POWER AND THE PASSION

This is a pivotal album in "Eloy" 's career. The band seems to leave his hard-rock psychedelic music for a more spacey one even if "Journey Into 1358" is still very much related with their early work. Same for "Daylight" which is fully "Floydian" (but from their very early days) and which sounds outdated at the time of recording (1975).

The next two long tracks "Love Over Six Centuries" and "Mutiny" on the contrary are more "ASOS" oriented. Softer compositions, well crafted, melodic. Still psychedelic. This type of music was more belonging to the late sixties than the mid-seventies but when done with such brio it doesn't really hurt, on the contrary. Those are my two preferred songs and I consider them as highlights here.

Some weak moments like the melancholic "Imprisonment" and "Back into the Present".

Another band who influenced them a bit in a few songs on previous releases was "Uriah Heep". You can feel again the typical organ sound from Hensley during "The Zany Magician" and not only because it refers to the "Magician". Amazing.

The album closes nicely with "The Bells of Notre Dame". A vibrant instrumental : aerial keys, gorgeous guitar, hypnotic and crescendo builing. What else can I ask ?

The three best songs (which represent sixty percent of this album) are featured on their very good compilation "Best Of - Volume I". So this might be a better buy than this one probably.

Three stars for "Power & Passion".