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ELOY: Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes – Colours – Planets (remastered)

Cat. N°

Cat. N°: 724356377424 ('79)

Playing Time

In 2000, EMI promised Eloy fans that all remastered albums from their catalogue would be out soon. Well, it is 2005 now and finally the record company has decided to release the last 6 of these albums, covering the band’s discography from 1979 to 1984.

“Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes” (1979) is the third (not counting “Live”) and final of their prime period with the classic line-up of Bornemann, Matziol, Rosenthal and Schmidtchen. Stylewise, it is very close to its predecessors “Dawn” and “Ocean”. On this album, the Pink Floyd influences are even more obvious, especially the “Wish You Were Here” era (just listen to the opening instrumental “Astral Entrance”). Again, this album is filled with great songs with atmospheric keyboards and great guitar solos. Indeed, the lengthy “The Apocalypse”, “Pilot To Paradise” and “Mighty Echoes” are prime examples of Eloy’s finest work. This remaster also includes two bonus tracks, which were recorded at the time as the band’s contribution to the international ‘Year Of The Child’: “Child Migration” (featuring a children’s choir) and “Let The Sun Rise In My Brain” (with a great flute solo). Definitely two worthy additions to the album. The sales for “Silent Cries…” in Germany surpassed those of “Ocean” and that places it firmly in top position as Eloy’s bestselling album.

Frank Bornemann cites ego problems as the main reason for Rosenthal and Schmidtchen leaving the band shortly after “Silent Cries…” (in fact, the two continued to work together to form the band Ego On The Rocks). On “Colours” (1980), they were replaced by three new members, Hannes Arkona (guitars, keyboards), Hannes Folberth (keyboards) and Jim McGillivray (drums). This album also saw the band changing their style quite a bit. Gone were the long, epic songs – the new ones were much more compact and direct. In fact, songwise, this may be the best-ever Eloy album. Some tracks could even be called commercial; they are definitely more accessible than before: “Horizons”, the instrumental “Sunset” and some parts of “Silhouette” even remind me very much of Alan Parsons Project. With an extra guitarist in the lineup, the guitar is much more prominent here, the riffing is heavier. The keyboards (still excellent) are by no means neglected, though. This remaster includes two bonus tracks: the Genesis-inspired single “Wings Of Vision” and the edited version of “Silhouette”.

“Planets” (1981) was the first of a two-part sci-fi concept; a rather complex story about the planet Salta and its inhabitants. Musically, it is a return to the longer songs, futuristic sounds, orchestral arrangements and dreamy passages of a.o. “Ocean” and “Mighty Cries…”. It might not be quite as good as these albums, but it’s still very enjoyable, and “On The Verge Of Darkening Lights” and “Queen Of The Night” are certainly up there with their best songs. “Planets” was scheduled to be a double album, but under record company pressure, it was released in two parts (the sequel, “Time To Turn” was to be released the following year, but it was not nearly as strong). As with the other remasters, the booklet is rather nice, with some interesting comments (in German) about the album and the band, photos and a 3-page prologue to the “Planets”-story (in English). It also includes the rather nice alternative cover drawing by Rodney Matthews, which was used for the UK release. Bonus track is an OK live version of “On The Verge Of Darkening Lights”.

Musicians

Frank Bornemann: Lead vocals, guitars
Klaus-Peter Matziol: Bass, vocals
Jürgen Rosenthal: Drums (Mighty Cries…)
Detlev Schmidtchen: Keyboards (Mighty Cries…)
Hannes Arkona: Guitars, keyboards (Colours, Planets)
Hannes Folberth: Keyboards (Colours, Planets)
Jim McGillivray: Drums (Colours, Planets)

Eloy (1971)
Inside (1973)
Floating (1974)
Power and the Passion (1975)
Dawn (1976)
Ocean (1977)
Live (1978)
Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes (1979)
Colours (1980)
Planets (1981)
Time to Turn (1982)
Performance (1983)
Metromania (1984)
Codename Wild Geese (1985)
RA (1988)
Rarities (1991)
Destination (1992)
Chronicles I (1993)
Chronicles II (1994)
The Tides Return Forever (1994)
The Best of Eloy Vol. 1 - The Early Days 1972-1975 (1994)
The Best of Eloy Vol. 2 - The Prime 1976 - 1979 (1996)
Ocean 2: The Answer (1998)
Timeless Passages: The Very Best Of (2003)

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Last updated: 04 september 2005 .
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