CHRONICLES II

Time has been relentless to ELOY, and by the year of 1994 the band reached its 25th anniversary. Despite the constant journey in time, the German band's been one of the few that still remain successful. Unfortunately, the sound of their former productions has become outdated, which obviously isn't as timeless as their music. But down the same stream, changes needed to be made in order to stay competitive and fresh, to maintain the strategic place in history and to improve in specific areas of their instrumentation to give away a more depurated and specific sound that sustained what ELOY's been through the years. All arrangements and artistic value remained untouched to reproduce this musical experience as authentically as possible. It is remarkable to know that even old equipment and instruments were brought into action as far as possible.

And so, to celebrate their anniversary, Frank BORNEMANN and Michael GERLACH (new line-up of ELOY since 1986), decided to invite former band members to the studio to re-record the highlights of their long-standing career. The songs on both albums appear in chronological order, so that "Chronicles I" represents the 1977-1982 era and "Chronicles II" follows up to reveal the band efforts in the new line-up since 1986. The last era represented in this CD, quite surrenders to its antecessor, leaving the parameters of a more commercial music set off. The songs are more lineal and less proposing, the modernization of the band now reduced to a duo, led to produce aimless recordings, where crunchier and more strident guitar executions followed up by untraditional keyboards and more underlined female backing vocals (take "Follow the Light", "Rainbow" and "Voyager of the Future Race" for instance), made of the 80's and part of the 90's ELOY, a "regular" band, like the rest that quoted the German band as inspiration.

Strictly, the sequel to "Chronicles" is indispensable to complete the experience. I suggest not to get both CDs separately, it'd be easier for you to put up with some of the imperfections represented in "Part II" by just getting the "2 Originals of ELOY" pack, released in 2000. All in all, ELOY is still one of the supporting rocks in prog, one of the leading bands and an indisputable icon in the history of art rock music. Enjoy.