DESTINATION

One of the prog bands that made it to the mainstream in Germany was British veterans Barclay James Harvest, so it is not surprising that Frank Bornemann added BJH to his well of inspiration, chiefly in his vocal style for "Destination", the first Eloy album in 4 years. Specifically, he sounds like he is trying to parrot Les Holroyd's 1980s style, blended with a little Jon Anderson, which we had already heard on Ra. Unfortunately he simply doesn't have a voice like either of these gentleman, and the fact that the music recalls the seriously backsliding years of Yes and BJH does not help matters.

Through their peak period and a couple of times outside of that, Eloy tended to produce material with memorable melodies and arrangements. It was rare that songs would simply pass by my ears without my taking notice. They also understood the concept of variation in meter and accompaniment. This latter quality was already lacking in "Ra" but compensated for by Bornemann's melodic skill. Here we sink into an unintelligible morass for the most part, although the return of the flute on several tracks, including the opener "Call of the Wild", can only help the proceedings. The title tune starts off so promisingly and spacey before reverting to a Les Holroyd ballad formula. This is truly one of Bornemann's weakest albums from a vocal perspective and that is saying something. The finale "Jeanne D'Arc" is the first of several tributes to a historic icon with whom Mr Bornemann seems preoccupied these days, and is a plodding bloated production unworthy of this heroic figure.

Sometimes it's not the journey but the destination that counts, but sometimes it's neither, as in this lukewarm effort from Eloy. Rounded up to 2 stars out of respect.