PLANETS

Certainly Planets can be easily regard as one of Eloy´s best. I´ve always loved this album, specially if one remembers it was released in 1981 when progressive music was treated as a disease by critics and considered totally out of fashion by recording companies and much of its former audience. So it was a good surprise to see that Eloy not only kept the faith, but also developed a lot during this period. While others bands (like Genesis) were going to pop or simply gving up music altogether, this german band carried the banner high. It was really amazing that they were still releasing their albums through the giant EMI. But, as faithful as they might be about Eloy, they certainly wouldn´t go as far as taking the group´s idea of putting out a double concept album of sorts. The second part of this sci fi story would only see the light of day in the following year (Time To Turn).

On hindsight, it was a good move to do so. Both albums are quite similar and as much as I love both discs, it would be too much of the same for the time and certainly those two records would not be as much appreciated as they were if they were to be released in the same package. Planets sees the band going quite far as keyboards as concerned: here the guitars take a kind of back seat and Hannes Folberth´s synths are much more on the forefront now than on previous ones. However, unlike 99% of the bands of the time, the synthesizers timbres are much different from one might expect from the 80´s. Instead of those robotic, cheesy sounds, the group uses fine, beautiful, futuristic tones that are quite different from any band at the time, giving Planets an unique, timeless aura. Unlike much of the works of the period, this one has not dated at all.

The production is excellent and I really don´t think there is one single track I don´t like. But some are real strong ones like Mysterious Monolith and the powerful Queen Of The Night ( real nice female background vocals and great use of real strings). This surely the case of an album I always hear from start to finish without skipping any tracks. Naturally Frank Bornemann´s voice (and his ever present german accent) is quite acquired the taste, but now he can claim he had a style of his own, like it or not. While it is not really my cup of tea, I´m not bothered by it at all. After all, it wouldn´t be Eloy without him anyway.

Conclusion: one of the best early 80´s prog CDs. A real fine record that aged very well. The Pink Floyd influences are stil strong, but the group has come a long way and definilty created a sound of its own. An excellent addition to any prog rock music colletion. Four strong stars.