PERFORMANCE

Eloy's "Performance" is ironically their worst performance coming out during the turbulent years in 1983 with a revolving door policy of membership. Really the only good thing about it is Bornemann's guitars and occasionally his vocals sound like vintage Eloy. The songs are mediocre and it is replete with filler songs and throwaway material. Not everything is a complete waste of course as the band have so many ideas and great melodies. The stand out tracks are obvious with the great power rock of 'Disguise', although the tinny production of synth drums and too many keyboards is very dated. 'Shadow and Light' is another terrific track with some fine guitar riffs and even the keys are not as cheesy; Bornemann's vocals are wonderful when he is fired up like this.

'Mirador' is a forgettable keyboard driven instrumental that is 3:44 too long in length. There are pink Floyd riff offs such as the driving rhythm guitar and synth of 'Heartbeat'. The intro is sparkling keys that are too bright to remain interesting after a few listens, and the melody is fairly ho hum. 'Fools' is a rock song that the band loved to do live, and it just rocked along, but you won't find any prog here. For that matter it is difficult to find any prog at all on the entire album.

'A Broken Frame' ends things on a better note with atmospheric spacey keys and cool Blade Runnner drone. Bornemann's vocals are gentle and well executed at first. It is a lengthy song with many things going on. It locks into a steady rhythm with some effective keyboard motifs, but it never gets out of that rhythm for variation's sake. The lead guitar break is dynamic and one of the best on the album so all is not lost.

Overall this is an album with about 3 tracks that are worth savouring, the rest is a bit of a hodge podge of dated 80s synth mush, only a tad under par from the disappointing "Metromania". It is what it is and of course Eloy went onto better albums. They survived amidst the turmoil of the 80s along with Rush and Yes, who also felt the pressures, though remained enthusiastic under critical fire, and their sound suffered as badly as Eloy. 2 stars awarded for the odd good track, but this is bottom of the barrel as far as Eloy are concerned.