RA

Eloy split as a band shortly after finishing their Metromania album in 1984. After a break of about 18 months, guitarist Frank Bornemann met keyboardist Michael Gerlach in Berlin and decided to form a duo under the Eloy name. The result of this collaboration was the album Ra, released in 1988.

Ra had a lot of potential that was mostly ruined by the technology of the day. It contains the futuristic and spacey keyboards Eloy was best known for, but sorely lacks in other departments, such as the heavy use of programmed drums, synth basses, and a whole series of session musicians. If only the lineup from Ocean could have performed this album. If only...

If you can get past the dreadful drum programming, Ra offers some delightfully nice numbers including Voyager of the Future Race, Invasions of a Megaforce, and Rainbow. The rest of the tracks border on mediocrity musically, although lyrically these may have been some of Bornemann's best written songs in years. The female backing vocals are nicely done too.

If programmed drums don't bother you, you might actually like this. Too bad Bornemann had not met Trent Gardner a few years later as Gardner's drum programming was quite unique and not as mechanical sounding as most albums tend to be that feature this. Other than that, most will find this album disappointing. Two stars. Chiefly for Eloy fans.