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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Their finest work,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Ocean (Audio CD)
German progressive space rock band Eloy perfected the combination of spacey, atmospheric synthesizer work and a thunderous rhythm section on this 1977 album, which many Eloy fans consider to be their best work. This concept album details the rise and fall of Atlantis through four longish pieces including the 11'42 Poseidons Creation; Incarnation of Logos (8'23"); Decay of logos (8'17"); and the final track "Atlantis' Agony at June 5th 8498 13 p.m. Gregorian Earthtime" (15'38"). The musicians on this album are excellent and include Neil Peart influenced drummer Jurgen Rosenthal, bassist Klaus Matziol (he uses a full-sounding trebly Gibson thunderbird bass that really lends added punch), keyboardist Detlev Schmidtchen (Arp and Moog synths, Hammond organ, and mellotron, and finally bandleader Frank Bornemann on lead vocals and electric/acoustic guitar. Although this has been stated by many other folks when discussing this band, it is worth reiterating that Frank sings in English with a very heavy accent. I personally don't mind it one bit but some people have been especially unforgiving. The music itself alternates between very spacey, synthesizer led passages and heavier sections dominated by the powerhouse rhythm section of Jurgen and Klaus. The compositions are all quite good and develop according to a well thought out logic, with wonderful melodies and enough sprightly ensemble work to keep most proggers entertained. The lyrics are very cosmic and add to the overall 1970s charm of the album. This EMI remastered album is quite good, and boasts nice color photos spread throughout and excellent sound quality - unfortunately the (copious) liner notes are in German so I have absolutely no clue what is being said. Although copy control technology was used on the remastered album, playback problems have not been a problem for me. All in all, this is a great album and a personal favorite. Recommended as a good starting point for exploring this great band.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ELOY at their creative and progressive musical height,
By
This review is from: Ocean (Audio CD)
I have just recently bought all the Eloy CD's that they produced in the 1970's, which is the period regarded as their creative and progressive musical best. This was their next to last studio album (back then they were albums, remember?), and was released in 1977, before their sound changed slightly, mostly due to a change in personnel on keyboards (Manfred Wieczorke 1973-1975 and Detlev Schmidtchen 1976-1979 and others after 1980).I simply much prefer the sound from the albums that came out with Schmidtchen on keyboards, secondly with Wieczorke, and much less from the 1980's and beyond. The music from this period (1976-1979) is highly pleasurable and sometimes almost intoxicating. It keeps reminding me of Camel from their best period, which was this same time frame - the mid to late 1970's. It is very similar music, not too heavy/loud except occasionally (the right mix for me), very progressive and unique, extraordinarily creative, sometimes hypnotic but certainly very alive and captivating. Camel has always been one of my favorite groups, so that is why I love Eloy! The shame is, for some unknown reasons, I was never exposed to Eloy in the 70's, but only recently introduced to them at the Austin, TX record convention last year. Geesh! Now I seem to making up for lost time and am enjoying every listen. This is the CD I have come to love the most by Eloy, by far! And it always satisfies me while leaving me with a feeling I want to recapture all over again, as if I were back in time in the 70-'s when progressive music was arguably at its pinnacle. If you want to experience Eloy for the first time, you may possibly wish to try to Live album, as it captures the first 8 years of music, starting off with the heavy "Poseidon's Creation", also the opening track from this CD. Either way, if you like what you hear, if you like this kind of music, you'll be like me and want to buy all the Eloy CD's from the 1970's. I find this one to be far and away their best AND my favorite! It is a true work of 70's progressive musical genious!! And I can safely say it has become in the range of one of my favorite alltime albums. And that, my friends, is a hard position to achieve!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
By far Eloy's best, in my opinion,
By
This review is from: Ocean (Audio CD)
Never had I ever known a prog band where the fans were so divided as Eloy. I can understand why fans might be divided over Yes or Genesis since they did turn to more generic pop in the 1980s, but with Eloy it seems that each time the band witnesses another lineup change, they changed their sound and many fans of Eloy's certain sound might not be a fan of their next sound. That's why I see lots of bickering over whether people like Inside and Floating the best, Dawn, Ocean, and Silent Cries the best, or Colours, Planets, Time to Turn, and Metromania the best. For me it's Ocean, particularly because I have a '70s bias. Let me tell you, Ocean is some of the most stunning progressive space rock I have ever heard in my life! A wonderful concept album about the rise and destruction of Atlantis, I really felt Frank Bornemann did the right thing when he added bassist Klaus-Peter Matziol, keyboardist Detlev Schmidtchen, and drummer Jürgen Rosenthal to the band because never before or after had Eloy created such mindblowing work as with this lineup, as Ocean demonstrates. People seem to think that the opener "Poseidon's Creation" is the best and it's all downhill from there. I'll have to disagree there. The second cut, "Incarnation of Logos" is simply stunning. Not too often have I ever heard a song with such out of this world string synths as I have this one! Plus I truly dig the synth solo in the middle. Not to mention the song ends up reminding me a little of Gentle Giant at the end. "Decay of Logos" starts of with some really cool synth work before becoming heavier (in fact it's the heaviest piece on the album). The final piece, "Atlantis' Agony..." is the one people seem to have the most problems with. It starts off with some narration, then with an 8 minute long synth drone. To me I love it! I find it positively mindblowing. If you listen more carefully to the synth drones, you'll find more than just droning, like strange wailing sounds played on an ARP 2600 synthesizer and other cool sounding synths. The other half of this piece shows the rest of the band kicking in, pretty much the same style as the rest of the album. Plus it features a really cool Moog solo. Of course, this being an Eloy album, many of you will have problems with Frank Bornemann's singing, since he's a German having problems with mastering the English language, but he doesn't bother me any. I am rather surprised to find out Ocean had outsold Queen and Genesis in Germany, which seems to be, in an era of punk and disco, that the Germans must have still had good tastes in the late 1970s else bands like Eloy, Novalis, etc. would not have done so well there. So if you want yourself some of the more out of this world spacy prog rock with killer synths and not bothered by Bornemann, you need Ocean!
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