ACID IN WOUNDERLAND

The former Eloy members that made up this "band" played a significant role in Eloy's most popular albums; in particular Jurgen Rosenthal was responsible for the concept of "Ocean", widely regarded as their best. Frank Bornemann claimed that it was their large egos which caused them to splinter from the group, which might have contributed to the chosen name. While I believe Eloy produced some of their best albums following the split, this one is no dud.

The style is not really Eloy-ish but more kraut rock with spacey tendencies. I hear Amon Duul II and Kraftwerk for instance, as well as some Hawkwind, such as on the strong opener "01. 7 to 7 or 999 to 99 Hope". Lots of spoken parts and sound effects introduce and interrupt the material and would have been best dispensed with, but perhaps had an important meaning for the writers. For that reason, and because of the percussive keyboard instrumentation on some songs, such as "Godbluff", I am reminded of Jon and Vangelis "Friends of Mr Cairo", but this came first, so I am probably missing a common ancestor. Certainly those sounds also have a very electronic Tangerine Dream like quality, and the album also heralds the 1980s tendency to minimally emotive vocals surrounded by washes of synthesizers, but thankfully here real drums are used. "Asylum" grafts some intelligent pop onto the formula. Ego in the Rocks is keyboard dominated, but the guitars offer strong support with little flash, probably best illustrated on "Hazard". The highly techno synthesized approach is several levels removed from Eloy and as such sounds more dated that the material of the mother group.

Unfortunately, although I have a CD copy, it does not contain bonus tracks so my assessment is based only on the original album, which I find to be a flawed but enjoyable work that can be enjoyed straight up.