COLOURS

While "Silent cries and mighty echoes" appeared to demonstrate that this line up of Eloy was a stable one capable of taking the band to ever greater heights, behind the scenes things were not so great. Jurgen Rosenthal and Frank Bornemann were increasingly at odds with each other, the latter becoming ever more critical of the former's lyrical contributions. The result was that drummer Rosenthal and keyboard player Detlev Schmidtchen both left the band after the release of "Silent cries..".

In their place came drummer Jim McGillivray and keyboard player Hannes Folberth. Guitarist Hannes Arkona also joined the line up, returning the band to a twin guitar set up.

The first clue that this album will represent another switch in direction by Eloy is in the track listing. With no less than 8 tracks, half of which are around 3 minutes long, this is much more of a song based album, much less a gathering of prog epics. The Pink Floyd influences which dominated "Silent cries and mighty echoes" are less in evidence here, the emphasis being on the straightforward rock which appeared on the earliest albums. The overall sound retains the sophistication of more recent releases though, the instrumentation being diverse.

The opening "Horizons" has a funky synth rhythm, upon which is laid an ethereal female vocal chorus. It is actually rather pleasant, but somewhat different to what has preceded it. Interestingly, the lyrics quote liberally from "The revealing science of God" by Yes, with lines such as "Chased amid fusions of wonder". "Illuminations" is one of the four longer tracks which run to 6-7 minutes. The track is simplistic in structure with distorted vocals and almost pop like synthesisers.

"Giant" is a lyrically dense track with a plodding melody and a strong Genesis feel, including some Hackett like lead guitar. "Impressions" is the second of the short tracks; a lighter piece with an enjoyable melody and some nice flute touches. "Child migration", which was originally omitted from "Silent cries..", appears here in its final form (the remastered version of "Silent cries.." has an early version). In terms of composition and arrangement, this track is the most progressive on the album.

"Gallery" returns us to the simpler pop rock again, with guitar and synth interplaying between semi-chanted vocals. "Silhouette" is the last of the longer tracks. It sets out sound rather like the start of an Italian Prog number, with some nice piano backing phonetic English language lyrics. Strangely though, this stops quite suddenly and an upbeat melodic rhythm fades in. The rest of the track is a rather bland affair. The album closes appropriately with "Sunset", a sort of bookend for "Horizons" with some nice spacey synth and acoustic guitar.

In all, from a prog perspective this album is something of a disappointment. It seems to indicate that Eloy were finally giving in to the musical pressures of the day, and exploring a more pop orientated approach. The quality of the musicianship remains, but the album lacks depth. That said, this is still an enjoyable listen.

The remastered CD has the dreaded copy protection software, but it also has 2 additional tracks. "Wings of vision" is a sort of Magnum like power pop rock song which was released as a single. The other track on the single, an edited version of "Silhouette", is the other bonus track here.

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