INSIDE

Eloy´s second album is such a departure from their first that it´s hard to believe it was released by the same band in such a short time. Well, not really the same band, since Frank Bonnemann was now in charge, and he was the new singer too. Manfred Wieczorke also moved form guitar to organ, and - wow! - does he play that Hammond Organ! The man does a great job in the whole album, his textures are incredible and some of them are really stunning.

Bornemann still had to find his own voice, but he did a quite good work if you consider it was his first experience in that field. He sounded a little too much like Ian Anderson, but he was a much better singer than Wieczorke (who sings on Up and Down, the weakest track, and you can´t really believe his strong german accent, barely acceptable). Anyway, there are lots of great guitar and organ interplay, excellent songwriting, and the rhythm section is very strong.

Highlights are the title track and Future City, a very Jethro Tull kind of song, with some great percussion arrangements that, unfortunatly, were not further exploited. The epic Land Of Nobody also delivers what most bands at the time tried and did not achieve: a convincing side long tune. Very good.

Highly recommended.