 3-4 star albums and a sprinkling of 5 star albums especially in the period from Ocean to Time To Turn which I regard as their 'classic period'. Time To Turn is probably the album I like best from them. Klaus-Peter Matziol  |
Posted By: aliano
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 04:15
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I don't tend to listen to them just because of the horrible vocals.The music is great though. |
Posted By: 'PiphanyRambler
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 04:25
| A friend of mine makes me listen to Eloy on a regualr basis, mainly the early 80's synth-oriented stuff. Metromania is a really good album, I must say. Love the electronic sound throughout. |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 10:12
Your post reminds me of the Dave Matthews bridge incident - dumping on the innocent. |
Horizons wrote:Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 10:24
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Bad vocals? lol ------------- |
Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 10:34
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I love the music, but as others here have mentioned - those vocals......then again Bornemann is a great singer, it's the heavy German accent that ruins it for me. There are loads of similar artists in Germany and my native country Denmark who suffer from the same problem. If Eloy had chosen to sing in German, they might've been one of my fave bands.....but as it is I very rarely listen to them tbh. ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 10:44
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I like Eloy. They're kind of an all-purpose prog band - they've never done anything to shock me or make me reconsider my value system or anything like that, but they deliver good, consistent albums for when you need a basic prog fix. I hesitate to use the term "vanilla prog" because that sets people off because it implies a lack of originality, but that's not what I'm really going for here. More like "standard prog", meaning containing all the most basic elements that define prog, without painting too far outside the lines. Prog without excess baggage. It's comforting, in a way. And the vocals don't really bother me, I think at worst they're kind of funny. I know that paragraph may sound patronizing, but please don't take it that way. I do enjoy this band a lot. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: addictedtoprog
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 10:50
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Initially i too didn't like Bornemann's vocals. But now ive come to really appreciate his vocals. Kind of accentuates their music and the kind of atmosphere they create. |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 10:52
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Breaking News : Bob Dylan took the Eloy job! Frank will concentrate on guitar and banjo solely while Bob will take lead vocals and play harmonica on the next Eloy tour. Yeah! ------------- |
Posted By: addictedtoprog
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 10:53
| Very good Rhythm section too.. |
Posted By: Toaster Mantis
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 11:21
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They keep getting eaten by Morlocks. ------------- "The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook |
Posted By: Horizons
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 11:30
Clever. Sorry if saying their vocalist is bad rustles some peoples jimmies, but I know that i'm not alone saying that his thick accent and exhaustive tone really makes listening o Eloy a chore. Honestly, they could be one of my favorite 70's groups because of what they later did with their Planets, Time to Turn, and Colours but even those are just annoying to listen to with the guy's voice. ------------- Crushed like a rose in the riverflow. |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 11:33
------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 11:41
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His vocals are bad. I still remember how horrified I was the first time I heard Ocean. I have grown used to them but much prefer the early stuff(Inside & Floating") in part because the vocals aren't as bad there or even later. The worst period vocal-wise seems to be from Dawn to Silent Cries And Might Echoes. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 11:45
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Eloy's a GREAT band. Maybe they took a page or three from Floyd's handbook early on but later they recorded stuff PF would never have done, like those songs on Colours, Planets, Time to Turn and especially Performance and Metromania. Eloy definitely rocked out more. I've never had an issue with Bornemann's vocals in 20+ years (and I've never regarded Waters as a great singer, either). Frank's singing is part of Eloy's uniqueness. Eloy also has one of the best bass players "not in the Big 5" in Klaus-Peter Matziol. Their rhythm sections (all of them) played circles around Floyd's.Eloy's a band that everyone should check out! ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 11:49
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I agree the Colours/Planets/Time to Turn period was especially good. They knew how to make tasteful synth prog albums that don't sound cheesy. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: LearsFool
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 13:41
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I thought that the vocals added a lot to Ocean, especially the introduction to "Atlantis' Agony". And in the end, I find the vocals not an impediment at all; it's not quite like the usual problematic non-English-speaker-singing-English vocals we see in RPI or Omega's English language remakes. And a great band all around.
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Posted By: presdoug
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 16:51
| I love Eloy, and have no problem with the vocals. My favorites are Eloy, Inside, The Power and The Passion, and Ocean. Really classy European prog. |
Posted By: The.Crimson.King
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 17:40
Been into Eloy a very long time...faves are definitely the 1st 3 albums and I like the vocals and think the heavy accent gives them a cool sound  ------------- https://wytchcrypt.wixsite.com/mutiny-in-jonestown" rel="nofollow - Mutiny in Jonestown : Progressive Rock Since 1987 |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 17:47
You can do better than that, John. ------------- |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 19:48
Okay? His vocals had a thick accent that took quite some time getting used to but yes I have grown accustomed to them over the years. How's that?------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: December 29 2014 at 20:20
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^ And Chris Karrer doesn't have a thick accent ?? C'mon John, you can do better than that Love Eloy, never found Bornemann to have a bad sounding voice from the first listen..... |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: December 30 2014 at 08:48
Much better. ------------- |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: December 30 2014 at 09:07
Sorry I can't quite get what your saying with that thick Australian accent. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: December 30 2014 at 10:33
ALL of the German bands had "bad vocals" ... it was not about the vocals as it was about the whole thing.
Sadly, that's like saying the FAUST vocals were great!
I find that we compare things to a standard that is supposed to be a standard, and in doing that we lose the ability to enjoy the "difference". Joe Cocker will forever be a horrible vocalist ... and some of us will say ... you're not listening!
 ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: December 31 2014 at 02:02
^ I'm not sold. Peron and Cocker weren't on any level of "horrible".
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEv9390Rui0" rel="nofollow - Failed to embed, so I'm linking the video. ) You were saying ... ?
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Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: December 31 2014 at 02:53
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No no, not again. Nooooooooot agaaaaaaain! No, no! Never again!! C'mon lad, 44 to go... ------------- |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: December 31 2014 at 08:50
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Hard to disagree with the Mosh man about the vocals. When it comes to Psychedelic and Krautrock they just aren't that important. Think of John L with Ashra Tempel or Moody with Can and on and on. There were some good vocalists i'm sure but it's about the mood and style more than the vocals. ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: December 31 2014 at 15:58
^ Very clever observation, John 
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Posted By: Aussie-Byrd-Brother
Date Posted: December 31 2014 at 17:41
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I never found Frankie B a horrible vocalist at all, when I first heard it, I was more fascinated than put off! Their `Power and The Passion' was one of the first prog albums I heard (thank you Tom! ), and I think it was the first time I'd heard an accent so strong while being in English. I always thought he sounded like Dr Nick `Hi evelybody!' Riviera from the Simpsons!
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Posted By: dr prog
Date Posted: January 01 2015 at 01:43
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Fine band ------------- All I like is prog related bands beginning late 60's/early 70's. Their music from 1968 - 83 has the composition and sound which will never be beaten. Perfect blend of jazz, classical, folk and rock. |
Posted By: Watcher of the Sky
Date Posted: April 01 2015 at 15:10
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One of my favs bands now, and I have no problem with the vocals and his german acent, probaby because I don't have english as native language and is more difficult to me to find this type of problem. ------------- Nous sommes du soleil |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: April 01 2015 at 16:33
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Funny how in reality, vocals are a bigger pc of the puzzle than one would think if you hung around this forum a lot.....Vocals can ruin good music. I only have Ocean, don't listen much to it.....probably should since those vocals are decent. Weird cause I don't have too much of an issue with Hamill's vocals. -------------   
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Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: April 01 2015 at 16:48
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Vocals are a huge piece of the puzzle. It's the human part of any rock band, which also means that they play a big part in making or breaking any band. Btw I listened to 'Love Oer Six Centuries' yesterday and it again reminded me why it's my absolute favourite Eloy track: those wonderfully quirky sounding drums! Yep those and then everything surrounding them; the surreal and sluggish keys, the way the guitar falls in with the bass line, oh my! I lie though.....the best thing about that song are the LSD narratives spoken by that hazy drugged out chick. Best Eloy tune ever! ------------- “The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams |
Posted By: Guy Guden
Date Posted: April 01 2015 at 17:21
| I think probably those first six or so albums all have something special to offer. Power and the Passion comes to mind. |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: April 01 2015 at 22:22
| love Eloy, never bothered by Frank's vocals. I agree with Mellotron storm that they were probably at thenir most accented during the last 1970s, with Dawn especially bad (although it's a FANTASTIC album!). On the early albums his voice was too freaked out to be accented, and on the early 1980s albums he seemed to have improved a lot in every sense, which is just one of the many reasons that Colours, Planets and Time to Turn were, for me, the peak. Another was the marvellous synths, another the hearty change of direction while staying basically non-commercial, etc. |
Posted By: mithrandir
Date Posted: April 01 2015 at 22:49
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I love everything about Eloy, and I like every one of their albums to some degree, and I've heard the most of em, but I haven't heard Ra or Destination yet, I wish they would get reissued, I'd like to own them too |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: April 02 2015 at 01:41
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Ra has electronic drums so beware! I managed to find Destination not that long ago so I think its still available if you look hard enough. I've only played it a couple of times and can't think of anything to say about it. Although Eloy peaked in the early eighties (imo) they still have some solid releases post 1990 with Visionary , Tides Turn Forever and Ocean II all well worth having.
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 02 2015 at 04:28
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Right, setting the record straight, I LOVE ELOY. Frank's voice never bothered me, kudos to him for a German singing in English. The music is superb, up there with the best 'spacey, stoner, mellow' Prog . My only 'beef' is when they credit ''Mellotron' on their albums, when it's clearly a string-synth. Such great musicians, how could they get it wrong ???? Several bands do this. Splitting hairs, but WTF ?? |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: April 02 2015 at 08:26
overall, though, I think Ra is superior to destination. Much better compositions. Well, Destination is probably my least favorite, even though they tried to shake things up a bit with flute. ""Tides" is a big improvement and "Ocean 2" even better. "Visionary" was disappointing; iven the long interval after Ocean 2, it was rather telling that they could barely must 40 minutes. But it does have a couple of strong songs in the Ocean 2 vein
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: April 02 2015 at 08:57
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Eloy is not a good example for the vocals thing. ELOY was different than the previously named German bands and their music. Same with Jane. They were more straight ahead rock music of the somewhat progressive kind. Not sure they would be full fledged members of "progressive".
I think a bit differently since many of these bands were tied to a lot of other artists in film, theater and other dimentions. My take, is, that the voice, in those days, was considered an "instrument" and for the most part that was its function.
It did not mean, however, that a song could not be written, but the lyrics while you and I can sit here and try to make sense of all of "Wolf City", in the end, we will disagree on everything, just like the Friedels and I were not in agreement on "Apocaliptyc Bore", which to me was where AD2 ended ... when the lyrics started becoming venomous and pointed and vengeful. Even if Mozambique got its independence a few months later ... but the damage was done! CAN had the same thing going, with Damo there for Future Days (nicely too) but obviously showing his limitations in the work, and totally gone by Soon Over Babbalooma. The "voice" was now to be replaced by lyrics of any kind, I guess ... which they learnt from Damo, I bet, because Malcom was an actor and was working on rhymes and different work all around. Damo, was almost exclusively pure voice work. The experimentations, through out the late 60's and early 70's were historic in most arts and their history ... only not so in the rock world, because we have turned it into a top ten and not look at the music from a grand'er perspective to see its influences and changes ... but the number and variety of styles and types make it harder, although this was more a reflection of the media than otherwise. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: April 02 2015 at 09:13
I certainly concur with your JANE assessment. But ELOY I think were pretty full fledged prog at least after their first album. They changed from spacey to symphonic to spacey/symphonic to heavy, true, and they weren't experimental like the Krautrock bands, but prog, definitely IMO
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Posted By: Pastmaster
Date Posted: April 02 2015 at 14:19
| I love Eloy, very underrated band. 'Floating' is one of my favorite albums of all time. |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: April 02 2015 at 14:41
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Floating, Ocean and Metromania sound like three different bands, and that's just one of the reasons I love Eloy. ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: Pastmaster
Date Posted: April 02 2015 at 15:43
Yup, their early and later albums don't get much love sadly though. Their early albums and 'Destination' and 'Ocean 2' are masterpieces just as much as 'Dawn' and 'Ocean' are imo.
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Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 03 2015 at 03:39
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Least favourite album/least played of theirs would have to be Codename : Wildgeese. A soundtrack to a rather tacky film starring Ernest Borgnine and the late Klaus Kinski (who played a deluded nut so well ). Interesting they chose Eloy to do the music at all.
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: April 03 2015 at 05:39
Well seeing as the only constant was Bornemann (Klaus Peter Matziol did play on 2 but not Floating) then they pretty much were
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Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: April 03 2015 at 10:15
Haha, true, but it's not so much the configs as sounding like psych, then space-symph, then a version of Grace-era Rush from another dimension (minus the vocals). ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: verslibre
Date Posted: April 03 2015 at 10:19
Aw, man, don't hate on that soundtrack. I like it. It's not really Eloy, IIRC it was Hannes Folberth and Hannes Arkona (and Klaus-Peter Matziol had some input) operating under the name without Frank's permission. If you like Tangerine Dream's '80s film scores, Wildgeese isn't bad at all. I can see how everyone that listens to it is disappointed, like they're expecting Colourmania or something. ------------- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_ipg=50&_sop=1&_rdc=1&_ssn=musicosm" rel="nofollow - eBay |
Posted By: dr prog
Date Posted: April 03 2015 at 17:04
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Great band from 1973-83. After that they suck lol. Metro  ------------- All I like is prog related bands beginning late 60's/early 70's. Their music from 1968 - 83 has the composition and sound which will never be beaten. Perfect blend of jazz, classical, folk and rock. |
Posted By: mithrandir
Date Posted: April 03 2015 at 19:44
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I love Metromania man! it has the Neon Rock flavor of so many late nite B-grade SciFi movies from the 80s! I still want to get Ra and Destination for completest sake, they sound good enough for me and I see some used copes floating around for decent prices |
Posted By: Pastmaster
Date Posted: April 03 2015 at 21:00
Ra is pretty good and Destination is a masterpiece imo. Never understood why they get so much hate.
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Posted By: Olape
Date Posted: April 03 2015 at 21:18
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I also love ELOY and the vocals don't bother me. Cool music, especially the first albums (Floating, Inside, Power and the Passion...). ------------- 
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: April 04 2015 at 02:25
I quite like Metromania even if it goes all very 'eighties' with a big drum sound and production , but the playing and songs still stand up imo
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Posted By: calm_sea
Date Posted: April 04 2015 at 16:14
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I heartily enjoy Eloy. I find their first album skipable, and I generally cut off on their early 80's albums. I find their earlier more psych influenced stuff great, but also love the more symphonic space rock stuff, which yes, did sound extremely Floydian. Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes is a gorgeous record, despite treading into Wish You Were Here rip off territory at times. I think they generally did a good job incorporating those (heavy) influences, and I can't say a bad word about their musicianship and arrangements. Like many others, I find Bornemann's vocals to be pretty poor. I don't hear much emotion in his voice, but that might be a product of the English language vocals sung in a thick German accent. If the vocals had been in German, I bet they would have more effect. Sadly that would have decreased Eloy's exposure outside of Germany though. |
Posted By: Tom Ozric
Date Posted: April 04 2015 at 16:40
| I don't understand all the 'stick' poked at the debut. It's a very good, hard-rock album with Psych touches. Haven't pulled my trash-can LP out for quite a while - I think track 2, Something Yellow, is a killer....... |
Posted By: aglasshouse
Date Posted: April 08 2015 at 08:36
Is it bad that not too long ago I thought it was a manhole cover? ------------- http://fryingpanmedia.com |
Posted By: Rick Robson
Date Posted: May 27 2015 at 20:27
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Everytime I listen to 'De Labore Solis' I say to myself "this is such a stunning and unique piece of music!...", even Bornemann's strong german accent adds to the uniqueness of this Eloy's music, as in 'Gliding Into Light And Knowledge' which also has pretty much that exhilarating exotic atmosphere, and so intense too... intensity is one of the prog highlights for me, how I like these songs!... but when it comes to Eloy there are quite a few other freaking favourites, 'Le Reveil Du Soleil/The Dawn' instantly comes to mind... and 'The Bells Of Notre Dame'? - intense delight!... -------------  "Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." LvB |