Modrigue
ELOY is mutating
New decade, new line-up. Frank Bornemann and bassist Klaus-Peter Matziol are the only ones remaining and recruit three new members. New decade, new musical evolution. Although keeping its personality, the style is now more concise and accessible. No more long epics and soli, the songs are shortened. More oriented into fantasy and sci-fi, due to the increasing presence of keyboards, ELOY reinvents itself and is now freed from its PINK FLOYD influences. Good point. Once said, "Colours" is a transition album, thus trying new directions and a little unequal. After their seminal two previous albums, the shock can be hard at first listen.
"Horizons" is a soft decent introduction, while "Illuminations" is good direct space-rock song, with a few variations. The following track, "Giant", is rather flat and uninspired. Not to be confounded with the track of the same name on "Rarities", "Child Migration" is clearly the highlight of the album. A spacey synth opening unveiling a heavy rock riff and a a catchy melody. Wow! ELOY hadn't' been this ferocious since "The Zany Magician", five years ago. "Impressions" and "Gallery" are rather odd and cheesy, as well as quite unusual for the German band. On the contrary, despite its classical piano overture, "Silhouette" is more typical of them. The record ends with "Sunset", a pleasant ending track with a spacey western melody.
A short and uneven opus, with very good songs and weaker passages. "Colours" is certainly not the best transition album ever made. However ELOY shouldn't be blamed, and for several reasons. First, at the dawn of the 80's, whereas most 70's progressive bands have collapsed, the musicians manage to offer some original compositions. Second, ELOY tried to renew its style, to better embrace the new decade. Finally, as the FLOYD already mutated at the time, the space-rock genre do not have many representatives anymore, thus leaving the field open for Frank Bornemann and co. to develop their own fantasy-space-prog. This new direct style may not be appreciated by all 70's purists, but it's here.
For these reasons, "Colours" deserves a listen. This is just the beginning of an unexpected second life for ELOY...