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Eloy - Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes CD (album) cover

SILENT CRIES AND MIGHTY ECHOES

Eloy

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

4.06 | 757 ratings

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Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
5 stars Great Music, Engaging Lyrics!

Oh well well well . "Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes" is another great album by Eloy which as far as listening share, it's about the same as my favorite "Planets" album. "Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes" was the band's highest-selling record ever for Eloy. I can understand that because I don't think there is any human being that cannot enjoy - say .. - "The Apocalypse", especially the part at approx minute 1:54 when it's about to enter long music interlude which demonstrates nice keyboard work. Yeah, everyone will enjoy it for sure - whether or not he likes rock music, because it's so catchy (and may be poppy?). Schmidtchhen and Rosenthal then left the group to go solo and were replaced by Hannes Folberth and Jim McGillveray, respectively. Eloy also added guitarist Hannes Arkona. The new lineup released Colours in 1980, which saw the band start to abandon their spacey elements to pursue a more hard rock sound. So to say, this was the last album that the band explored the spacey elements wonderfully - and in fact it's better than any other bands / artists had done it before.

A wonderful stream of music, believe me!

The album starts wonderfully with an ambient music in relatively slow tempo with "Astral Entrance" (3:03) that represents an opening part of first track. This opening part reminds me the nuance of Pink Floyd music - something like the opening of Pink Floyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" from "Wish You Were Here" album. I do personally enjoy this opening part - it's very ambient with Floydian (read: Gilmourian) guitar style. It is then followed with the second part titled as "Master Of Sensation" (6:00) with excellent lyrical parts: "IT is here - IT is near / IT is by OUR side / IT is YOU - IT is Me / IT's OUR guiding light. IT is real - so unreal / IT's the magic sign" .. what a great tune! Wow man .. it's a wonderful music. I can imagine of having another version of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" but this time with upbeat tempo unique to Eloy music. Emotionally, this track is very uplifting and I doubt if there is any music buffs that do not enjoy this music. It's really great! I enjoy the soundscape, the vocal style as well as stunning keyboard work in spacey mood. That's not all! The bass guitar lines are really great as well and they are all very obvious throughout the song. It's a perfect song, I would say. Most importantly - the music touches my emotion, deeply. This is inline with my philosophy "Music is Emotion"!

In some of my reviews I put very clearly that I am more on "album" orientated person than song by song opinion even though in some cases I review at track by track level. What I mean is that, I'm more interested in looking at the music creation at "album" level even though I am fully aware that bad tracks might jeopardize the wholeness of an album. But it's not always the case. Look at Genesis "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" which I gave FULL five stars rating even though until now I do NOT enjoy "Waiting Room" song - but I look at it as the "whole" album so I still consider The Lamb - without any hesitation - as masterpiece album. So is the case with this album by Eloy. I truly admire with the fact that the band is very SUCCESSFUL in creating wonderful stream of music. First at opening track which comprises two parts where the flow is so smooth and it's now when the music flows to second track "The Apocalypse" (14:54) I find that the transition is very good. It's not a seamless deal but the break does not disrupt the overall flow of the music. It happens nicely and it does bring my emotion flies as the music moves along. Oh my God .. it's truly a nice experience. Not only the transition that is excellent, the flow of music in this second track is also great and I feel so peaceful enjoying it - especially with LOUD volume at my integrated amplifier! This second track comprises three parts: "Silent Cries Divide The Night", "The Vision Burning", and "Force Majeure" in which the musical interlude comprises keyboard as well as guitar fills. It's another great track. The ending part full with emotional and touchy notes as results of combined works of bass guitar, long sustain keyboard and synthesizer plus guitar. Wow!

The next track "Pilot To Paradise" (7:01) demonstrates further domination of bass guitar as main rhythm section augmented with keyboard and drum beats. The transition to vocal lines happen smoothly just before first lyrical verse: "WE contain a LIGHT - IT's a twinkling FIRE, WE're in possession of the GOLDEN KEY! Enormous ignorance surrounds the LIAR, But OUR SPIRIT could really tell US PRODIGY!". It's a great opening part. As the music flows there is great spacey mood created through the bass guitar as well as keyboard work. In the middle of the track there is a touchy organ / keyboard solo followed with last verse of the lyrics "And I know there's SOMEONE to hold US tight! MAN'S damned to fight, only LOVE and TRUTH will bring US the LIGHT! PILOT TO PARADISE - open OUR eyes! PILOT TO PARADISE - make US wise!" followed with ending part which features stunning guitar work. I cannot say that this is a mediocre track - it's a great track, indeed!

"De Labore Solis" (5:12) starts mellow with keyboard work, followed with tight basslines and nice long sustain keyboard / synthesizer work and guitar fills as rhythm section. This mellow track provides as a nice break after almost all of upbeat music with songs before this track. Again, I enjoy the bass guitar work. "Mighty Echoes" (7:16) concludes the album wonderfully with mellow opening part. The music moves in crescendo with dazzling drum work and keyboard sounds. "Do WE know LAWS of NATURE? All in what WE feel or do, ECHOES return from INFINITY! WE'll come to know OUR CREATOR! WE can't stop the ECHOES". It's an uplifting album ending which has meaningful message at the end of it.

Overall, this is a masterpiece of any prog music collection which came out at the end of prog and rock golden era (the seventies). The composition is very tight, the music flows wonderfully without any sense or feeling of getting bored with keyboard or guitar solos, the performance of the band to deliver the music is outstanding. I don't see this album lacks of something - all are perfect to me. So, overall, I rate this as a FULL five stars rating. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Gatot | 5/5 |

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