SILENT CRIES AND MIGHTY ECHOES

It is only ironic that german prog rock band Eloy reached its peak during the worst times for progressive music in general. They had released their magnum opus Ocean in 1977 and followed with Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes two years later. Although 1979 was probably the most horrible year for prog music ever, Eloy simply chose to ignore the current fashions and stuck with their guns. I really wish other great groups did the same.

While maintaining the same line up as on the previous two albums, Silent Cries... is quite different in sound, being a lot more laid back and Pink Floyd-ish than ever. Also the first real extensive use of synthesizers on this work by keyboards man Detlev Schmidtchen (instead of the previous heavy doses of the Hammond organ) changed the overall musical landscape a lot, making it almost a ambient/electronic experiment. The result is really nice, although the Pink Floyd influence is sometimes a little overwhelming, the group writing their very own Great Gig In The Sky rip off on The Vision Burning. The opener Astral Entrance is another slice of Floyd´s, this time the famous intro for Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Still, it works. I really love this album, it flows smoothly and it´s a great soundtrack when you want to listen to something trippy. I know it will not be everyone´s cup of tea, it may lack a real strong track to stand out, but as a whole it is an excellent effort.

As usual the musicianship is fantastic, I really dig Klaus-Peter Matziol bass lines, so creative and fluid. Frank Bornemann guitar playing is also one of his best, for there are more guitar solos here than most Eloy previous (and latter) works. Jürgen Rosenthal drumming is very good and, as usual, he provided all the lyrics, giving the band a truly good and deep theme that the band needed so much in the early days (he would be of special usefulness on The Power And The Passion, but that´s another story). The production is very good for the time, my CD copy sounding very crisp and clear.

Conclusion: an excellent work for this classic band. Maybe not as powerful as Ocean or Planets, but still very strong and inspired. And, considering the time it was released, this is far more than we could expect from most prog acts of the period. 4 strong stars.