Studio Masters

Eloy – Inside (1973/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:47 minutes | 741 MB | Genre: Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Janus Records

Eloy was only on their second album when they introduced their first major change of direction in sound. With the departure of founding member Erich Schriever, Frank Bornemann found himself able to take the group on a more resolutely progressive rock road. Still strongly hard-rocking, though, the music is dominated in turns by Bornemann’s guitar solos and Manfred Wieczorke’s Deep Purple-esque overdriven Hammond organ. The 17-minute “Land of No Body” tries too hard to emulate the clichés of the prog rock epic. A space-related theme ties together a string of riffs and extended solos. It lacks meat around the bone, and in the end sounds a lot like Benefit-era Jethro Tull. The shorter tracks are more satisfying. “Inside” and “Future City” rock hard and efficiently, the former pushing Wieczorke up front, the latter featuring Bornemann’s best vocal impression of Ian Anderson. The closer, “Up and Down,” remains, for the most part, a dazed piece filtered by Led Zeppelin and Procol Harum. Compared to the following year’s Floating, Inside represents a transition from Eloy’s first incarnation and a first exhibition of their leader’s main influences – influences that he still needed to digest.

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Eloy – Floating (1974/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:37 minutes | 784 MB | Genre: Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Janus Records

With Floating, Eloy hit their first artistic peak. The German group’s brand of hard rock meets prog rock gelled beautifully for this set of five songs. The structural shortcomings of the longest track from the previous album are now things of the past: “The Light From Deep Darkness” is a 15-minute roller coaster. The opening title track gets very close to early Santana, thanks to a spirited drum track and Manfred Wieczorke’s organ work, closer this time to Gregg Rollie than Jon Lord (Deep Purple). But the album’s highlight resides in the infectiously heavy riff of “Castle in the Air,” maybe the most recognizable sound bit in Eloy’s first three albums. New bassist Luitjen Janssen gives the song a tremendous momentum. The lyrics to “Plastic Girl” are more down to earth (and relate to Frank Zappa’s “Plastic People”) than the group’s growing interest in metaphysics and space-age references. The album is capped by “Madhouse,” a frantic rocker that shows how Bornemann has integrated the influence of Jethro Tull in his music. Fans of Eloy’s concept albums (Dawn, Ocean, Planets) have a tendency to look snobbishly at the first three LPs, but Floating stands as a great rock achievement, no matter what the group will record next. The music did not have to adapt to a plot and is not drenched in synthesizers. As a result, it feels more honest and direct.

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