INSIDE

Eloy's "Inside" captures the invigorating psychedelic sound of the 70s and it is the band at their most mind blowing in terms of lengthy jamming and trippy musicianship. The opening epic that runs out to 17:20 is a mind tripping psych prog blaster that features some mesmirising musical interludes. There is a lengthy instrumental break that is a freak out of shimmering Hammond, spacey lead guitar and frenetic drumming with a ton of time sig shifts. It is wonderful music to immerse your ears in.

This is followed by a more subdued but very good track 'Inside' that features some of the bright Hammond again with Bornemann's vocals lighting up the soundscape.

'Future City' is one of my favourite tracks with Ian Anderson style vocals and a hypnotic bass and guitar rhythmic groove. The freak out instrumental is a fast tempo outbreak of upbeat jazzy psych prog. It returns to the main theme to end making this a well structured track.

'Up and Down' has a slow paced cadence and measured vocal delivery. It feels relaxed and psychedelic with reverb on multi tracked vocals and wah wah guitar embellishments . The wandering bassline is well executed and I like the simple high hat work. It switches to a new time sig with glorious organ phrases. The lead break is superb, and as it shifts to a new time sig, staccato organ and bass are joined with sporadic drumming patterns. It pauses for a while until the slower signature returns and some spoken preaching sounding weird against the backdrop of Hammond, bass and drums. The scratchy organ that jumps in is delightful, forced and wonderfully trimmed with that raw 70s edge. The music swells up and down in volume and intensity with a genuine feeling of tension and release.

'Daybreak' is a shorter track that is dominated with a hard rock guitar and organ riff. It locks into the heavy tempo and there are orchestrated violin strings. A heavy fuzz distorted guitar crunches in and the groove constantly drives headlong as a lead guitar solo augments the atmosphere. There are vocal intonations and some wild percussion breaks.

'On The Road' is a fast rocking blaster with tons of hammering Hammond and a full on lead guitar freakout. The vocals are reverbed and strangely distant. The organ phrases are terrific and I absolutely love the psychedelia of explosive organ and guitar, making this one of the heaviest Eloy songs ever.

Overall, "Inside" is a fascinating nostalgic trip back to the psychedelic sound of early prog. Eloy are inventive and progressive throughout this earlier album. It may not be as good as the followup "Floating", but this is an improvement on the debut, and is full of some of the trippiest and heaviest music to ever emerge from the Eloy catalogue.