Eloy (band)

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Eloy
General information
origin Hanover , Germany
Genre (s) Progressive rock , art rock
founding 1969
Website www.eloy-legacy.com
Founding members
Frank Bornemann
Guitar, keyboard
Manfred Wieczorke
Helmut Draht († 2003)
Wolfgang Stocker
Vocals, piano
Erich Schriever
Current occupation
Guitar, vocals
 Frank Bornemann
Keyboard
 Michael Gerlach
Keyboard
 Hannes Folberth
bass
 Klaus-Peter Matziol
Drums
 Stephan Emig
former members
Drums
 Fritz Randow
Drums
 Jürgen Rosenthal
Drums
 Jim McGillivray
Drums
 Bodo Schopf
Drums
 Kristof Hinz
bass
 Luitjen Jansen († 2008)
guitar
 Detlev Schwaar
guitar
 Steve Mann
Guitar, keyboard
 Hannes Arkona
Keyboard
 Detlev Schmidtchen

Eloy is a German art rock band that was founded in 1969 by Frank Bornemann in Hanover . The name is taken from the H. G. Wells novel The Time Machine , which describes a people called Eloi .

history

Influence on the German rock scene

Eloy was founded as a school band and played their first official concert on April 29, 1970 in the Freizeitheim Ricklingen (Hanover). In the same year the band won a talent competition and was able to release two of their compositions as single on an independent record label . In 1971 they recorded their first long-playing record for the Philips record label in Hamburg . In the 1970s, Eloy became one of the most influential bands on the German rock scene and was also commercially successful. The band made the leap to EMI , one of the big names in the industry, in 1973. The musicians reached the peak of their careers in 1979 with the album Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes . At this time the band played with Frank Bornemann (guitar, vocals), Klaus-Peter Matziol (bass), Detlev Schmidtchen (keyboards) and Jürgen Rosenthal (drums), who also wrote the lyrics.

Success abroad

The albums Inside and Floating were released in the USA by Chess / Janus Records. After all, the music was so successful that Miles Copeland , who also worked for Wishbone Ash and The Police , offered his managerial services. After the label disappeared from the market in 1975, there was no successor who wanted to bring out the band's albums. There were no contractual ties, so that Eloy albums in the USA were only available as imports from now on. Contrary to some reports in the media, Eloy had never given concerts in the United States.

After the unexpectedly great sales success of the album Ocean , the first concerts were given in other European countries. It started while France . In February 1981 a lightning tour of Greece took place. At a total of three concerts in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki , around 14,000 people saw the band live. The musicians were received like superstars and during this time they could be seen many times on Greek television.

In Great Britain in 1982 the record company Heavy Metal Records ( owner Paul Birch) obtained the release rights for the albums Planets and Time to Turn . Both albums received new cover drawings from Rodney Matthews and were also released as picture discs . Also Performance and Metromania were of Heavy Metal Records releases (both as a picture disc). BBC Radio 1 broadcast an Eloy special in 1983, for which four tracks ( On the Verge of Darkening Lights , Fools , Heartbeat , Through a Somber Galaxy ) were re-recorded. In 1984 Eloy gave three concerts in Great Britain: on May 26, 1984 in Jubilee Gardens, South Bank, London (South Bank Festival), and on May 27 and 28 at the Marquee Club , also in London. Both marquee concerts were sold out, a third had to be turned down due to other commitments. Despite the great mutual interest in further concerts in England, the band broke up soon after.

Dissolution, reunification and follow-up projects

Despite the success, they separated at the end of 1979. Two members of the band dedicated themselves to their solo projects. After two new band members had been added, the next LP was recorded in the spring of the following year. Despite a number of crises, which were essentially about turning away from the tried and tested Eloy sound concept, Frank Bornemann was able to consistently represent his line until 1984. After a mini-tour of Great Britain, some of which was recorded by the BBC , and a few concerts in Germany, the group split by 1988.

The following projects were carried out together with many former band members under the direction of Frank Bornemann. Four more studio albums and two compilations were created, mostly with new recordings of the most famous pieces. Around the year 2000 the band announced the end of their live activities on their homepage. Eloy gave the last concert for the time being on December 19, 1998.

Eloy was never officially dissolved, but Frank Bornemann himself described the band's status as "put on hold, probably on ice" in an interview published in 2003. On November 20, 2009, however, a new studio album called Visionary was released . In 2010 the double DVD The Legacy Box was released . In 2011 concerts took place again, including a performance at the Night-of-the-Prog Festival on the Loreley. In July 2011 Eloy performed at the Burg Herzberg Festival . In the spring of 2012, a tour of Germany was planned, which, due to an accident by Frank Bornemann, could not take place until autumn. Because of Bornemann's cold, the concert in Cologne was canceled at short notice and was made up for in January 2013 with a mini tour in Cologne, Bielefeld and Mannheim. In January 2014 the announced CD with the title Reincarnation on Stage! released, a double CD with recordings from the last tour.

A concept album dedicated to Jeanne d'Arc , on which Bornemann worked for 15 years, was released in August 2017 as "The Vision, The Sword And The Pyre (Part 1)".

style

Eloy's music can be assigned to art rock with a strong emphasis on organs and synthesizers . The band's sound changed in the 1970s from spherical to psychedelic krautrock to compositionally expansive, hypnotic-symphonic progressive rock . Later, both straightforward rock and new age elements were added.

The texts are characterized by a strong tendency towards internalization and mystical escapism , often with eschatological themes. The achievements of technical civilization, despite the sometimes futuristic sound, are mostly rated negatively or, as in Power and the Passion, serve as a vehicle “to travel to the Middle Ages and there first of all to have a joint with the love of your life smoke". After all, it is love that is a glimmer of hope in the mystical, dark world of Eloy.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Ocean
  DE 28 02/01/1978 (14 weeks)
live
  DE 35 08/01/1978 (2 weeks)
Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes
  DE 17th 02/26/1979 (14 weeks)
Colors
  DE 28 06/30/1980 (17 weeks)
Time to turn
  DE 38 05/17/1982 (10 weeks)
performance
  DE 65 05/09/1983 (1 week)
Ra
  DE 62 03/21/1988 (1 week)
Reincarnation on Stage
  DE 34 31/01/2014 (2 weeks)
The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre - Part I.
  DE 22nd 09/01/2017 (1 week)
  CH 46 09/03/2017 (1 week)
The Classic Years Trilogy
  DE 45 05/03/2019 (2 weeks)
The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre - Part II
  DE 25th 04/10/2019 (1 week)
  CH 82 06.10.2019 (1 week)

Studio albums

  • 1971: Eloy
  • 1973: Inside
  • 1974: floating
  • 1975: Power and the Passion
  • 1976: Dawn
  • 1977: Ocean
  • 1979: Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes
  • 1980: Colors
  • 1981: Planets
  • 1982: Time to Turn
  • 1983: performance
  • 1984: Metromania
  • 1988: Ra
  • 1992: Destination
  • 1994: The Tides Return Forever
  • 1998: Ocean 2 - The Answer
  • 2009: Visionary
  • 2017: The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre (Part 1)
  • 2019: The Vision, the Sword and the Pyre (Part 2)

Live albums

  • 1978: Live (2 LPs)
  • 2014: Reincarnation on Stage (2 CDs / 3 LPs)

Compilations

  • 1980: Wings of Vision ( Canada )
  • 1991: Rarities (73–84) ( singles and unreleased)
  • 1993: Chronicles 1 (Best of 76–83 / new recordings or remixes from 1993)
  • 1994: Chronicles 2 (Best of 84–92 / new recordings or remixes from 1994)
  • 1994: Best (Best of 73-84, Greece )
  • 1994: The Best of Eloy, Vol. 1: The Early Days 1972-1975
  • 1996: The Best of Eloy, Vol. 2: The Prime 1976-1979
  • 1996: The Best of Eloy, Vol. 1: The Early Days 1972–1975 (US version with two bonus tracks)
  • 2003: Timeless Passages - The Very Best of Eloy
  • 2012: Essential
  • 2019: The Classic Years Trilogy

Music video, VHS and DVD

  • 1971: Music video I Work It Out (amateur video)
  • 1980: Illuminations and Silhouette music videos (tracks from the Colors album ). Production: Klaus Schulze
  • 1997: Live 1994, Munich (small edition fan club VHS with the titles Poseidon's Creation , Generation of Innocence and The Tides Return Forever )
  • 2010: The Legacy Box (double DVD with interviews, TV clips and live performances)
  • 2013: Live Impressions

Other

literature

  • Matthias Blazek: The Lower Saxony Band Compendium 1963-2003 - Data and facts from 100 rock groups from Lower Saxony . Celle 2006, pp. 59-60 ISBN 978-3-00-018947-0 .

Trivia

In 1973, the SDR used music from the LP Inside for its SF radio play Der Indensbehrliche by Horst Zahlten .

In 1980 the WDR used music from the LP Ocean for its TV crime scene Schußfahrt by Wolfgang Staudte .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ eclipsed , No. 51, April 2003.
  2. ↑ Information about Visionary on the official band homepage .
  3. ↑ Reincarnation on Stage! -Announcement
  4. ↑ Chart sources: Germany / Switzerland

Web links