Eloy - 1979 - Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes

Eloy

1979

Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes

01. Astral Entrance (3:03)
02. Master of Sensation (6:00)
03. The Apocalypse (14:54)
- a) Silent Cries Divide the Night
- b) The Vision Burning
- c) Force Majeure
04. Pilot to Paradise (7:01)
05. De Labore Solis (5:12)
06. Mighty Echoes (7:16)

Bonus tracks on 2005 EMI remaster:
07. Child Migration (4:05)
08. Let the Sun Rise in My Brain (3:29)

Frank Bornemann / acoustic, effect & electric guitars, lead & backing vocals, co-producer
Detlev Schmidtchen / grand pianos, Fender Rhodes, Hammond M3, Mini-Moog & ARP synths, Solina Hohner String ensembles, RMI keyboard computer, backing vocals
Klaus-Peter Matziol / Alembic bass, Moog Taurus pedals, backing vocals
Jürgen Rosenthal / drums, percussion, flute

With:
Brigitte Witt / vocals (3b)
Wolfgang Maus / vocal arrangements (3b)

As Continental Europe's foremost purveyors of non-instrumental space rock, Eloy draw frequent comparisons to Pink Floyd. This is especially true for the band's "peak" material of the mid-to-late-70's, after they shed their Krautrock roots and before they embraced a more thoroughly synth-driven sound. In general, I find those connections to be lazy oversimplifications that fall apart upon closer inspection. Yet when it comes to 1978's Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes, the band's Floydisms are difficult to ignore. The record isn't a blatant rip-off, but it borrows enough from (Wish You Were Here-era) Pink Floyd that it has become semi-divisive among doctrinaire progressive rock fans. Luckily, it's also one of the most-accomplished albums in Eloy's sizable discography, and should quickly appeal to listeners who can tolerate the relative lack of originality. Not quite a classic, but required listening for anyone looking to explore spacey progressive rock.

Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes is best described as "epic" space rock. As was the case on Ocean, the music oscillates between synth-led soundscaping and propulsive guitar/bass-grooves. What's changed is the overall mood, which is significantly more brooding than any Eloy record of the era. It's also relatively light on narrative, which may disappoint listeners in search of another full-blown concept album a la Ocean or Dawn. Every track here still features vocals, but the vocal melodies feel supplementary and Frank Bornemann's accent is far less distracting than usual. The Pink Floyd comparisons become most obvious on the slower-burning, guitar-led segments. There's more meandering (and opposed to driving) guitar here than on your typical Eloy release, and Bornemann sounds a lot like David Gilmour when he's in that mode. Apart from the intro to "Astral Entrance/Master of Sensation", where Bornemann appears dead-set on recreating the hypnotic opening to "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", I'd still say that the album's Floydisms are very fleeting. Overall, Silent Cries is an album that recalls Floyd while sounding distinctively like Eloy

I love the darker vibe of Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes and wasn't bothered by the album's Floydisms after a handful of listens. This is also the best Eloy album when it comes to drifting space rock: lots of Eloy albums feature killer grooves and hypnotic guitar lines, but the less assertive instrumental segments work far better here than on earlier efforts like Ocean or Power and the Passion. Everything here feels purposeful, even if some of the most deliberate segments run on for a bit too long. The primary thing keeping Silent Cries from classic status are the melodies themselves. The album features lots of great instrumental passages, but there's little that sticks with you upon conclusion. In particular, "De Labore Solis" is one of the least engaging Eloy tracks of the period, whereas "The Apocalypse" abandons a phenomenal groove in order to meander around for its final five minutes. The only two tracks that impress me throughout are the opening "Astral Entrance/Master of Sensation", which expertly interweaves a series of increasingly interesting guitar/synth lines, and the closing "Mighty Echoes".

Even if it's somewhat lacking in memorable melodies, Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes is consistently impressive enough to earn an excellent, 4.0-star rating. Heartily recommended to serious progressive rock fans, but no more so than Floating, Dawn, Ocean, and Planets.