1981
Planets
01. Introduction (1:58)
02. On The Verge Of Darkening Lights (5:37)
03. Point Of No Return (5:45)
04. Mysterious Monolith (7:40)
05. Queen Of The Night (5:22)
06. At The Gates Of Dawn (4:17)
07. Sphinx (6:50)
08. Carried By Cosmic Winds (4:32)
Bonus track on 2005 EMI remaster:
09. On The Verge Of Darkening Lights (Live 1983) (4:09)
Frank Bornemann / lead vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, co-producer
Hannes Arkona / acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards
Hannes Folberth / keyboards
Klaus-Peter Matziol / basses, backing vocals
Jim McGillivray / drums, percussion
With:
Wolfgang Dyhr / strings arranger & conductor
There's a widespread perception that the early-80's was entirely devoid of great progressive rock. This might be true when you restrict your attention to the English-speaking world, which was still several years away from the Neo Prog renaissance, but Continental Europe was an entirely different story. West Germany was a particularly bright spot for early-80's melodic progressive rock, and Eloy were the quintessential German prog band of that era. Less than a year removed from the underwhelming Colours, Eloy bucked musical trends by releasing the thoroughly backward-looking Planets. The end result is one of the best progressive rock albums of the 80's that has no relationship with Neo-Prog. It also happens to be one of Eloy's strongest releases, comparable in quality to more acclaimed mid-70's records like Dawn and Ocean. In no way groundbreaking, but a consistently excellent release that is required listening for anyone interested in exploring Eloy's catalogue.
As with Eloy's classics from the mid-to-late-70's, Planets is a melodic space rock album with traces of symphonic prog. The arrangements are drenched in synthesizers, even more so than on earlier Eloy releases, but those synths sit atop driving guitar/bass grooves and the music never feels remotely "artificial". This is 70's prog with lots of synth, not synth rock with progressive musical structures. Several tracks on Planets also feature a full string orchestra, emphasizing the epic nature of the music and inviting comparisons to Dawn. Overall, I'd place the album's aesthetic somewhere between Dawn and Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes, with little reference to the more eclectic instrumental palette of Colours. Where Planets most closely follows Colours is in the relatively hook-oriented nature of the melodies. In particular, the lengthy instrumental buildups that characterized Ocean and Silent Cries are entirely absent. In their place are tracks that oscillate between Frank Bornemann's vocals and energetic instrumental breaks, with lots of toe-tapping grooves and soaring synth lines. Planets is still a far cry from poppy "crossover prog", but it should prove especially appealing to those who prefer hummable melodies with their progressive rock.
I've always preferred the more melodic side of Eloy, and Planets plays perfectly to those preferences. The album also features what may be my favorite usage of synthesizers on any prog release- Planets proves that "old school" prog could be produced with cutting-edge studio equipment in a way that doesn't leave the music completely lifeless or dated. Planets may not be the best Eloy album (try Floating or Ocean), but its arguably the Eloy element with the greatest number of great instrumental hooks. My only significant complaint about the record is that, if you subtract those soaring synth lines, there's nothing here that's downright phenomenal. The album's two best tracks, "Point of No Return" and "Mysterious Monolith", should immediately appeal to any Eloy fan but are unlikely to become anybody's personal favorite. Frank Bornemann's vocal melodies are also uniformly forgettable, and serve largely to fill space between the far more interesting instrumental breaks. All of the best vocal moments here occur when Bornemann allows his backing female vocalist to take center stage ("Queen of the Night"). Bornemann's singing is still sorely missed on the instrumental "At the Gates of Dawn", which is the one track here (apart from the "Introduction") that I could live without.
02. On The Verge Of Darkening Lights (5:37)
03. Point Of No Return (5:45)
04. Mysterious Monolith (7:40)
05. Queen Of The Night (5:22)
06. At The Gates Of Dawn (4:17)
07. Sphinx (6:50)
08. Carried By Cosmic Winds (4:32)
Bonus track on 2005 EMI remaster:
09. On The Verge Of Darkening Lights (Live 1983) (4:09)
Frank Bornemann / lead vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, co-producer
Hannes Arkona / acoustic & electric guitars, keyboards
Hannes Folberth / keyboards
Klaus-Peter Matziol / basses, backing vocals
Jim McGillivray / drums, percussion
With:
Wolfgang Dyhr / strings arranger & conductor
As with Eloy's classics from the mid-to-late-70's, Planets is a melodic space rock album with traces of symphonic prog. The arrangements are drenched in synthesizers, even more so than on earlier Eloy releases, but those synths sit atop driving guitar/bass grooves and the music never feels remotely "artificial". This is 70's prog with lots of synth, not synth rock with progressive musical structures. Several tracks on Planets also feature a full string orchestra, emphasizing the epic nature of the music and inviting comparisons to Dawn. Overall, I'd place the album's aesthetic somewhere between Dawn and Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes, with little reference to the more eclectic instrumental palette of Colours. Where Planets most closely follows Colours is in the relatively hook-oriented nature of the melodies. In particular, the lengthy instrumental buildups that characterized Ocean and Silent Cries are entirely absent. In their place are tracks that oscillate between Frank Bornemann's vocals and energetic instrumental breaks, with lots of toe-tapping grooves and soaring synth lines. Planets is still a far cry from poppy "crossover prog", but it should prove especially appealing to those who prefer hummable melodies with their progressive rock.
I've always preferred the more melodic side of Eloy, and Planets plays perfectly to those preferences. The album also features what may be my favorite usage of synthesizers on any prog release- Planets proves that "old school" prog could be produced with cutting-edge studio equipment in a way that doesn't leave the music completely lifeless or dated. Planets may not be the best Eloy album (try Floating or Ocean), but its arguably the Eloy element with the greatest number of great instrumental hooks. My only significant complaint about the record is that, if you subtract those soaring synth lines, there's nothing here that's downright phenomenal. The album's two best tracks, "Point of No Return" and "Mysterious Monolith", should immediately appeal to any Eloy fan but are unlikely to become anybody's personal favorite. Frank Bornemann's vocal melodies are also uniformly forgettable, and serve largely to fill space between the far more interesting instrumental breaks. All of the best vocal moments here occur when Bornemann allows his backing female vocalist to take center stage ("Queen of the Night"). Bornemann's singing is still sorely missed on the instrumental "At the Gates of Dawn", which is the one track here (apart from the "Introduction") that I could live without.
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