POWER AND THE PASSION

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.