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POWER AND THE PASSION

Eloy

Psychedelic/Space Rock


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Eloy Power and the Passion album cover
3.69 | 511 ratings | 38 reviews | 23% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 1975

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Introduction (1:13)
2. Journey into 1358 (2:55)
3. Love over Six Centuries (10:08)
4. Mutiny (9:08)
5. Imprisonment (3:13)
6. Daylight (2:39)
7. Thoughts of Home (1:05)
8. The Zany Magician (2:36)
9. Back into the Present (3:08)
10. The Bells of Notre-Dame (6:40)

Total Time 42:45

Bonus track on 2000 EMI remaster:
11. The Bells of Notre-Dame (remix 1999, previously unreleased) (6:26)

Line-up / Musicians

- Frank Bornemann / vocals, guitar
- Detlef Schwaar / guitar
- Manfred Wieczorke / organ, piano, electric piano, Moog, Mellotron
- Luitjen Janssen / bass
- Fritz Randow / drums

With:
- Mary Davis-Smith / spoken word (3)
- Gordon Bennit / spoken word (8)

Releases information

Artwork: Roman Rybnikar with Atelier Kochlowski (design)

LP EMI Electrola - 1C 064-29 602 (1975, Germany)

CD EMI Electrola - CDP 538-7 90971 2 (1988, Germany)
CD EMI - 7243 5 22760 2 8 (2000, Germany) Remastered by Jens Müller-Koslowski & John Cremer with 1 bonus track

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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ELOY Power and the Passion ratings distribution


3.69
(511 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(23%)
23%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(49%)
49%
Good, but non-essential (23%)
23%
Collectors/fans only (5%)
5%
Poor. Only for completionists (1%)
1%

ELOY Power and the Passion reviews


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Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by greenback
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars This is progressive rock. The rythm is very slow. The keyboards are rather floating, mostly consisting in organ, piano, clavinet and mellotron., so nothing really modern. The electric guitars can be distortion free, and it can also be rather aggressive; the solos are very good.

Many parts are mellow and not very loaded. When it is more loaded and faster, it is quite hard rock with full of drums and present loud bass. The lead vocals have a serious German accent.

Review by richardh
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Eloy are probably Germany's foremost prog band and this shows why.It's a concept album about time travelling and has a very nice romantic theme going through it.The playing is impressive and worhty of great prog bands of the time like Genesis and Yes.
Review by Proghead
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This album marks an era in the band's career where they decided to record a more sophisticated brand of spacy prog, knowing the early '70s guitar/Hammond-organ style explored on "Inside" and "Floating" were reaching a dead-end (and as much as I like those albums, "Floating" does sound a bit behind the times for 1974, but if they recorded that album in 1972, they'd get away with it).

"Power and the Passion" was their first exploration in to the concept album, in this case regarding time travel. They wanted this album to be a double album but their manager Jay Partridge declined, so it was a single album. I doubt there would have been enough good material to make it a double album, but then the production of this album wasn't that great.

Often maligned, it's not really that bad of an album. You get to see the style they'll perfect on following albums like "Ocean", but this was obviously done by the old lineup. Manfred Wieczorke added on some Moog, string synths, and even a little clavinet, although I can't understand why they say he had a Mellotron where I don't notice any. The only new member added this time was additional guitarist Detlef Schwaar.

The album starts off with "Introduction", which that's what it is, an introduction, not much to it, just a prelude played on organ. "Journey into 1358" is a nice spacy piece dominated by string synth, you already get to hear the new direction the band is headed, but when the Hammond organ kicks in, you can tell some of the elements of "Inside" and "Floating" hadn't been totally left behind, as you'll notice on some of the other pieces. "Love Over Six Centuries" involves Jamie's travel back to the year 1358, where he turns on a local medieval girl on to marijuana. Here you get lots of spoken dialog between Frank Bornemann (portraying Jamie) and non-member Mary Davis-Smith (portraying Jeanne, Jamie's would-to-be girlfriend, who loves the experience of smoking weed) against a drone of spacy string synths. "Mutiny" continues in this new spacy direction, consisting of lengthy spacy synth solos, with a bit of a classical influence, before the band gets a bit more heavy with the vocal section. "Mutiny" is mainly a spacy and meloncholic ballad that actually reminds me of PULSAR's "Halloween", even though that would wouldn't be released for another two years (and the only album PULSAR had released at the time - 1975 - was POLLEN). "Daylight" had a bit of a JETHRO TULL-feel, the last piece where Frank Borenemann was trying to sound like Ian ANDERSON. This is another demonstration of the band not entirely leaving their old sound behind. "Thoughts of Home" is a short, clavinet-dominated piece, an instrument, for some strange reason, wouldn't be used on an ELOY album until Hannes Folbert joined the band sometime in 1979 (and used it quite a lot on albums like "Colours" in 1980, "Planets" in 1981, and "Time to Turn" in 1982). "The Zany Magician" seems to have a more heavy metal feel to it, with demented vocals, portraying a zany magician who can help Jamie return home to the present. "Back into the Present" oddly reminds me of KANSAS circa "Song For America" without the violin. A nice, upbeat song demonstrating that with all the technological progress between the years 1358 and 1975, very little social progress has been made (I can relate to that). The song segues in to the spacy ballad, "The Bells of Notre Dame", which is basically a reflective piece where Jamie thinks of Jeanne, even though of course, Jeanne wouldn't be able to live in the present day.

This is truly a nice album to own, not as bad as many of the naysayers say, it might not be as good as "Ocean", of course, but still worth owning.

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars I personally enjoy this album much because it perfectly blends the sound of 70's classic rock music in the vein of Uriah Heep (especially the organ sound - reminiscent of Ken Hensley's style) and space psychedelic music. Throughout the album, I can smell bits of Uriah Heep's "Gypsy" organ style or "Love Machine". There are some passages that are too long and actually can be shortened because it's repetitious in nature. But, it's probably the nature of psychedelic music, I think. My prog mate put it simply: "It's get repeated until you get drunk! That's the true psychedelic music man ..!!!". Is it? Well, I don't know.. Because I do not drink (it's not healthy, you know .) so I cannot relate with his term. That's probably why I get bored, sometimes, with repetition. Overall, I really enjoy this album in its entirety.

Introduction - As the name implies, it opens the album with much of organ based music. It's kind like telling the listeners: "Hey, this is the kind of music that we're gonna play for you. Enjoy, relax, and take a deep breath before we start a journey with our music..". If this is the case, it serves the purpose really well as this short piece provides a musical nuance of the whole album and sets the right atmosphere for its listeners to enjoy the music.

Journey Into 1358 - It starts off with a very (yeah . "very" .. I mean it man!) melodic vocal line. I have to admit that this melodic opening is really KILLING me. It's backed with a nice piano work. The addition of guitar fills give a bluesy nuance of the song and enrich the composition. When it reaches a nice lyrical passage "Success has come to remind me. Where do I go from here?" it is then followed with a guitar fills that remind me to a cowboy kind of music. It brings the music into a faster tempo with sort of uplifting emotion. The combination of organ, bass line, lead guitar and drum is really good. Very nice composition.

Love Over Six Centuries - It's relatively long duration song (10:05) which starts with a mellow and bluesy guitar work and - again - melodic vocal line. It flows nicely until the bass line brings the music in crescendo, augmented with a very nice and catchy organ sound. Oh man .. I love this piece. Yeah .. if you wanna get drunk, this is the part for you! Yeah man . I really enjoy this part even though I do not drink. This passage is long enough to give the organ demonstrates the Heep's sound in a mellow way with some narration. This song ending up with a faster tempo music with stunning electric guitar solo augmented with organ sound.

Mutiny - Another relatively long track (9:07) starts with a melodic and mellow vocal line in a distanced voice style, backed with a soft piano and organ work. The guitar fills gradually enter the music and firmly brings the music into an upbeat tempo with grandiose organ sound. It is then followed with a simple guitar work backed with a floating organ sound. The music turns gradually into a faster tempo demonstrating keyboard as solo with some guitar rhythm and excellent drumming. The bass line is an interesting part to observe as well.

Imprisonment - Having enjoyed two long tracks, the band offers this song with this three-minute track. It starts with an ambient soundscape followed with thematic voice line in a distanced style. The guitar fills and keyboard addition provide the 70s nuance music. It's another melodic part. The keyboard at the background gives an excellent nuance of this short track. This drum-less song flows seamlessly to next track.

Daylight - It's a logical continuation from the previous track "Imprisonment" in a faster tempo with drumming addition. The mood is uplifting with some nice combination of excellent guitar, organ and bass line. Guitar and organ play in alternates. Excellent!

Thoughts Of Home - It's a short track with a clavinet-based music plus vocal. This seems like an opening for the next rocking track.

The Zany Magician - It starts off with a simple guitar riffs as a seamless continuation from previous mellow track. Performed in an upbeat mood, this track brings the album with some flavor of hard rock music but still in the corridor of Eloy's music. The vocal line is performed in a distanced style.

Back Into The Present - In terms of structure and melody, this song is very similar (80%, I guess) with Uriah Heep's "Love Machine" song from the "Look At Yourself" album. It's very clear that this band is heavily influenced by Uriah Heep. Plagiarism? Well, I do not know, I guess not really. But have a listen of this track and compare it to Love Machine, you may find the basic similarity in style.

The Bells Of Notre-Dame - It's a very dark song exploring the sound of organ, performed in a very slow tempo with some bluesy guitar fills. The overall music texture is floating with some additions of mellotron sound. Overall, this song is thematic. My CD is a digital remaster printed in 2000 and it has one bonus track that contains this last song in 1999 remix (previously unreleased). This remix edition is better (in my personal taste) as it has better sound (of course man; it's recorded in later technology!).

It's not a masterpiece prog album, hewever, this is an excellent addition to any prog collection. Recommended! - Keep on proggin' !

Yours progressively,

GW - Indonesia.

Review by semismart
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This is my second review on behalf of Eloy, a progressive rock band with eighteen studio albums, spanning three decades, from 1969 through 1998. In time I hope to do more Eloy reviews, though I doubt I’ll get to all eighteen.

Eloy (name taken from H G Well‘s Time Machine label for childlike humans in the distant future - “Eloi”) is a German Atmospheric, Progressive Rock that was formed way back in 1969. Power and the Passion, their fourth album, was released in 1975. Through the years the band has totally turned over in each position and some positions several times but the originator Frank Bornemann (guitars/vocals) has persevered, presiding over a three decade band that has turned out some of the best progressive rock music, I’ve had the fortune to discover.

While I believe the two Ocean albums and Dawn (the continuation of Power and the Passion) to be their best, this is certainly a strong release with wide variances in sound and tempo throughout. The music tends to be mellow though there are some powerful parts as well.

Power and the Passion is a concept album telling a whimsical story about a guy who time travels back to medieval Paris, introduces a girl to marijuana, spends time in jail and meets a magician who sends him back to his time.

The timing of Power and the Passion coincides with the introduction of new instruments like synthesizers, mellotrons and the electric piano so those instruments, like much of the music in the seventies, are very evident. Also evident is a mild connection, to me anyway, with Uriah Heep as a couple tracks including The Zany Magician, seem to replicate the well known Mick Box riffs, whom I probably don’t need to tell you, recorded songs like “The Wizard” and “The Magicians Birthday.”

The majority of songs on Power and the Passion are psychedelic style, art rock, some would call space rock or atmospheric rock with strong keyboards and guitars with a minimum of vocals. Exceptions are Daylight, The Zany Magician, Back to the Present and The Bells of Notre Dame. Daylight features a swirling melody and an interesting if not unique beat revolving around some of the better vocals on the album. The Zany Magician and the short lead up song Thoughts of Home have strong rock elements including the pounding guitar riffs reminiscent of Uriah Heep’s Mick Box. Back to the Present is an almost straight forward rock piece, with a medium fast tempo. The Bells of Notre Dame is 6 ½ minute bluesy maudlin number mostly instrumental featuring strong guitar soloing with a synth background.

Track listing 1. Introduction (1:10) 4 stars 2. Journey Into 1358 (2:56) 5 stars 3. Love Over Six Centuries (10:05) 5 stars 4. Mutiny (9:07) 5 stars 5. Imprisonment (3:12) 3 stars 6. Daylight (2:38) 5 stars 7. Thoughts Of Home (1:04) 4 stars 8. The Zany Magician (2:38) 5 stars 9. Back Into The Present (3:07) 3 ½ stars 10. The Bells Of Notre-Dame (6:26) 4 stars

Total Time: 42:23

Line-up - Frank Bornemann / vocals, guitar - Luitjen Janssen / bass - Fritz Randow / drums - Detlef Schwaar / guitar - Manfred Wieczorke / keyboards, mellotron - Mary Davis-Smith / voice (3)

Conclusion

I’ll tell you right up front. You don’t listen to Eloy for the vocals. First of all the vocals take up probably no more than a quarter of the album. Second the vocals seem to be minimized as though electronically altered to sound distant. Third, guitarist/singer Bornemann’s voice, while adequate, is nothing to join a fan club over.

What you do listen to Eloy for is the easy going sensation of continuously pleasing and seldom overpowering ambient music. Each Eloy album I have listened to so far has it’s own distinct personality and the albums vary significantly not only from decade to decade but album to album. Note

The Cd I bought and reviewed this album from contained four additional songs, called Chronicles Vol. 1 (Several members of Eloy re-formed in 1993 to re-record older tracks for Chronicles I, followed by Chronicles II the next year.). They are:

11. The Bells of Notre Dame - remixed (11:31) 5 stars 12. Poseidon’s Creation (11.05) 5 stars 13. The Apocalypse (3:11) 4 ½ stars 14. Silhouette (6:10) 4 stars

All these songs appear on other Eloy albums

Eloy Studio Discography 1970, Eloy 1973, Inside 1974, Floating 1975, Power and the Passion 1976, Dawn 1977, Ocean 1977, Wings of Vision 1978, Live 1978, Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes 1980, Colours 1982, Planets 1983, Performance 1983, Time to turn 1984, Metromania 1985, Codename Wildgeese 1988, Ra 1992, Destination 1994, The Tides Return Forever 1998, Ocean 2

Review by Andrea Cortese
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars "...Why are these men shouting? Is the battle lost or won? Now the footsteps of the guards...will my chains be tightened or undone? "

Power and the Passion has been my introduction to the Eloy's discography. Soon a special admiration grew in me. Such a slow, rythmic, spacey experience. It seems all the band's members go on as they are part of a procession. In my opinion these are the feelings that have to catch the attention and the respect by any good proghead in listening to such a music.

The atmosphere opens the imagination of the listener toward vast lands, over the mountains, beyond the horizon, softly caressing the clouds, pleased to admire the forest below that covers the ground as a mantle. A musical trip, indeed. And the opened window of the cover is the key.

The album is a conceptual based opus about a sort of "back to the future" story. The main character is the son of a (mad?) scientist who lives as in a dream, always thinking to his own strange experiments. Suddenly the boy starts to disappears with all his great surprise and anguish. What's going on?

He breaks the times' barriers and return to the year 1358. Then he finds a young lady named Jeanne and starts to talk with her about the respective situations (with a drug party's degression...). "Love Over Six Centuries"is really a great track just slightly ahead the 10 mns. The album's trade mark, in my opinion.

The story goes on through mutiny and imprisonment. Finally the boy reaches the daylight and, with it, he is free again. With the help of a zany magician he obtain to return back home...to the bells of Notre Dame's sound. Alone, though.

Organ, moog synthesizer, mellotron, electric and grand pianos are always present and have the most important role here. Bass guitar also takes the scene. Frank Bornemann's electric guitar just whisper with elegance. It is strange but in "Mutiny" (9 mns) I thought to hear some Shadow's references on the electric guitar (yes, that Shadows, the band of the sixties!!). Maybe the trip has gone too far and is going to have a bad effect on me!

Review by Joolz
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Power And Passion represents something of a transition phase for Eloy, the 'missing link' between earlier heavy Hammond-and-guitar driven power-Prog and the ethereal Space Rock that typified succeeding albums. The Uriah Heep sound is still in evidence here, but with a more varied sound palette from a wider range of classic keyboards [especially Mellotron], a greater sense of 'symphonic' song and theme development than before, and an appearance of the hypnotic blissed-out grooves typical of Ocean [1977]. The result is an album that is enjoyable, but overall doesn't quite gel.

As always with Eloy, memorable melodies are not really on the agenda, and there has to be a caveat concerning Bornemann's distinctive vocals and obtuse lyrics. His singing of English lyrics in a very strong German accent and in a monotonous, almost tuneless, manner is very much an acquired taste! That aside, there is some great music here, even if the accusation of being derivative is not entirely unfounded - to Uriah Heep and Deep Purple we can now add Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd!

The album tells the story of Jamie, son of a mad scientist, who accidentally swallows a 'tardis' drug that sends him back in time to 1358 in Paris where he meets and falls in love with a girl called Jeanne, gets embroiled in a peasant uprising, is imprisoned and finally finds his way back to the 20thC to ponder his sense of loss for Jeanne and how little the world has changed in 600 years. The point of Bornemann's story is that humans have made great strides forwards in technology, but little in the way of relationships and humanity: the focus may have shifted, but the world remains full of greed, suppression and exploitation. The story is told in a literal and simplistic manner, barely touching the philosophical aspects. Neither is there any attempt at illustration in musical terms.

Musically, Power And Passion is a mixture: the two 'time travel' songs - Journey Into 1358 and Back Into The Present - are old style rock work-outs; Mutiny is a changeable long track with some excellent Mellotron and organ touches but is otherwise unremarkable; Imprisonment and Thoughts Of Home are simple reflective ballads; Daylight gets into a groove of sorts but is rather bitty; and The Zany Magician crosses a terrific gritty guitar riff with The Who's Uncle Ernie from Tommy!

Love Over Six Centuries is the first of two exceptional tracks, moving effortlessly from gentle chiming guitars, bass groove and heavy riffing to a classic Eloy space-groove telling the stories of Jamie and Jeanne. Beginning predictably with bells, The Bells Of Notre Dame sets up a reflective languid mood with Mellotron and guitar, gradually building towards a crescendo with some fine guitar work and strong backing. Both songs are examples of Eloy at their spacey best.

Overall, it's a good album giving hints of the direction the band would follow, and the last before upheavals would see a new line-up emerge. Bornemann's music may not have won awards for originality, but he adopted, adapted, developed and perfected his chosen styles over time. Power And Passion is at an early stage of the change process and should be approached with caution by anyone expecting full-on space-trips.

Review by hdfisch
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars PATP has been Eloy's first concept album and it marked a shift in their sound from psychedelic space rock as demonstrated on Inside/Floating into more bombastic symphonic territory. The story behind this album is actually not really an interesting but rather mawquish one about some time-travelling romance but those were the days of fantasy themes in Prog. The music is accordingly quite overblown as well and moves between bombastic synthesizer tunes and Hammond/guitar dominated hard rock sound. Side one of the original vinyl is still the better with the spheric "Mutiny" being one of the few highlights of this album. The melancholic "The Bells of Notre Dame" closing side two might be the other one. But most of the remaining tracks on here are offering solid, not really bad but as well not terrific and rather mediocre symphonic Prog in the shadow of names like Pink Floyd, Camel and Mike Oldfield. Significantly the band dissolved soon after the release and Bornemann would find a complete new line-up for the following albums which would be in the same style presented here just done much better. This one here might be interesting for some people liking lush and bombastic symphonic prog but for this I'd rather recommend their later albums like Dawn, Ocean or Planets. Quite good, but not really an essential Eloy - album!
Review by b_olariu
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Because Eloy is one of my first bands that i descovered in prog and soon one of my fav, i deicided to write another review about this great band from '70. Power and the passion is very good, soft ambient spacey progressive rock album, with some heavy symphonic pieces. This album marks an era in the band's career where they decided to record a more sophisticated brand of spacy prog, then on previous albums, and they succeded in every way. With this one 'till Time to run they develop outstanding albums, with catchy and long keys parts so they reached a high level in prog, just my opinion. So, Eloy are probably Germany's foremost prog band and this shows why. It's a concept album about time travelling with sometime slow rythm, the keyboards are rather floating, mostly consisting in organ, piano, clavinet and mellotron, the guitar is rather aggresive, but good, and the solos are fantastic like on Jouney Into 1358, super track. In the end i can only add that is a 3 star album, from this one they start to get on the top of prog.

Review by ZowieZiggy
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars 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".

Review by kenethlevine
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog-Folk Team
2 stars In retrospect, it would seem that "Floating" was something of a purge for Eloy, a divesting of that love for extended jams if not downright improvisation. While "Power and the Passion" is not a total change of direction, it does signal, particularly from a songwriting perspective, an intention to produce more serious conceptual material and to rein in the wild horses if you will.

While organ is still prominent, and the work of Luitjen Janssen and Fritz Randow remains an Eloy trademark, we actually get some mellotron here and there, Bornemann's solos are slightly less frenetic, and even on the longest cuts, there is a sense that the band may have rehearsed their parts more than once or twice. Speaking of rehearsals, this album almost seems like a practice run for what would become "Dawn" under the next incarnation, although it is somewhat doubtful that this lineup would have been willing to go all out with such a majestic concept.

In the end, though, the compositions just don't rate, the melodies are tentative, and the use of Jethro Tull as blueprint no longer works in this incarnation: a higher power must be summoned, in the nature of the symphonic/space prog giants. It all sounds decent but the lack of real highlights depresses the rating for me. "Power and the Passion" simply lacks in both, and is of value only as a blueprint for what was to come.

Review by Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars I guess you could call this a transitional album as they start to get away from the harder edge that was on "Inside" and "Floating" to a more spacey soundscape that would define them, beginning with the next album "Dawn". This would be their first concept album as well, a story about a guy named Jamie who time travells back in time (fortunately he brought his bag of weed) and meets a girl (gets her high), gets thrown in jail, meets a wizard, then comes back home (for more weed). Each song is about a different adventure he experiences.

"Introduction" opens with what sounds like church organ and heavy drums as vocal melodies come in. "Journey Into 1358" opens with reserved vocals and floating organ. Guitar and piano come in gently. It picks up a minute in as lots of organ and drums are featured in this uptempo section. "Love Over Six Centuries" is lyrically where Jamie meets Jeanne and gets her stoned. The music features male and female vocals going back and forth as they converse. This is laid back although it kicks in before 3 minutes with some great organ. Love the guitar after 8 minutes too.

"Mutiny" features fragile vocals, piano and background synths early. It's building though after a minute. Organ and drums come in.The guitar 2 1/2 minutes only adds to the fantastic sound here. Nice synth work 4 minutes in.The organ, vocals and guitar are all outstanding 5 minutes in to the end. "Imprisonment" opens with the samples of a prison door opening and closing. Spoken words follow. Synths before 1 1/2 minutes then acoustic guitar. "Daylight" is a catchy tune. I like the guitar. Nice organ before 2 minutes. "Thoughts Of Home" is a short one minute track with reserved vocals. It's like an intro to "The Zany Magician" which kicks into gear right away with riffs as vocals yell and laugh in the background. "Back Into The Present" has a spacey intro before drums come pounding in. This is uptempo with vocals and some good guitar. "The Bells Of Notre Dame" features floating organ sounds early. Vocals before 2 minutes. Guitar after 4 minutes plays lazily but then starts to soar beautifully.

Still worth 4 stars in my opinion, but not as good as the two before it and the ones to follow.

Review by Easy Livin
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin
4 stars Moving forward by going back

Following the enjoyable but artistically static "Floating" (even the band themselves recognised they had not progressed), Eloy took a major leap into the unknown and recorded their first concept album. For the recording of "The Power and the passion", the line up was strengthened through the addition of second lead guitarist Detlef Schwaar. The diversity of the band was also enhanced through the purchase of a mellotron and synthesiser for Manfred Wieczorke to master.

The story on which the album is based is of a young boy who is transported back in time to the 14th century. There he discovers that the problems faced in the 20th century are essentially are those which have plagued man throughout the ages.

Musically, there is a welcome degree of refinement here. While "Inside" and "Floating" displayed fine heavy prog credentials, they were short on subtlety. Here, the enhanced keyboard collection is used to provide softer layers on which much stronger melodies are built. The solos too are more varied, rather than simply relying on alternating Hammond organ and lead guitar.

After the brief "Introduction" and the scene setting "Journey into 1358", the first of the feature tracks is "Love over six centuries". This well structured10 minute piece moves between soft passages and heavier organ driven sections. The arrangement here is representative of the album as whole, in that it has a level of sophistication which confirms that Eloy are once again moving forward. Mary Davis adds some effective female spoken word to the conversational section of the track.

The following track, "Mutiny", runs to over 9 minutes. Once again, here we are treated to some diverse keyboard sounds, the sometimes retro spacey effects being offset by some powerful passages. This track in particular reminds me of Home's "The alchemist" album. "Imprisonment" is the softest, most emotional piece recorded by the band up to this point. The symphonic mellotron and distorted vocals support lyrics of quiet despair.

"Daylight" soon picks things up again, the highlight being a Ken Hensley like Hammond solo. The brief interlude commentary "Thoughts of home" leads to quite the most absurd track on the album. "The zany magician" sounds like Arthur Brown has wandered in with his Crazy world, insane laughter et al. "Back into the present" maintains the pace, with a Uriah Heep like dash through a more rock orientated piece. The opening peel of bells and introductory mellotron on "The bells of Notre dame" once again remind me of "The alchemist". The track closes the album with great beauty.

In all, a major step forward for Eloy. There are times during the album where the ambition seems to run ahead of the talent, but the overall results are highly enjoyable, making for the band's best album to date.

The remastered version of the album released in 2000 has one bonus track, a remix of the album's final track "The bells of Notre dame". The lead guitar on this version is noticeably superior, and the mix brings out the majesty of the track in full. Its placement right after the original version though is unfortunate, as both have their appeal and should not be set against each other in this way.

Review by Bonnek
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
2 stars With Power and the Passion Eloy makes a change to more symphonic material, with epic storytelling and much more emphasis on the vocals. They forgot one thing though. In order to make that work you need a strong vocalist to front the band. And that is not exactly the case with Eloy.

The vocals are by far the weakest part of the whole Eloy endeavor and while that didn't bother me much on the two preceding albums, all of their future output suffers in quality because of them. Just as on Ocean all the talking and whiny whispering seriously distracts from the musical qualities. Also the heavy German accent is far from charming in this context.

But the music isn't always as memorable and sure not as passionate as on Inside or Floating. It's all too strained and formulaic to come alive, as if the band was trying to follow some sort of symphonic rock songwriting pattern. The result generally sounds dull and uninspired. Easily their weakest album from their 70ties output.

Review by octopus-4
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
4 stars I can't say that this is the best Eloy's album, but it's the one that conquered me to their music. If it wasn't for the strong Gernan accent of Frank Bornemann, one of the few singers that can be compared to Bryan Josh (and both excellent guitarists), this album would be close to be a masterpiece.

First of all it's a concept album about time-travel. The old Uriah Heep flavour is finally gone. The first two short songs are original and a good introduction to the concept, but it's "Love Over Six Centuries" that makes the difference. It's very floydian but without being a clone. If the musical theme can be compared to the Pink Floyd, the sounds are totally different. The clean guitar, the weird organ and the bass sound more Krautrock. There's a little remind to UH in the organ solo, then the slow organ and bass part with the voice of Mary Davis-Smith is Floydian in the sense of Careful With That Axe. Instead of Waters' cry there's a high- pitched scream of Bornemann. The closure performed by a guitar riff is not as psychedelic as the Floyd's track. Eloy have always been more interested in heavy prog than in psychedelia.

The story proceeds with "Mutiny" that starts slowly on the same chords of the previous track so to give it continuity, then evolves to rock thanks to organ and bass.

After the two longest tracks of the album there's a sequence of six short songs with a bit of folky elements. They can be seen as parts of a single suite even if there's gap between them. Just listen to how "Daylight" follows "Imprisonment". "Thoughts of Home" breaks the continuity, but "The Zany Magician" with that hard rock guitar and organ follows it smoothly. This is the hardest moment of the album, closer to Black Sabbath than to Uriah Heep, even remaining a piece of heavy prog.

"Back Into the Present" anticipates the end of the story. It has an unusual rhythm and I think is quite similar to Boris the Spider (The Who) even with no growl. Very nice song anyway.

"the Bells of Notre Dame" is the closeure track. After some bells the organ opens a slow and dark song, on which Bornemann's voice doesn't sound too bad. The ascending sequence of chords is one of the most used in prog music, but it's always good. It flows slowly to the album's end.

After Floating this album represents another step forward and as its predecessor I think it deserves 4 stars.

Review by Tarcisio Moura
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars Oh, Well, I remember when I first heard this album in the late 70´s.And it reminded me of everything I thought it was wrong with prog at the time: overblown, pretentious, with bad lyrics and a story not well developed. Yes, I was too harsh. Several years later I got the CD and today it doesn´t sound that bad. However, I tend to agree with Kenneth Levine´s review. Eloy was not ready for such undertaken. They would soon prove they could tackle greater concepts like they did on Dawn and Ocean, but clearly on Power And The Passion they were still too green.

Of course there are good moments on this CD, specially on the instrumental side, with some fine Hammond Organ runs provided by the talented Manfred Wieczorke, who by the way added other keyboard instruments here like mellotron and synths to his sounds pallette. Luitjen Janssen´s bass work and Fritz Randow drumming are also of note, but the faulty and tentative compositions didn´t help much. And if the story was not original and hardly well developed, the lyrics were lame, definitly. Sometimes downright embarassing like on The Zany Magician which seemed to be written by an eight year old kid. And they were made even worse by the heavy accent of Frank Bornemann´s vocals. He was still leaning heavily on Jethro Tull for the vocal lines and even for some of the song structures.

Although I think Eloy was an essential band for the German rock scene in general, and the prog one in particular, there is no denying that they took some time to find their own sound and style. And this CD was another step into that way, albeit not really that succesful. I rather hear Inside and Floating than Power And The Passion, even today. this is not a good starting point to get to know this great group.

Review by Sinusoid
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars I know Eloy through two different albums thus far; their spacey, synthy conceptual OCEAN and their earlier, edgier hard-psych-organ rock FLOATING. POWER AND THE PASSION sounds very much like a hybrid of the two styles. Coming after the FLOATING album, the keyboard pallette is greatly expand to include prog favourites like the mellotron, the synth and even a few piano moments here and there. From what I understand, this is Eloy's first crack at a conceptual record (it feels like it) and it's the first with the now famous band logo (thinking of Yes?).

Too much of the record is hit and miss. Frank Bornemann's vocals are seen as a typical problem to many listeners; he doesn't interject too much vocally (as I hear it), but enough to drive some listeners nuts. The keyboards are the most noticeable item in the band as their textures are what really drive the album despite a few Squire-lines on bass and some lead guitar lines not far from Gilmour's. The overall compositions are much tighter and more focused, so those in line with the symphonic tastes ought to be thrilled with what Eloy has done here. But I for one loved the jams on FLOATING and I don't get that here.

The highlight track is ''Love Over Six Centuries'' as it is the track that most closely harkens to FLOATING. It starts off quietly until the bass picks it up after Frank stops singing. The Hammond coming in not long after that puts a capper on the piece in amazing fashion only to be followed by background music to needless dialogue. ''Mutiny'' is the other notable piece for its length and slightly altering structure, but I can't get into it until the march rhythm at the end. The second side is nearly anonymous with only the fast paced ''Daylight'' breaking through the ice. ''Back to the Present'' is a standard 50's rock-and-roll tune, something I never expected Eloy to do.

The concept really isn't doing the job for me, but the slightly raw production actually gives PatP a certain charm (I will admit OCEAN is an overproduced thing). It's more of a training ground for Eloy's future into conceptual works, something that would give Eloy more respect in the symphonic section of the prog rock world.

Review by Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars A heavy, bass-driven sympho-space rock opera, The Power and the Passion is Eloy's first concept album and tells the tale of a mad scientist's son who is projected back in time to the medieval era and falls in love there. Aside from the occasional misstep like The Zany Magician, and the fact that the first few tracks drag a little, this is a competent enough album with Luitjen Janssen's amazing bass lines powering the compositions much as Lemmy's bass did with Hawkwind. The weak point in the chain is Frank Bornemann's sloppy vocals, but aside from that this is an interesting transitional album for the group which would set the stage for more polished later works drawing equally from the space rock and symphonic wells.
Review by SouthSideoftheSky
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Team
3 stars Proto-Eloy

Even if this was their fourth album, Eloy had yet to find their own musical identity at this point in their long career. They would go on to do so with their next album, Dawn. In comparison, Power And The Passion was still a little bit immature. Rather heavy and full of Hammond organ, the music found here is actually more similar to Deep Purple (In Rock) and Uriah Heep (Look At Yourself) than to the Symphonic Prog of Eloy's own later albums. One can also detect hints of early 70's Pink Floyd and a bit of early Jethro Tull. As such, fans of Proto-Prog and heavy, Psychedelic Rock might love this album. But for fans of Eloy's later albums this is bound to sound somewhat dated and unoriginal.

While this is indeed good music, it is without much of Eloy's characteristic sound that they were yet to develop. The rudiments of what was to come can be vaguely be perceived here, especially when the mellotron is present, but it is still hard to deny that Eloy as we know them begun first with the next album.

Good, but certainly not essential

Review by AtomicCrimsonRush
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
5 stars "Power and the Passion" is another concept album for Eloy that surfaced at the peak of prog rock's domination in the mid 70s. The concept is as usual highly based on searching for an answer and travelling to a mystical land or the future to finds the answers, via a drug induced hallucinatory experience.

It begins with 'Introduction' that is a cathedral organ instrumental and this flows seamlessly into 'Journey into 1358'. This begins softly and then the tempo speeds up with fast paced organ phrases and Bornemann singing over a driving drum and bass rhythm.

The next movement of this suite of songs is 'Love over Six Centuries' with acoustics and gentle vocals. The track is 10 minutes and flows in a variety of directions; a bassline locks into a groove as a synth solos over. The staccato Hammond blasts at 2:40 are sensational with fuzz guitar riffs. It all pulls back then into tranquil ambience with sustained key pads and spoken dialogue; "my name is Jamie and mine is a strange story, one of which even I don't fully understand, my father is a scientist and he's been experimenting with time eroding drugs". Then he goes to the future, meets Jeanne who begins to tell her story, about a man who rules with an iron hand and an arranged marriage by her father. "Well, I see we've both got our problems," observes Jamie. Then they take some drugs together and Jeanne sees a sunset with psychedelic colours, and she ceases to worry. It really emulates the LSD experience and is quite blatant in that regard but quite compelling nevertheless.

The next part in the journey is 'Mutiny', another lengthy track of 9 minutes, with layers of synth. It builds with marching percussion and wonderful organ phrases along some haunting melodies. The music is powerful, sweeping and emotional, augmented by the lead guitar break. The pace shifts into a fast shuffling rhythm and some impressive keyboards and a jangling guitar. The vocals return to continue the estranged storyline. Jamie vows to protect Jeanne his beloved, "against the hated iron hands, they're uniting, They're backed by everyone in town, And I must ride to beat them down, how they're fighting, But I understand their cause, To fight against the laws, they're right, I promised to defend your father to the end and fight."

Next is 'Imprisonment', a sad ballad where Jamie cries out from his prison cell after being incarcerated for his mutinous ways. The lyrics are simply carrying the story through to the more elaborate tracks; "I know the feeling of rejection, To be imprisoned for no crime, So God please take me out of here, You are my one hope at this time." The guards come to release him and it moves to 'Daylight'. The lyrics state; "Living can be easy if you take life in your stride, I see new horizons push my loneliness aside." Now the protagonist is freed from his captives the tempo becomes faster again and the musicianship brighter, especially some exceptional guitar work that interplays with organ embellishments.

'Thoughts of Home' begins with Clavinet and a gentle vocal expresses that he will delve into magic to find his way home. This leads into the blistering guitar and Hammond crunches of 'The Zany Magician'. A role play of a nasty magic man ensues with an echoed manic delivery; "You'll forget where you've been, Forget what you've seen, You won't feel a thing, you just, Drink it all down, your heart will pound, See you around." So the protagonist is under the spell and we move onto "Back into the Present". The swirling syths and spacey effects represent the journey home, then a bright rock song strikes up. The vocals are multi tracked and some very trippy melodies dominate. This feels like a vintage psychedelic sound with mindblowing lead breaks and happy Hammond bursts. Jamie says people won't believe what he's seen so he goes to a disco with flashing lights to clear his thoughts and unwind.

A tolling bell intros the final piece of the puzzle, 'The Bells of Notre Dame' and this is followed by tranquil synth pads. The soft vocals infuse the sound and some enigmatic lyrics; "The world seems to start outside of my body, I don't know what I feel, In these four hallowed walls, The peal of the bells remind me, Of my journey through time." The remix of this song is similar but has some clearer varied musical interludes.

At the end of this journey one is left with some fascinating ideas that are encased in incredible musicianship. The concept may come across as convoluted in places, but Eloy make it work somehow such is the conviction of their sprawling vision. It all seems to makes sense and the major source of joy of this album is the way it seamlessly flows from one idea to the next. This is Eloy at their most innovative and it would not be the last time they would venture into high concept as "Dawn" follows, with an even more complex storyline. It is an ambitious project but I admire how Eloy come up with one staggering album after another, brimming over with innovation. Many of the ideas on the album, the meeting of characters, the journey, the spoken dialogue and the musical dialogue between tracks signifying key scenes, has been done before of course, but this is still a highly inventive and refreshing approach to the medium. I am in awe of how brilliant this band is; a true revelation of symphonic prog, and yet again creating a masterpiece album in 1975.

Review by Einsetumadur
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars 6/15P.: Forty minutes of well-arranged boredom from Lower Saxony, always on the ridge between decent psychedelia and school band lyricism, marred further by bad vocals. At least the band has a distinct way of paying tribute to their British heroes.

Oh well. Digging in the paternal record collection is pretty exciting, but as soon as you reach the CDs which have lain in the shelf unopened since the 1980s you know that, given that your father's records are otherwise in accordance with your own taste, you won't find a masterpiece there.

I've got a particularly early CD reissue of this album which seems to be from 1988 - it's unbelievable that it's almost 30 years since the first audio CDs were sold (ABBA's The Visitors, Oldfield's Crises etc.). Anyway, the first thing I saw of this album was, in capital letters, HAHAHAHAHA in the paperfold booklet.

Connaisseurs of this band know from which song this quotation is taken. Yes, it's The Zany Magician. In this song a magician shouts some phrases halfway between the content of a Grimm fairytale and of an English schoolbook for young German pupils. One quotation? The wings of a bat, the blood of a cat, the skin of a rat, it does taste nice. So that's the recipe. Some disgusting parts of animals thrown together. Pretty inventive, ain't it? Or try another verse: This is the brew, try it it's new. And then the magician laughs again. And this laughing is acted awfully, on top of a stomping flimsy Uriah Heep rhythm which should sound heavy. Standard power chords, a standard rhythm, and a bad actor. That's it. Seems like it's time to rhetorically ask for the zero star button again.

Perhaps you should know the basic plot of the album to understand why this magician actually appears. A youngster from the 20th century with a spliff in his pocket timetravels to the Paris of the 14th century, meets a girl and smokes a doobie with her. He gets imprisoned after he is in some way involved in a people's revolution, then wants to return to his home again and finds a magician who gives him a drink which returns him into the 20th century - leaving the girl from the 14th century behind.

It's a cute story, a typical time travelling story with heavy influences of Mark Twain's great novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, but none of the band members was a great English writer, and none of them was a great philosopher either. For instance in Love over Six Centuries the girl from the 14th century replies oh what a beautiful feeling, everything shimmers in the twilight when she smokes her first joint - until the 20th century guy aloudly proclaims that he must find a way how to bridge the time, or something like that. You know by now that this album features by far more style than substance, yes, and it's an awfully pretentious concept as well, but it's authentic. You could ask yourself which young musician from the Germany of the 1970s didn't think about smoking weed, travelling through time and reflecting the dictatorship-democracy problem of the Middle Ages - and most importantly the question how to become as big as David Gilmour.

This album surely didn't make Bornemann a German Gilmour. The lead guitar, present in the lengthy Mutiny, doesn't trouble me, but it's at most mediocre and lackluster. Frank Bornemann was much better on Inside and Ocean, but this time it just won't work. Bass guitar and drums are much better, but still quite conventional, mostly doing the standard Teutonic 6/8 signature all the time. This mixture of hymnic melodies and this fastly galloping 6/8 rhythm was typical of Eloy, and many of the Nordic metal bands still do the same stuff, that's why I give this rhythm that name. But Manfred Wieczorke's keyboards are the special ingredient which gives this album a certain charme; he's a big fan of string machines, and the analogue waves rushing by are nice to listen to. Mutiny is actually the track on this album which allows the most unspoiled listening pleasure. At 2:13 the band even creates some tension, ending up in the aforementioned guitar solo, creating new tension at 3:10 and then finishing that part with a tasty Moog solo on top of some muscular bass work. The Bells of Notre Dame tries to be a rousing finale, but it fails. It's got the slow rhythm, and it's got the reverberated guitar ending, but it cannot live up to the expectations one has when a band sets up such a large scale concept album.

Love over Six Centuries is doubtlessly the most successful effort of creating atmosphere on this album: a hypnotic drum rhythm, a monotonous bass loping around and lots of string synths and Rick Wright-like Moog soloing on the top. But this track is marred severely by the stoned dialogue of the guy and the girl about the landlord, smoking pot, time-eroding drugs and that stuff - and this dialogue is spilled all over these 10 minutes. The dialogue makes sense in the context of the story, but it shifts the good music in the background. The first 3 minutes however are the artistic peak of this album; the snotty vocal delivery by Bornemann is quite cool, the organs float and shimmer and the guitar is convincing. Still I wonder why two guitarists contribute to the album when you never hear more than just one more or less decent guitar. After all the promising music all possibly created atmosphere is destroyed in the end when Bornemann tries to cry like David Byron or Ian Gillan - there simply is no excuse for such a misstep. You need to have an extraordinarily strong voice to sing in this screaming or crying style convincingly.

Interestingly the other short tracks are often quite decent. The pompous Introduction is acceptable with the fanfares of Hammond organ and unexpected Gregorian vocalizations by Bornemann which turn out well, whilst Daybreak is entirely copied from a riff in the beginning of Eloy's decent epic Land of No Body (2:33) from the previous album. But the melody of Journey into 1358 stays in your head for some hours when you listen to it, and just singing on top of the string machine Bornemann's vocals are quite acceptable. For the first time there's this Teutonic galloping rhythm entering at 1:04. Imprisonment (with really good Leslie rhythm guitar!) and Thoughts of Home are more reflective, the latter with some clavinet thrown in for good measure, and they - unlike most of the other tunes - might even be worth a 3 star rating. Back Into The Present is okay, but the band seemingly cannot cope with this fast rhythm. And in this piece you really notice how flat-chested the drum sound is. Perhaps the remaster has changed something about that, but I don't think so.

All in all this album is a huge disappointment after the devastating power of Eloy's Inside album. The Emerson, Lake & Palmer-like bombast and lyrical pseudo-demand just didn't fit in with Eloy at that time. With Klaus Schmidtchen on keyboards and lyricist Jürgen Rosenthal on drums it worked out better on the following albums, albeit still with audible faults which in the end kept the band from international stardom and sustained recognition.

Anyway you don't need to get this album. The nice ideas are rendered in a nearly unlistenable way, with all of these strangely bumpy English formulations, the accent-laden and unexpressive vocals as well as the progressive rock cliches which appear in all of the songs. Two stars overall, a worse rating would be unfair due to the nice ideas and good keyboard sounds present on the whole album.

Review by Menswear
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Eloy is growing.

This album is not as good as what's to come later, but still higher than lots of stuff released in the same year. I like the part where the boy shares wacky tobacky with the girl, the melody behind is hypnotic and serves well the chemically induced moment.

Eloy is showing here their future path: concepts albums with voice acting, more keyboards, spacier moments and such. It took me more time to like it, but I'm still happy to have it. Be reassured, even if this record is the weakest of their glorious period, it still contains all the elements that made the later albums soooo good.

A story about Time-Eroding Drugs (*snicker). Classic.

Review by apps79
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars As concept albums were in fashion among Prog Rock acts of the 70's, Eloy's Frank Bornemann did not want to stay out of the game.Based on Gordon Bennit's scripts, the band invented a story about a character named Jamie, who took advantage of his father experiments and travelled through time, landing in Paris of 1358 and living a love story with a girl named Jeanne, who was suffering in the hands of the evil Zany Magician.It is rumored Eloy originally worked on a double-vinyl release, eventually ''Power and the Passion'' was released on Harvest during the second half of the 70's as a single LP.The album was recorded at Tonstudio Nedeltschev in Cologne during the summer of the same year, while Eloy had added another guitarist in the line-up, Detlev Schwaar.

Not only ''Power and the Passion'' was a new trend for the band regarding its concept story, but musically it finds the Germans in a rather transitional period.Of course the first few tracks present Eloy in their already familiar style of Heavy/Kraut Rock, based on the fiery riffs and the excellent organ moves, adding a bit of a Classical influence in some moments, and always highlighted by Bornemann's rusty voice.As the album and the story unfolds a new side of the group is progressively unleashed.The longer tracks feature extended Space/Symphonic Rock instrumentals with narrations and prominent use of synthesizers, delivering cosmic explorations and unique atmospheres.In the name of the concept the album develops a mix of old and new Eloy styilings, blending heavy parts with an organic sound with more psychedelic soundscapes, serving the mood of the concept.Wieczorke is credited a Mellotron in the album's notes, but ear experts insist on hearing a string synth instead, whatever it is its addition makes the sound of Eloy more dark and ethereal in the place of the more bombastic Hammond organ.The new elements do not stop here, grand and electric piano are also introduced with the sweet ''Thoughts Of Home'' being a nice example, though it much more resembles to a Horner clavinet.There are pretty nice changes, depending on the character and event each track refers to, with ''The Bells of Notre Dame'' being an absolutely great closing piece, featuring a spacey, orchestral approach based on string synthesizer and Bronermann's psychedelic guitars leading to a developing, grandiose outro, as our character Jamie returns back to present with the nostalgic sound of the bells reminding of his beloved Jeanne.

A very good attempt from Eloy in the concept fields.The new sound of the group is quite enganging with impressive shifts between hypnotic, storytelling lines and sharp Heavy Prog runs.Strongly recommended, even if you love the elder Eloy offerings...3.5 stars.

Review by Modrigue
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Fourth studio album by ELOY, "Power And The Passion" is their first true concept album, with continuous track flow. It also marks a slight musical shift to the progressive symphonic and space rock genres. The songs are heterogeneous and contains many variations. Frank Bornemann gradually emancipates from his initial influences, however you can still hear shades of DEEP PURPLE by moments. To sum up, the music can be described as a mix of space, symphonic and early 70's hard rock.

The first half alternates slow and fast passages.The record opens with a short organ introduction, to then reveals a catchy galoping guitar in "Journey To 1358". For the first time, PINK FLOYD's influence can be clearly heard on an ELOY composition. On the contrary, "Love Over Six Centuries" is rather monotonous and too long. With its numerous variations, "Mutiny" is undoubtly the most remarkable track of the album, while "Imprisonment" is slow and sleepy. The lifely "Daylight" wakes you up.

"Thoughts Of Home" is a pleasant clavinet transition, introduction for "The Zany Magician", the most surprising passage of the disc. It features a heavy/doom metal riff in the style of BLACK SABBATH! "Back Into The Present" is a pleasant hard rock tune. The disc finishes with the sweet spacey "The Bells Of Notre-Dame", which is a bit too long, but has a nice finale.

Although "Power And The Passion" contains some lengthy passages, it offers convincing various ambiances and inspired guitar moments. A good transitional album, and one of the bests from ELOY's first era. Recommended to space-rock and symphonic progressive fans.

Review by Seyo
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars What could be more appropriate for a band calling themselves after a humanoid race from the SF classic - H.G. Welles' "Time Machine" - than to dedicate their first concept album to a theme of time travel!? As many previous reviewers already noticed, PATP sounds like a transitional album for ELOY. As heavy rocking PURPLE/HEEP elements began to wane, more atmospheric spacey FLOYD-ian influences as well as some hints of symphonic prog found their way in helping to forge a recognisably ELOY sound. In contrast to previous albums, a plethora of keyboard instruments are dominant here while guitar parts seem to focus more on the particular solo elements and accentuating certain parts of compositions. This is also the first album that carried a distinctive ELOY logo. And another difference from previous efforts, PATP contains even 10 tracks of varying duration, although being a "concept" work all of these could be considered as parts or movements of a single unified work. Now, how pleasurable to listen is all of that? A mixed bag, I would say. The lengthy "Love Over Six Centuries" and "The Bells of Notre Dame" are the best moments for me, being mostly done in an atmospheric spacey style with slow growing sensation, excellent rhythm section and tasteful keyboards. Another fine moment is a dark and menacing, almost metallic texture of "The Zany Magician". All the remaining tracks are much less convincing. "Mutiny" offers some good guitar and bass sequences but otherwise drags a bit too long. The fourth ELOY album is again a decent effort and it seems the band finally found their unique blend of psychedelic/space rock and symphonic sound, but it would take another album or two to perfect it.

Latest members reviews

3 stars The start of the album suggests that the band developed since 1974. Finally, the keyboard arsenal is enriched and we don't hear the organ only. Piano and Moog/Mellotron can be heard. Compositions can be more restrained and polished but in its core, it's still hard rock with dominating guitar ... (read more)

Report this review (#2954403) | Posted by sgtpepper | Tuesday, September 26, 2023 | Review Permanlink

5 stars Review #2! Early Eloy is often unfairly overlooked. Their 'Power and the Passion' is in my mind comparable to 'Ocean'. The album starts with 'Introduction', a nice little one-minute intro to this record. This bleeds into 'Journey Into 1358', which introduces you to the main character of this ... (read more)

Report this review (#2901725) | Posted by Boi_da_boi_124 | Saturday, March 25, 2023 | Review Permanlink

3 stars This is an atmospheric album, but I would generally call it "poor man's prog"... I remember, around 34 years ago, when Eloy came to my country and this album became an "icon" for local prog fans. I believe this was the first ever concert by a foreign prog band in this country (people from my coun ... (read more)

Report this review (#1225980) | Posted by psychprog1 | Tuesday, July 29, 2014 | Review Permanlink

4 stars Since Power And The Passion, Eloy definitively became what we all used to think it really is. Though the keyboards domination had not yet become as obvious as in late 1970s, organ/synth layers apparently started to prevail over guitar passages. The album has a lot of really brilliant moments... but ... (read more)

Report this review (#1007201) | Posted by proghaven | Sunday, July 28, 2013 | Review Permanlink

5 stars My favourite Eloy album. A journey to Middle Ages with a fantastic music conception. Great bass and drums and some beautiful guitar and keiboards parts, made a great album with different musical pieces and sequenced. the choice of sounds was very happy and balanced. Very calm, not really epic ... (read more)

Report this review (#751271) | Posted by João Paulo | Wednesday, May 9, 2012 | Review Permanlink

3 stars This album never was my favorite. There are some nice moments here, but mostly I don't really like it. Here's why: The stoner-part, with smoking marihuana never really touched me. I'm not a smoker and I experience music on an other level. So no stoner-music for me. The production is really a ... (read more)

Report this review (#331362) | Posted by Kingsnake | Tuesday, November 23, 2010 | Review Permanlink

4 stars "Power and the Passion" is a concept album, all songs are tied together in chronological order, fixing a story. The story goes like this: The protagonist, a young man disappointed by the problems that he and all other people face then (mid `70's), travels into time (back to 1358) to medieval G ... (read more)

Report this review (#255691) | Posted by nikosbakas | Saturday, December 12, 2009 | Review Permanlink

4 stars This is a VERY good album by Eloy. I'm probably the only Eloy fan in Illinois right now, haha, but right now, lets get to the review. While this might not be my favorite album by them, this is a VERY good one for sure. It kind of got that real "Prog" kind of music getting to them. The voca ... (read more)

Report this review (#241912) | Posted by Rushlover13 | Monday, September 28, 2009 | Review Permanlink

5 stars At "Power & Passion" we have pure ELOY style, a totally own prog language with its transcendental mood using Hammond-church-"heavy German" organ, from "infinity" mellotron and "ghost" synth sound. At this album no Floyd influence, the mood is more to Gabriel Genesis or sympho prog, but what is ... (read more)

Report this review (#237842) | Posted by Prog_Veteran | Sunday, September 6, 2009 | Review Permanlink

5 stars I've only recently discovered Eloy thanks to the wonders of the internet, and I am completely dumbfounded as to how such a brilliant band can be so obscure (at least in the United States). This album and Dawn have blown my mind. Imagine a band that takes ingredients from Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Ca ... (read more)

Report this review (#178438) | Posted by peskypesky | Tuesday, July 29, 2008 | Review Permanlink

4 stars A very good, soft ambient spacey progressive rock album, with some heavy symphonic pieces. Drum and bass create a very solid, strong rhythm section, that counterpoints the more atmosperic spacey/floating keyboards, with occassional edgy guitar. Great solo-ing throughout the album. The more hea ... (read more)

Report this review (#3182) | Posted by tuxon | Thursday, February 24, 2005 | Review Permanlink

5 stars The impression that lingers after the first listening of this album is that for a concept album the story is rather corny... and it is. Gordon Bennit who wrote the lyrics may disagree here. The intended message is there alright the but plot itself is like that of a low-budget movie. But who care ... (read more)

Report this review (#3171) | Posted by NucDoc | Friday, February 20, 2004 | Review Permanlink

4 stars An excellent album - the concept and some of the narrative is very "off the wall" but suspend your belief and concentrate on the music and this is a great album. Some very classy tracks such as Mutiny - an Eloy timeless classic. ... (read more)

Report this review (#3170) | Posted by | Monday, December 8, 2003 | Review Permanlink

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