TIME TO TURN

It is 1982 - Punk has morphed into new-wave, and many Prog bands have disappeared, yet here are Eloy soldiering on with a very strong set indeed. Although stylistically comparable with its conceptual twin Planets, Time To Turn offers a refined form of Prog-lite AOR that relies a little more on subtlety and elegance than on the kitchen-sink bombast of its predecessor. Keyboards and synths still predominate, but are nowhere near as overpowering, while guitars have made a welcome return to the foreground. Still there are few spaces in a dense production, but unlike Planets you no longer feel it is beating you over the head with a hammer. Another welcome change is the arrival of better melodies for Bornemann to sing. Time To Turn is not exactly over-endowed with stunning tunes, but it does at least have several that stretch beyond Eloy's typical shouty style.

At 9½ minutes, End Of An Odyssey is the obvious focus for a Prog fan though it is fundamentally a simple song cloaked in a vibrant progressive arrangement. The first five minutes are devoted to a thrusting instrumental full of vintage keys that build to the kind of song Tony Banks might have written for Phil Collins in the late 70s. A simple drum pattern underpins this section through to the guitar and synth interplay as an extended coda leads to its fade. Both the beat, and keyboard theatrics turn this song into an Eloy classic.

The remainder of the album varies in quality and form. Through A Somber Galaxy is a good opener featuring lovely slide guitar and a rolling bassline, but Behind The Walls Of Imagination chops and changes too much with too little inspiration so that after a while you start to lose interest until re-envigorated by another super guitar solo. Excellent Title track Time To Turn may be short and catchy, but it has an infectious rhythm and superb guitar solo that is hard to forget. Magic Mirrors is tuneful but otherwise unspectacular, while The Flash is too relentlessly bombastic. Say, Is It Really True closes the set with some welcome acoustic guitar, a nice melody and ruminative mood, and a strong arrangement that develops nicely towards a climax, though fades just when you wish for a searing guitar solo.

A long way short of a masterpiece, hovering somewhere between 'good' and 'very good', but Time To Turn is one of the better 1980s albums from Eloy, and an improvement on the overpowering Planets. It is blessed with a detailed yet vigorous production that lends the music a sense of vitality and energy, especially on the 2005 remaster, but musically is a little short on structural complexity. As an example of 1980s 'Stadium Prog' it stands up very well with its peers, but it is a long way from Eloy's classic 1970s space-trips.