Earth & Fire (69), Songs of Marching Children (71), Atlantis (73), To the World of the Future (75), Reality Fills Fantasy (79), Andromeda Girl (81), In a State of Flux (82), Phoenix (83)

Song of the Marching Children is a good King Crimson-influenced Dutch progressive with a big mellotron sound. Led by the Koerts brothers: Chris (guitars) and Gerard (keyboard) and fronted by singer Jerney Kaagman, who vocally resembles Annie Haslam as an alto. Only more powerful--I gather Bjork from the Sugarcubes must have at least heard one Earth And Fire record in her time. :) Some of the shorter songs are pop-prog not unlike Kayak did in their later days, like the (apparently) big European hit "Memories" which leads off the album. The B-side features the 17-minute title track, with some really grand dynamics. The last section (in 5/4) "borrows" from King Crimson's "The Devil's Triangle." My favourite tune: "Storm And Thunder," which starts off with cathedral-like organ, then gradually builds to a lush mellotron climax. To The World Of The Future finds the pop stuff ever poppier, but the progressive stuff getting undescribably weird. The eleven-and-a-half minute title song features seemingly random synth noises, a chanting choir a la Atom Heart Mother, and a delicious Chris Koerts guitar solo. "Voice from yonder" features a voice recorded at a seance within some of the instrumental sections. But this album is very accessible beyond all this gimmicry, "Circus" features powerful Kaagman vocals, and "The Last Seagull" is a pleasant instrumental. The first half of Gate To Infinity is apparently some kind of suite, having something to do with ancient Egypt. "A Princess In Egypt" has more of the chanted vocals that recall "To The World...." "The Joyous Untruth" is a bouncy, guitar-propelled instrumental which sounds not unlike Focus. "Infinity" is a spacy instrumental with an electronically distorted speaking voice near the beginning and a tape-collage/freakout at the end; again reminding of something from To The World.... The side is bookended by the same song with different titles and lyrics. Kaagman's voice is becoming slicker, more pop-soul orientated. The B-side is mostly bland, ABBA-influenced pop music. Unfortunately, that's the direction they would take for subsequent albums. -- Mike Ohman

I think To the World of the Future is the best Earth and Fire album with extensive use of ARP synthesizers besides Hohner clavinet and Fender Rhodes; impressive guitar solo's against massive organ and mellotron walls; the voice of Jerney Kaagman, but not only hers.... -- R. Ton

One of the great Dutch bands that created a very lush progressive in the early seventies with a very distinctive and facsinating female vocalist. All have been just released on Japanese CD and albums like Atlantis show why these guys were ahead of their field. Compare to Sandrose, Analogy or Edge.

Their female vocalist, Jerny Kaagman, has a husky tenor that I just love. The band started out more in the psych vein with progressive overtones, but later came a more developed symphonic style derivative of no one. Organ, mellotron, and guitar are used along with Kaagman's haunting voice to create an atmospheric style of symphonic progressive. One of the essential listens from the Netherlands.

Dance (81)

Has been compared to early Roxy Music with Kevin Ayers on vocals!

Earthrise (77)

One of the most collectible U.S. prog albums, fetching prices in the $1000 range.

Salterbarty Tales (78), French Skyline (79), Atomkraft? Nein, Danke! (81), For Humans Only (81)

Earthstar is a multi-national space-music ensemble masterminded by American multi-keyboardist Craig Wuest. Wuest's vision propels these two albums, his desire apparently is to create music that doesn't necessarily suggest a particular instrument, rather creates a new texture. Therefore, though there are credits for flute, guitar, bass, violin, viola, french horn, sitar and vocals, it's pretty hard to distinguish any of these from the ubiquitous synthesizers. (I managaed to pick out guitars and sitar, but that's about it) Thus, Wuest is successful in this endeavour. The two long tracks on French Skyline ("Latin Sirens Face The Wall" and "French Skylines Suite") explore slowly shifting, but discrete, passages. "Latin Sirens..." opens with fiery choir-keyboard and guitar sounds which give way to a sequenced rhythm with energetic synth-soloing on top and ending in a swirl of synthesizer sounds. Produced by Klaus Schulze, who's an obvious influence on this album. Atomkraft... is an album of ecologically-themed programme-music. Wuest surrounds himself with nine guest players on piano, electric guitar, strings, piano, electronics and tuned percussion. The ten tracks vary from light and airy, like the piano-and-bells-heavy "Golden Rendezvous," to slightly symphonic like "Sonntagspaziergang" or "Wind Mills," which include violin and cello in the instrumentation, to creepy electronic dreamscapes like "Solar Mirrors" and the pulsing "Cafe Sequence." A very different, but equally enjoyable album. Also issued in 1981 was a final album entitled For Humans Only.

Although Craig Wuest was indeed the founder and driving force behind Earthstar, he is not German as stated in the GEPR entry but instead hails from the small city of Utica, New York. Craig was among the first musicians in the Utica area to own a synthesizer, and he was strongly influenced by the German electronic music scene of the late 1970s, in particular Klaus Schulze, with whom he struck up a correspondence. With Schulze's encouragement, Craig moved to Germany, where he spent the next several years. Earthstar was essentially Craig plus whomever he asked to participate in his projects. The first Earthstar LP, Salterbarty Tales, was released by the Nashville-based Moontower Records prior to Craig's departure for Germany and is nearly impossible to find. The first Earthstar release on the German Sky label, French Skyline was recorded partly in Utica, partly in a number of German studios, and featured a mixed crew of American and European musicians. After its release, a number of Craig's former collaborators in Utica, including myself, joined him in Germany for the recording of Atomkraft? Nein Danke! A fourth Earthstar LP, For Humans Only, was basically the result of a partnership between Craig and Utica guitarist/songwriter Dan Hapanowicz. The group dissolved soon after, and to the best of my knowledge I am the only former member actively making music today (playing in Jeff Greinke's LAND and my own group, Nada, among others). Sky Records has recently released two compilation CDs, Schwingungen and Schwingungen II, which feature cuts by Earthstar; this marks the first appearance on CD by the group. Both French Skyline and Atomkraft are still available on LP from Sky. -- Dennis Rea (a former member of Earthstar)

Seed (94)

Opening with a mechanized drum roll is not the way to win my heart. The all too steady drum beat is my biggest complaint about, Seed, an album that is otherwise kind of different and unique. But I'm ahead of myself. Earthstone is the work of Chris Phillips and Chris Bond. Phillips does most of the instrumental work and vocals, but Bond contributes some keyboards and co-wrote most of the songs. Mark Richards plays guitar on one track ("Whitlingham Lane"), but otherwise guitar, bass, keyboards, programming and vocals are handled by Phillips and Bond. One third of the nine songs are instrumental. Earthstone are self-described techno-pagans, using digital technology to create music that is, they say, influenced primarily by nature. Their love of earth is evidenced by their support of environmental pressure activities of Greenpeace and Earth First. Their influences range from King Crimson through Atomic Rooster, Rain Tree Crow and the Art of Noise to Ozric Tentacles. I can pick out some Ozric influences, as well as Rain Tree Crow, but I never did pick up on much of a Crimso influence. Phillips' voice sounds a good deal like Peter Gabriel and much of the music (e.g., "Seed," "Unicorn Home" and "The Splintered Sky") sounded to me like a more electrified version of Peter Gabriel's solo work. Keyboards dominate a bit more than guitar. Though digital, Phillips and Bond made good use of the programming tools to create searing, sawtooth tambres that are fat and chunky. "Breathy" pads are rarely heard. "Llid the God" is a brooding, atmospheric work that thankfully leaves the drum machine turned off. "Whitlingham Lane" is another atmospheric mix of acoustic and electric guitar sans drum machine. Again, Earthstone's love of nature is evident throughout the lyrics, but is summed up in the final line from "E.L.F.": Life needs no reason so set it free. In all, Earthstone have created a unique mix of sounds that draws from the '70s as well as the '80s and '90s. The steady beat would work in a techno club of acid ravers, while the changing meters will satisfy many fans of Progressive Rock. -- Mike Taylor

While Mike Taylor is sensitive to drum programming I didn't really notice it that much - I thought the absence of a live drummer didn't overly detract from the overall performance (obviously there is a certain lack of energy and so on...live drummers are definitely preferrable). Musically this is a great album with excellent composition and thematic development. The only distraction for me on Seed is the vocals. I didn't particulary feel like the vocals added to the otherwise strong performance. I may simply be biased towards instrumental (like Ken Watson, Ozric Tentacles, Univers Zero, etc) music, but I would have actually preferred this to be an all instrumental recording (the background chanting is fine and adds to the mood) instead of layering the Hillage style singing on top. In some places it appears to me that the vocals seem to have been an afterthought and don't fit well with the rest of the music. Overall I'd say this is a great album - the instrumentation is dark and brooding at times, and highly textured throughout. It is readily apparent that the two member of Earthstone have loads of musical talent and original ideas - they are influenced by many other groups, but are striving with a high degree of success to be more than a clone of those other bands. I'd like to see them either move towards more instrumentals or spend a little more time developing their lyrics and vocal styles. Obviously that is a personal preference, and many of you out there may really enjoy the vocals as they are. Overall I think this is an excellent album, well produced and performed. -- Jim Watts

Click here for the Kinesis/Earthstone Home Page

Játékok (81, aka Blue Paradise), Hüség (82, aka Faith), Rések A Falon (83), Az Aldozat (Szodoma) (84, aka The Victim (Sodom)), 1986 (86), A Szerelem Sivataga (8?)

Excellent Hungarian progressive band, similar to Solaris yet far more prolific. Best known for their stunning masterpiece and second album Huseg, East would go on to make a few more, and all of them very inconsistent. Basically the better the album, the harder to find. Huseg is a very lush symphonic/fusion album that hints of Marillion (but never that simple) or Camel or even Eloy in their symphonic period. Symphomaniacs will love this! Now out on Japanese CD.

Formed around 1979, East got rather poppy later on. Their early stuff is better with excellent vocals on the first 2 albums. Sodom is instrumental.

East were a band from Hungary who released a handful of albums, but Huseg stands out as a masterpiece of the genre. The music is very symphonic, built on a strong foundation of keyboards and guitar, and comes off as music with the melodic style of mid-period Genesis, but with a more aggressive edge in terms of guitar and keyboard lead passages that clearly showcase the technical proficiency of the musicians. Non-English vocals are present at times, but they do not intrude and fit very well into the context of the music.

Many people speak of Hüseg as a progressive "classic" and a must-buy. If you love the symphonic style, maybe, but otherwise I don't agree. While East offers the technical profiency and style that I appreciate, the writing leaves me a bit thirsty. It's that old "You play rhythm while I solo then I'll play rhythm while you solo" approach that turns me off. The musicians have a fair amount of talent but the arrangements are simple enough for amateur songwriters to pull off. OK, maybe I'm being a little harsh but that's how I feel. If you like the symphonic style you'll probably like Hüseg. If you're looking for something new, look somewhere else.

Játekók is poppy and boring. I was very disappointed with it. Not really prog at all, more like '70s easy listening music with spacy keyboards. Hüseg is much improved. Far more progressive, it has a typical "high-tech" aspect that will appeal to fans of other East Euro bands such as Exodus, SBB, Autograph and the like. -- Mike Ohman

Mercator Projected (69), Snafu (70)

Mercator .".. is East Of Eden's first LP (sic) called Mercator Projected. Take one electric violin which blows rock and Bartok, add one flute from the East, mix in Sumerian saxophones, bass, drums, guitar and liquid word-pictures - mark East Of Eden." That is the claim on the liner notes that accompany this release from 1969. The music is very much in the early seventies UK progressive rock camp, organ/guitar dominated rock, with melodic ballads interspersed with more aggressive passages, using a variety of instruments. The music is similar in spirit to Gryphon, and, perhaps, groups such as Cressida, early Rare Bird, Fields, and the like.

Now and Then (79)

Easter Island is another US band whose only LP now commands vast amounts of currency from maniac collectors. For the rest of us, ZNR Records in Kentucky has re-issued this classic on CD, taken from the master tapes. As with the band Cathedral described earlier, Easter Island's music embodies the sound of the mid-seventies, with a slightly more aggressive approach. However, for lovers of that genre, there are enough keyboard/mellotron and guitar leads, and variant time signatures to satisfy.

I was fortunate enough to catch them in concert many years ago, opening for UK, and at one time owned a copy of their LP. (And I could kick myself for not keeping it; I understand it's quite the collector's item these days!) Shades of ELP and some of the more cosmic Yes stuff, if I recall. The live performance was very precise. Good stuff all the way around, and uncharacteristic of an American prog rock band, it was easy for me to overlook their pretentiousness.

Easter Island was a one-shot American progressive band who released Now and Then. Easter Island was easily one of the best US prog bands to have recorded during the 1970's. The music places emphasis on excellent mini-moog and mellotron work as well as guitar, like most prog bands from the mid-'70s seemed to do. At first, you may be reminded of Yes and there are indeed some Wakeman and Howe influences at work. As the album progresses the music becomes more original, alternating intense moog work outs with spacey sections complete with drum marches on the deep tom-toms, each musician playing with his own unique style. The vocals are nothing particularly outstanding but they aren't a detraction either. If you like Mirthrandir and Cathedral, two other excellent American bands, you'd do well to check out Easter Island.

Easter Island was an obscure American progressive band in the late 70s relying heavily on that mainstay of progressive rock, the mellotron. They recorded Now and Then in 1977 and 1978 with the title track in 1991. Easter Island's two vocalists Rick Bartlett and Mark Miceli share the spotlight with one of them emulating Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad. His jarring voice detracted from the listening experience but thankfully vocals are secondary to Easter Island's music. On several songs Bartlett's and Miceli's vocal styling brings to mind Yes on their landmark album Close to the Edge. Strongly influenced by 70s Italian progressive bands such as Le Orme and Premiata Forneria Marconi, Easter Island created beautiful melodies and mood changes without resorting to the progressive keyboard and guitar pyrotechnics so evident in today's neo-progressive bands. If nothing else, you should buy this CD just for the mellotron work. The classically inspired "The Alchemist's Suite" and "Winds of Time" are alone worth the price. Support domestic progressive band reissues, Easter Island will not disappoint.

Future force (82), Journey to Utopia (Live) (??)

Spacy prog.

Echolyn (91), Suffocating The Bloom (93), ...And Every Blossom (93, EP), as the world (95)

Echolyn is a five piece from Pennsylvania, whose sound is direct, tightly arranged and colorful. The lyrics take a prominent role, delivered with feeling and plenty of raw emotional content. Their sound is layered and complex, but not overly busy. The "Mellotron" sound is used generously, but the overall sound has more variety than usual and tends to be a little more experimental. Of their first album: Quite impressive is the album opener "Fountainhead," a very experimental collage type piece that leads into the first full length track "The Great Men," a thought provoking track about idealism and human nature. The balance of the album is equally exceptional. A second album has just been released Suffocating The Bloom, it's even more powerful than the first, with the band showing more musical maturity all around.

Echolyn represents the lighter side of progressive music: the Yes/Marillion influence, catchy tunes, repetitive choruses, mainstream style...the list goes on. But I cannot deny that they are good musicians, the writing is solid, and that I like them. They take the style of Kansas (group voicings, power chords, overlaid keyboards) and make progressive rock out of it. Throw in some counterpoint, a busy rhythm section, and thoughtful, introspective lyrics, and you've got Echolyn. The band strides the fine line between neo-prog and progressive and somehow manages to capture the best of both worlds. While completely accessible to the average listener, *and* to anyone who isn't into progressive rock, they have enough going on to keep the attention of people like myself who need a little dissonance and/or complexity to stay awake. Prediction time: Echolyn is going to be big. Real big. They have all the tools to blow this brand of lite-progressive into the mainstream. But are they representative of the strongest aspects of the genre? Over time, they will achieve popularity, but only expose a small corner of what progressive music is and can be. Any attention brought to the genre will be lost on bands like Xaal, Deux ex Machina, and others that equal if not eclipse Echolyn in potential.

Suffocating The Bloom contains a lot of variation, but it is well contructed, like a really good concept album. I don't particularly like the singer's tone of voice, but it's OK, and he more than makes up for it with his convincing delivery of some good lyrics. There are plently great sections of music in this CD. This contains my favourite drummer of these 5: his drums have been tuned to make maximum excitement in fills, and he uses his china cymbal really well. One thing I don't like, especially on first listen, is the start of the album, in which the guitar player sounds very amateurish, although he later proves he's not. Mind you, it's amateurish in the same way that I think Steve Howe sounds amateurish in some bits of Asia! Overall, a very good album, although I can't listen to it lots of times in a row.

Compared to the previous albums, as the world is a much better recording. With as the world, they build upon the sound they established on their earlier albums where the music is characterized by a complex interplay of each instrument, then overlayed with thick vocal harmonies. Their composition does not follow the classic jazz format where one instrument breaks off for a solo before returning to the theme, but rather they adhere to the philosophy that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Each instrument does something different and plays an integral role in producing the finished sound. They have strong progressive tendencies as evidenced by the rapid time signature changes, which bring to mind parts of Gentle Giant and Happy the Man, however I would not classify them as neo-progressive since they sound nothing like Marillion, IQ, or that genre. They have jazz overtones, a tiny bit of folk, and some classical moments. The vocal harmonies, which are one of the strengths of Echolyn, remind me of Steely Dan, especially in the types of chords used. Their lyrics are thoughtful, but not really deep. However, they're not cryptic either, which I find a plus. Overall, as the world is a very mature effort containing a good balance of songs: some with pretty melodies, some with discord, and most with comlex and shifting rythms. As such it may appeal to a variety of listeners, but by the same token there will probably be parts that each listener may not particularly like. My experience is that the album gets better with every listen as I hear new things and gain greater appreciation for where the music is headed. Because of this Echolyn has become one of my favorite bands. Unfortunately, the latest news is that they've broken up. It looks like another talented band falls by the wayside. -- Doug Hobbs

These five American musicians present the usual lineup with vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass and drums. Flutes and strings are used in some of the acoustic parts. The compositions on Suffocating the Bloom and As the World are based on introspective lyrics but never neglect the instrumental aspect of the music. The clever interaction between the voices and the other instruments introduces elements of complexity to this otherwise very accessible music. They actually pull-off an excellent fusion of the best elements from numerous influences. -- Paul Charbonneau

II (93)

I knew that I was in for a treat from the moment I saw the magic square on Eclat's new CD II. This Musea release contains 9 songs dealing with the Nornes, alchemy, the Celts, rhythmic cycles, Led Zeppelin, numerology, the magic square, the Grim Reaper, and the circus. A vast amount of territory to cover in 40 minutes! The lyrics and booklet are in French but the subject matter is so fascinating that I had to translate them to get a better understanding. Manipulation of numbers and letters is a key aspect of Eclat's songs. The second song Vitriol (the alchemist term for sulphuric acid) discusses the inner workings of man on his journey to wisdom. Each of the three verses contains seven lines, the first letter of each line reading down spelling Vitriol. Opera Magique uses the magic square as the basis for the song and for constructing its lyrics. The three verses consisting of six lines of six words each use the letters in the magic square as the first letter of each word. A very intriguing and mathematical approach to music! Eclat is a contemporary French progressive band of accomplished musicians: Alain Chiarazzo (guitars and chants), Fabrice Di-Mondo (drums, percussion, and vocals), Laurent Thomann (bass), and Pascal Versini (piano and keyboards). Eclat plays a varied music. Beautiful bucolic and acoustic melodies and lyrics alternate with jazzy progressive fireworks. This band really cooks! One high point (as if each of the nine songs isn't) is Page Orientale, a tribute to Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and traditional Indian music. Chiarazzo's acoustic guitar work is outstanding and sounds like Alain Markusfeld's classic Le Desert Noir. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Aura (??), Erwartung (??), Heimkehr (??)

Huge band with very complex style and long tracks, lots of folk and classical references. Erwartung is supposed to be the best.

Aura (79)

French duo evidently sounding like SFF or Bo Hansson.

On The Way To Eden (71)

[See Sandrose]

Generazioni (Storia De Sempre) (74)

One shot Italian band with the rare album Storia Di Sempre Very good and solid melodic Italian progressive.

E.A. Poe's sole release, Generazioni (Storia di Sempre), is from around 1974. It's really grabbed my ears. While it's not quite up to the standards of PFM's Per Un Amico, it's at least equal to their Storia di un Minuto. Like most Italian symphonic, it's very melodic and refined and the vocals are nearly as tasteful (i.e., not harsh) as PFM. There's no musician credits given on the CD booklet, but it sounds like a quartet of drums, bass, acoustic and electric guitar, and keys (piano, organ and synth). The main focus is the interplay between guitar and keyboards. The guitar solos are somewhat blues-inflected in places. The music covers a variety of moods from rockin' to mellow and laid back. Nicely done and well worth a listen.

Suction 8 (86), Sarcastic Fringeheads (90)

Purportedly Earth and Fire-ish 80's English neo-prog

Very different from the standard UK so-called "progressive" fare; it's clear that Edge have distanced themselves from the rest of the pack, yet their music is still very accessible. Vocalist Frances Pearless fronts the sound, her voice having many of the same qualities as Tracy Hitchings in her adventures with Quasar, but without being as unyielding to the music; Pealess' voice is more subtle and generally works better in the band context. The flute plays an important lead position in many of the musical passages, conjuring up memories of Focus, Horslips and Tull. The band has no trouble shifting gears, moods and styles, and borrow and refine some of their better ideas from the jazz school. There are few shocks in their music: the signature, tempo and dynamic changes are well thought out and seem to have a purpose in support of the writing and the lyrics. This band has a level of sophistication rarely found in their neo-prog contemporaries. Highly Recommended.

Kick Off Your Muddy Boots (75)

Moody Blues drummer. Solo albums are good, but not progressive.

Oriental Christmas (85), Still Dream (88), Astro Logical (91)

One of the more simpler new symphonic French bands, with beautiful melodies and great guitar, yet they have a drummer who doesn't know the difference between a fast and a slow song. Very Genesis like and good for new prog lovers, but if you like great drummers, ignore.

80's progressive band from France who play instrumental rock similar to the new Djam Karet. Technically pretty proficient, their two releases are titled Oriental Christmas and Still Dream.

A French instrumental group on the Musea label. Their first album Oriental Christmas compares to Defector/Spectral Mornings era Hackett. Their second effort Still Dream is in the same vein, but with more of unique sound. Astro Logical their third effort has more of a new agey feel to it. Either of the first two are a good place to start. They also appear on the Musea Compilation CD (Enchantment).

Four piece instrumental band from southern France, featuring Marc Ceccotti (lead guitar,guitar synth,keyboards), Jean-Louis Suzzoni (rhythm guitar, keyboards), Noel Damon (keyboards), Jacky Rosati (Drums,percussion,keyboards). Their sound seems to be in an ongoing state of positive development, although the common thread is Ceccotti's Frippoid guitar and the emphasis on the top- end of the sound, while leaving the rhythm section (w/ pedal bass) powerful but merely functional. The first album had two facets: one was an electronic driven sound, typified by the title track, "Spring Road" and "Souvenirs"; the other was a more straightforward progressive rock sounding not far from Steve Hackett circa Defector, albeit with a stronger Fripp influence - in tracks like "Agatha," "Tepid Wind," "FD Smile" and "Absynthe." The album's best tracks seem to be those that straddle these two poles: "Ca...Li...Vi...Sco" and "Imaginary Dance" are probably the album's two most powerfut tracks. The weakness of Oriental Christmas is that, while the writing is quite good, the songs seem somewhat structurally underdeveloped, a problem which was taken care of on the second album. Still Dream moves forward with the band's basic sound intact, but with a more arty feel and sonic experimentation, with less emphasis on rock power and more on art-content, all in a very uniquely french way. Tracks like "October Dawns," "Butterflychild" and the title track illustrate this shift well. There are also more solo oriented tracks ("Gael and Selena," "Fee D'Hiver," "Twine"), and the CD bonus cut "Heart Door" is a dark and moody powerhouse that is among the album's finest. Overall this is probably their best album, and definitely the best starting point. Astro Logical is by far the most compositionally advanced of the three, but it relies more on synth and complexity than on the power and simplicity of the earlier stuff. It churns for a solid hour through a dense jungle of constantly changing soundscape of odd rhythms, unusual signatures, disjointed melodies, all twisting and turning and never settling down. few of the twelve songs have any recurring theme that the listener can take away from it. It's good, but not for beginners. Start with Still Dream.

Edhels are one of the bands to which many other bands are compared. Edhels are a four-piece progressive rock band from France, whose music combines very well the melodic sensibilities of progressive rock and the jazz inflections of fusion. Led by the able fretwork of Marc Ceccotti, this is progressive rock with the guitar at the forefront, unlike most bands, which tend to be keyboard-heavy. In some sense they could be regarded as a more accessible version of Djam Karet. Oriental Christmas was their first release, and one of the first releases to put the Musea label on the map. Their equally good, second and third works, Still Dream, and Astrological, respectively, are also available.

Similar to Djam Karet, but not as good, IMO.

Edhels, by way of some rave reviews, seem to have stolen some of the thunder from their Musea compatriots. I don't know why, they're pretty mediocre to be honest. On the plus side, Oriental Christmas has some nice guitarwork and pleasant melodies. On the other hand, the compositions seem half-finished, the musical complexity is very much on the amateur level, the keyboardist seems to have modeled himself after post-Duke Tony Banks, and the drummer comes from the Alan White school of bang-thudding. Still Dream shows signs of improvement. The band has learned to complete the songs they begin to write, and they have also learned ways to cover up their less-than-adequate drummer's playing--a neat trick. Unfortunately, one of the disguises they use is a lighter, almost new-agey tone, so most of Still Dream is pretty boring. The one exception is the seven-minute "Heart Door," a fine track which far exceeds anything else the band has ever done. I haven't heard the band's third album, Astro Logical, but I wouldn't expect the band to suddenly put out a classic release, so I'm not anxiously awaiting the chance to hear it. If you get an opportunity to hear "Heart Door," I'd say go for it. Otherwise, you can entirely pass Edhels by without feeling you're missing an essential chapter in the history of progressive music, because you aren't.

A Space Between Ever And Never (90), Ice (91)

Italian neo-prog band, they actually have a unique sound pretty much defined by the stylized guitar of Antonio Moschetto and the vocals of Mario Gulisano, which overall could draw comparisons to the first album by Galadriel, or based on the vocals - to Nick Barrett of Pendragon. The first album was a little thin, although it did have some powerful moments evidenced throughout, but no more so than on the intro to "Be Yourself," where Moschetto, keyboardist Fiorentino and drummer Bisignani prepare a blisteringly complex polyrhythmic attack leading ever-so-smoothly into Gulisano's vocals. The CD has an annoying bonus track that's recorded at about half the volume of the other six tracks. The second album Ice is far more cohesive overall, but gets a little poppy towards the end.

Ice is the second release by Italy's Edith. A band firmly entrenched in the neo-progressive mold, Edith offers a more conservative approach than classic Italian bands of the seventies. One of the reasons I tend not to appreciate the neo-progressive bands is that many of them sound way too much like Marillion. Some lack any originality altogether. While Edith does sound primarily influenced by Marillion, their music does have its own style, albiet highly derivative. The new-agey cover is representative of the feel of the music - Rothery styled guitar riffs backed with keyboard washes. The rhythm section seems capable of doing a lot more than the snare-bass plodding and occasional fills that it does. Sung in English, the vocals sound vaguely like Fish or Peter Gabriel and tend to fit the music well. While not un-talented, the band seems to avoid making their music overly complex. Some listeners will appreciate this approach, but I fall into the camp that grows bored with straight-forward, lyrical writing. After the fifth or sixth song I have trouble listening to the rest of the album, because there is little change or variation. After several listenings Ice hasn't grown on me, though I find some of the songs catchy. Catchiness in music tends to lead to a short shelf life. There is nothing unpleasant about this band but I still can not recommend them to anybody but the neo-prog fans. Ice isn't a bad album, but when compared to the progressive classics of the past and their contemporaries, it still falls short. Even compared their fellow countrymen, Nuova Era, Ezra Winston, or Eris Pluvia, they don't stack up. Edith seems capable of much more as a band, and I hope they achieve their potential some day.

[See Atmo]

Allee des Tilleuls (76), Aliquante (77), Horizon Digital (78)

French fusion/prog band featuring a sublimely talented female keyboardist (Ann Ballester) and a fine John McLaughlin-influenced guitarist (Marius "Mimi" Lorenzini). The quartet is completed by the nimble rhythm section of Josquin Turenne des Pres on bass and Alain Gouillard on drums. The music often resembles the Canterbury fusion of Hatfield and The North or middle-period Soft Machine. Lorenzini's deftly rendered guitar runs, alternately electric and acoustic, are just what the doctor ordered. Ballester uses an amazingly clear and ringing tone on her ARP synthesizers...I'd be hard pressed to find someone else with a tone so rich. She is also a fine pianist. In composition, the songs are almost equally divided amongst Ballester, Turenne and Lorenzini, with Turenne writing the English lyrics to two songs. The songs themselves house some intricate time-signature shifts which make the songs consistently interesting. The track "La Fille du Ruisseau" is an especially interesting composition: the first half alternates between consonant bossa-nova styled verses and slightly dissonant synth interjections, the second half being a tasty synth/guitar solo duet. I'd highly recommend this one to fans of Isotope, Soft Machine, Gong, etc.

[See Lorenzini | Triangle]

Eela Craig (75), One Niter (76), Hats of Glass (77), Missa Universalis (78), 5th title? (79)

Initial band featuring Bognermayr/Zuschrader. They were a very synphonic progressive rock group. Their music was very lush and majestic, build on a foundation of keyboard sounds. They released five albums, none of which are available on CD, which are now collectors items of some value, commanding upto $30 for the last four and upto $500 (!) for the first self-titled one.

Austrians Eela Craig have released a handful of progressive albums in the symphonic vein. One-Niter is an excellent release and is vaguely similar to late 70's symphonic German bands like Eloy.

Eela Craig were perhaps the best-known progressive band from Austria, and one of the few bands I can think of with three (!) keyboardists. (Utopia and Savage Rose are the only other two such bands I can think of.) Their first album was released around 1974-75 only in Austria on the ProDisc label, and is today very rare and expensive. (Does anyone know when it will ever be reissued?) The second album, One Nighter arrived in 1976 with much wider distribution and to much acclaim in proggressive circles, although I haven't heard this one either. :-( Hats of Glass was the band's third album. Although I'm usually wary of albums that start off with cover versions, Chris deBurgh's "A Spaceman Came Travelling" seems an inspired and unexpected choice, and one that lends itself well to the triple keyboard attack. Hubert Bognermayr, Harald Zuschrader and Hubert Schnauer are all creative synthesists, and their piano and organ tones are rich and full sounding. The interplay between the three keyboards is well illustrated on the fine "Holstenwall Fair," my favourite song on the whole album. Guitarist Fritz Riedelberger (who sings on most of the songs on this album) gets a chance to show off his Dave Gilmour-influenced playing on the ten-minute title-track, while on the whimsically-titled instrumental "(Remove another hat of glass and you could easily find assorted kinds of) Cheese," his guitar rebounds quite well off of Bognermayr/Zuschraders' synths and Schnauer's electric piano. The other songs aren't quite as notable, with the possible exception of "Caught on the Air," a nice ballad with great vocal harmonies strongly suggestive of Yes. The band's 1978 album, Missa Universalis was conceived as a "rock mass," an idea I thought had died with the psychedelic sixties. Given the concept, not to mention liner notes like ."..for young people, modern religious music provides a bridge to God," it doesn't seem very encouraging. Surprisingly, Missa Universalis went above and beyond the call of duty. Again the two longest tracks form a centrepiece for the album. It starts off with the amazing "Kyrie," percolating with triple synthesizers twisting around each other and building to an electric climax into a majestic rock finale with soloing guitar. Brilliant! The "Sanctus" (this album's only song to feature guitarist Riedelberger on lead vocals) is really a two-parter; Part One based on a Bruckner mass, Part Two is a rock piece with rotating keyboard solos a la "Holstenwall Fair." The one thing that makes this album so delightful is the impeccable production. Note the piano in the "Gloria," the acoustic guitars in "Agnus Dei," etc. All the instruments are imbued with a luscious sound that makes the album interesting to listen to on so many levels. The one thing that ruins both albums for me, though, is drummer Frank Hueber, who seems only to know the most skeletal rock riffs. If Eela Craig only had a better drummer, Missa Universalis would be nearly perfect. Still, this is one that begs to be reissued.

[See Bognermayr and Zuschrader / Blue Chip Orchestra]

Mosaic (85)

Former bassist with the Pat Metheny group. Had some solo albums and the went on to form a group called Elements. His solo stuff is a good blend of light fusion and world music influences. Mosaic is a good place to start.

Just say no!! Blech!! Gag!! The only thing he's ever played on that I can listen to is Pat Metheny's American Garage. He has a very "soothing" bass sound that puts me into a coma.

[See Metheny, Pat]

In The City (87), The Killing Silence (91), Him, the Snake and I (93)

Very symphonic Dutch band that borders neo-prog very often. Some of their songs are good, some aren't. Depends on how much you like symphonic/neo prog. Basically this is mediocre music that is just rehashing trite ideas. Try The Killing Silence.

A Dutch band that compares favorably to Pendragon, although they don't necessarily sound like them. Heavy keyboards and very melodic vocals give them a somewhat haunting sound. They have two releases out, and their second The Killing Silence is definitely worthy of attention.

The little that I have heard by Egdon Heath has been good neo-prog rock. Nothing exceptional, but worth copying your friend's CD.

This dutch neo-band relies more on the standard extended pop structures of bands like IQ and Pallas, but with a sound that seems to synthesize from the likes of later Pink Floyd and others. Some of the tracks are very interesting, while some are almost mainstream. The vocalist on the first album is lame, but the new vocalist on the second album is outstanding. Despite being more poppy, I'd still reccommend TKS for starters.

Egdon Heath are a Dutch progressive band whose newest work, The Killing Silence is finely crafted, very melodic, progressive rock, and has influences of Genesis and UK rock bands of the seventies. The vocals are in English, which adds to that impression. The music is very much centered round keyboards, and the CD contains over 60 minutes of prime prog rock, complete with long tracks.

More decent neo-prog. Should appeal to fans of Castanarc, Galahad, and Magellan. At least 2 releases: In the City and The Killing Silence. Start with the second one.

Nothing is recorded by this Swedish band of the 90's. Their style is a mix of King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator and UK. They have toured together with Landberk. In 1993 their bass player Stefan Renstrom left the group to form Simon Says. Their drummer Ricard Nettermalm is a Jamie Muir like manic, and IMO one of the best drummers in Sweden. Both Renstrom and Nettermalm have played in The Moor. -- Gunnar Creutz

[See Moor, The | Simon Says]

Egg (70), Polite Force (71), Civil Surface (74), Seven is a Jolly Good Time (85)

Early Canterbury band. Polite Force was their best, yet for classical rock bands I'd try Le Orme or Trace first. Dave Stewart, of course, is on this - and this should be a reason if any to buy all three of them. They can be quite cold, though.

Their first release is an old classic from the Canterbury scene, featuring the brilliant keyboard pyrotechnics of Dave Stewart (*not* the guy from the Eurythmics). Mixing progressive rock styles with the complexity of jazz, filled with unusual time signatures, and adaptations of Bach and Grieg, this is one of the masterpieces of prog rock. The Polite Force was Egg's second release, and was better developed musically from their debut, a style that was carried on to the subsequent The Civil Surface. It is quite revealing to see what kinds of complex rock music can be accomplished with a small three-piece band. Blending classical rearrangements with odd time signatures, they were one of the most adventurous groups to emerge from the Canterbury scene, prior to making way for ELP, etc.

Canterbury band that released three organ-prominent albums. The first s/t sounds very proto-prog, comparable to stuff like The Nice, but with a more jazz influence. Featured Mont Campbell and Dave Stewart, later of National Health. The second and third albums are purportedly much better.

Important early progressive trio that broke through many musical barriers no one dared to approach before. The first album features outright dissonance (as on the short-circuiting organ-solo "Blane") and askew rhythmic figures (like the 13/8 meter in the middle section of "I Will Be Absorbed") to a degree never dreamt of before. The band consists of Dave Stewart on organ, piano and "tone generator" (a very primitive, home-made synth), Mont Campbell on bass and vocals and Clive Brooks on drums. Very primitive-sounding by today's standards, and featuring some awful, hippie orientated lyrics by Campbell which date the music to a good degree. Still, this is light-years ahead of, say, the Nice as far as musical sophistication goes, although even here there are "rock" interpretations of classical pieces (Well, Bach pieces, anyway). Important more for the doors they opened for other progressive bands to explore than the actual music they produced themselves, still of historic interest as one of Dave Stewart's earliest bands, pre-Hatfield, National Health et al. The third album, The Civil Surface, was recorded much later, and is supposed to be much more Canterbury-like in sound, and as a result much less dated-sounding. -- Mike Ohman

One of the classic UK bands, Egg was Dave Stewart on organ, Clive Brooks on Drums, and Mont Campbell on bass and sometime French Horn. The music is very structured and composed, with little room for improvisation. A bit of humor is also evident throughout. It is also quite excellent. The band explored a variety of time signatures and key relationships, sometimes explored classical ideals, and even composed their own symphony. Egg is an essential part of any progressive collection. All are good, but the first one is a little raw and Civil Surface is maybe a little clinical (but it features guests Steve Hillage, Lindsay Cooper, Tim Hodgkinson and Amanda Parsons on a couple of tracks). Start with The Polite Force.

I have Civil Surface and wasn't terribly impressed even though I usually like Dave Stewart a lot. Somewhat symphonic and kind of boring.

Seven is a Jolly Good Time is a mid-'80s reissue of Egg's eponymous first album plus their first and only single ("Seven is a Jolly Good Time" b/w "We Are All Princes") on the "See- for-Miles" label. -- Dave Wayne

[See Arzachel | Campbell, Mont "Dirk" | Stewart, Dave]

Acid in Wonderland (81)

Featured Detlev Schmidtchen and Jurgen Rosenthal.

[See Eloy]

Trip in the Light of the World (91)

Trip in the Light of the World is the debut CD by the Italian neo-progressive quartet Egoband (how pretentious!): Alessandro Accordino (voices and keyboards), Fabio Cioni (drums), Massimo Fava (guitars), and Alfonso Capasso (bass). When I first listened to Trip in the Light of the World I was a tad surprised. Egoband is a progressive band, yet the opening two minutes of music is pure "New Age electronics." Don't be fooled, when the drums roll in, the music kicks into high gear! What we have here is high energy progressive rock that almost crosses over to main stream rock (Van Halen?). This high energy alternates between rockers like "In the Air" and ballads like "The Man, the Rain, the Door." Accordino's vocals sound like Marillion, but the English lyrics make little sense. Unfortunately the CD booklet is not much help either. It is full of typos and misspellings, I guess written by someone unfamiliar with English. Musea take note, run a spell checker before the final printing. Luckily the lyrics are secondary and Accordino's voice dovetails smoothly with the music. Trip in the Light of the World is sure to please those mainstream listeners that are afraid to experiment with the more progressive bands.

Loud Symbols (90), Ministry of the Interior (91)

[See Catley, Marc and Geoff Mann | Mann, Geoff | Twelfth Night]

Eider Stellaire (81), Eider Stellaire II (86), Eider Stellaire III (87)

Combines European-inspired jazz rock, Magma's influence, and those of Art Zoyd and Present. They develop dense, forceful, or ethereal themes based on energetic rhythms.

Listen Now (??), 801 Live (76)

This is the band put together by Guitarist Phil Manzanera, ex-of Roxy Music. Also featured are Brian Eno and Francis Monkman on Keys, Simon Phillips on Drums and Lloyd Watson on Guitar. The live album is pretty hot, sort of a pop meets fusion of sorts.

Also know as Phil Manzanera's 801. 2 albums, I think: one live album called 801 Live and a studio album called Listen Now. The live one is a quirky work, but quite good. Brian Eno and several others notables covering tunes from Manzanera's and Eno's solo albums, plus a couple of other covers.

801 Live is a great album with Phil Manzenera, Eno, Simon Phillips, etc on it. I think it has a little more accessible sound than I would normally call progressive though.

801 Live is FANTASTIC STUFF!!!!!!! Their version of "Tomorrow Never Knows" is, by itself, worth the price of the disc.

[See Curved Air | Eno, Brian | Manzanera, Phil | Quiet Sun | Random Hold Roxy Music]

First Principles (79)

Prog.

Kollaps (82), Die Zeichnungen Des Patienten O.T (83), Halber Mensch (85), Funf Auf Der Nach Oben Offenen Richterscala (87), Haus Der Luege (89), Tabula Rasa (92)

Center of what a lot of people call the German "industrial" scene and led by the prolific Blixa Bargeld, EN are not easy listening. They use a lot of strange "instruments" like plastic barrels, pebbles and chains and occasionally guitars. Tends to be very rythmic and can swing from ambient gentle soundscapes to chaotic heavy noise jams very quickly. To be honest, I really can't even attempt to describe them apart from to say the're incredible and one of my favourites. Not as uncompromising as Nurse With Wound, they do a huge range of styles but when they do the industrial noise stuff, it's really beautiful ... very cathartic. Recommend to start at Halber Mensch. Zeichnungen ... is amazing and *very* depressing ... sections of throbbing background with Blixa screaming those really freaky screams he does over the top. Guaranteed to scare/bewilder/irritate any other listeners :-) Watch out for Tabula Rasa ... it's infamous for being called "not real EN" and is considerably weaker than the rest (apart from the last track Headcleaner which is classic EN). Totally and utterly recommended as long as you don't mind a challenge (and some noise :-).

Ekseption (68), Beggar Julia's Time Trip (70), Ekseption 3 (71), Ekseption 00.04 (72), Ekseption 5 (72), Trinity (73), Bingo (74), Mind Mirror (75), La Cinquieme (7?)

Wouldn't really call Ekseption symphonic rock, but that is more a semantic issue. Anyway, what they played was jazz spiced with rock and classical music. To be honest, they were a quite mediocre band and if it hadn't been for their their remakes of classical stuff they wouldn't have got that much attention. Well, some of their stuff is enjoyable, but all of it is too much.

Dutch band, who were famous for arranging classical pieces for a jazz/rock-combo, but in fact they also covered material like Jethro Tull and folk songs, as well as they played their own material. Leader was keyboard player Rick van der Linden, who later formed Trace. Ekseption sported sax and trumpet, but no guitar, except on the first album. Some of their stuff is too watered down an uninteresting, particulary if you get the complete catalogue. The first album and Trinity are the ones to try in my opinion.

Very lame, unoriginal rock arrangements of classical pieces. ELP already covered that ground, and they did it a lot better. -- Greg Ward

[See Trace]

Expansion on Life (69)

When God's on the Water (75), The Further Adventures of Mr. Punch (78)

Electra Combo (74), Adaptionen (74), 3 (79), Die Sixtinische Madonna (80), Ein Tag Wie Eine Brücke (81), Augen in Der Sehnsucht (85), Tausend und Ein Gefuhl (87)

Long-lived East German prog band. Early albums essay a style strongly influenced by Jethro Tull, spotlighting the sharp flute playing of Bernd Aust and the understated vocals of Manuel von Senden. The sound is filled out by grinding organ and fuzz-toned guitar. This early material, found on the compilations Electra-Combo and Electra 3 and in many volumes of the "Hallo" series of anthologies, is often very raw, but also very good. Adaptionen is the first album of "new" material, consisting of rock interpretations of classical works. I've never heard it, but it's said to be one of their better albums. Die Sixtinische Madonna is an over- the-top symphonic album. The 26-minute title suite was recorded live with a choir. Though there are many strong, classically inspired themes, the choir is a bit too Mormon Tabernacle for my tastes. Later albums are said to be still prog, but in a more commercial vein. -- Mike Ohman

Electric Frankenstein (75), What Me Worry? (76)

Paolo Tofani's (Area) solo effort.

[See Area]

Electric Light Orchestra (71, aka No Answer), ELO II (73), On The Third Day (73), Eldorado (74), Face The Music (75), Ole' ELO (76), A New World Record (76), Out Of The Blue (77), Discovery (79), ELO's Greatest Hits (79), Xanadu (80), Time (81), Secret Messages (83), Balance Of Power (86), Afterglow Box Set (90)

Although to most this group will evoke nightmares of over-orchestrated disco-ish 70s pop, this group's early albums are mostly Progressive Rock and definitely worth a listen. The roots of this band extend back to the late '60s Beatle-ish/psych/blues/rock group The Move. It was in that semi-popular group (they had quite a few hit singles in the UK) that Roy Wood began experimenting with strings and woodwind instruments. Pianist Jeff Lynne joined in time for their 1970 album Looking On and shared Roy's interest in merging classical instrumentation with Rock. This shared interest led the two, along with The Move drummer Bev Bevan, to embark upon a new band--one that would not be hindered by having to make hit songs. This new band would be called ELO and The Move was to be kept alive to finance it. What happened instead was that The Move ceased to exist and all time was spent on ELO.
The debut album is as Progressive Rock as anything else out there, but is often dismissed, probably, because they don't use any electronic keyboards and few songs feature any electric guitars. The style could be somewhat compared to Gryphon because of this, although it's not as polished as that. These players are not virtuosos, but the arrangements are enough to keep plenty of interest to Prog fans. The style is acoustic and a bit minimalistic as shown by the vocal with cello accompaniment on "Look At Me Now" and the acoustic guitar, cello, and vocal of the gorgeous "Whisper In The Night." The only rocker is "10538 Overture," a sort of "I Am The Walrus" part 2, if you will. (The Beatles were a major influence on ELO.) This piece really picks up with the marching cello, drums, and bass towards the end accompanied by haunting French and Hunting Horns. Possibly the most interesting piece is "The Battle Of Marston Moor," which has no Rock about it at all, but is rather a bit avant-garde classical. Roy Wood left after this album and ELO slowly began to become more and more pop-oriented. But, they still had their Prog moments.
ELO II saw the addition of Richard Tandy on every keyboard he could get his hands on. His addition added to their Prog sound and is the main feature on this album. Especially of note are "From The Sun To The World" and "In Old England Town." This album also saw the addition of the violin as a lead instrument which is featured heavily on the incredibly peppy and thouroughly enjoyable 8:10 version of "Roll Over Beethoven." The best track on this album, and possibly the best ELO song ever is the 12-minute "Kuiama," a spacey and moody anti-war song featuring Tandy on harmonium and Moog. A stunning piece of work.
On The Third Day saw the band get a more accessible sound and they lighten up on the cellos in favor of the Moog and other keyboards. Still, the classical influence is quite apparent as is shown on their version of "In The Hall Of The Mountain King." This is also the first album where they began to experiment with a multi-song concept centered around a work called "King Of The Universe." Not all 4 sections succeed, but the effort is good. This album also saw the release of the hit "Showdown."
Their fourth and probably most adventurous album is the concept album Eldorado: A symphony by the Electric Light Orchestra. Many ELO fans will rave about this one, but while it does hame some very impressive moments, as a whole it's lacking something. It even borders on being a bit cheesy in places (nothing new to Prog fans, eh?). But, the tracks that do work, "Eldorado Overture/Can't Get It Out Of My Head," "Laredo Tornado," "Mister Kingdom," "Nobody's Child," and "Eldorado/Eldorado Finale" are beautifully composed and performed.
It's at this point that ELO really begins distancing itself from Progressive Rock. I do like their fifth album, Face The Music, but a Prog-only fan would be bored out of his mind, I'm sure. The one track that might be of interest is the curious "Fire On High" instrumental. It begins with a couple of minutes of psychedelia with tape tricks and operatic vocals and all other sorts of odd-goings-on (there's a famous backward line by Lynne here--"the music is reversible, but time is not, turn back..."). It finally all collects itself with an acoustic guitar riff that is then joined by some power-drumming. A cello and violin then compliment each other as the "vocalists." Good song.
From here on out, the group gets usually too pop-oriented for my tastes and the use of cellos lessens considerably in favor of violins. They had some good stuff like "Mission" on A New World Record and the 4-movement "Concerto For A Rainy Day" on Out Of The Blue, but something was missing. By 1981, all real strings were replaced by synthesizers, which some Prog fans might actually enjoy if it wasn't for the pop-oriented sound. A box set called Afterglow was released in 1990 and contains many previously unreleased songs from this later era. One of these, the multiple-themed "Hello My Old Friend," is actually pretty interesting and fits the Prog mold a bit. In the early '90s, a group called ELO part 2, containing many past members of ELO but not Jeff Lynne, has been touring and writing albums to mixed views from their fans. I have yet to hear it. -- Clark Ray

[See The Move]

Electric Sandwich (72)

Brain label band that has been compared to Emergency. Purported to have great electric sax work.

The Electromagnets (75)

Progressive fusion band from Austin, Texas that almost signed to Frank Zappa's Discreet label. Major claim to fame was that Eric Johnson was guitarist. LP now demands about $100 or so.

Electronic Mind Waves (76)

Made In Rock (77)

Art Rock.

(No official releases)

US band from the Bay Area. Their sound was somewhere between Happy The Man and ELP with some fusion overtones, and minimum vocals. All I have is a live tape, but it's pretty impressive.

San Francisco Bay Area late 70's progressive garage band. Mostly originals (which sounded like a cross between ELP/Gentle Giant) but also covered King Crimson's "The Talking Drum" and "One More Red Nightmare." Band consisted of 5 players: bass/percussion/backing vox, guitar/hammond/synth/vox, sax, and 2 drummers with a large percussion rack between them. Songs were mostly 5+ minutes and 80% instrumental. If anyone reading this is familiar with this band, Please send mail to warlock@halloween.Sun.COM.

Unchained (70)

Rare ultra-heavy rock/prog.

Sabbat (87), Indifference (90)

Super boring French neo-prog band that remind me of Ange on downers. If this doesn't make you fall asleep, nothing else will

Sabbat was one of Musea's first releases and one of their worst IMHO. Mostly straight ahead metal-rock with some proggy touches, with loud in-your-face type french vocals all over it. Save your money. There's a second album titled Indifference which I can't comment on.

Le Mana Perdu (83)

Much better French band in the Ange vein, Le Mana Perdu is a great album (if you can find it) and is very much in the theatrical mode like Ange or Mona Lisa. Also on the compilation Enchantement, they broke up and some members went on to found Hecenia.

[See Hecenia]

Eloy (71), Inside (73), Floating (74), Power And The Passion (75), Dawn (76), Ocean (77), Silent Cries And Mighty Echoes (78), Live (78), Colours (80), Planets (82), Time To Turn (82), Performance (83), Metromania (84), Codename Wildgeese (85), Ra (88), Rarities (Retro), Destination (92)

Eloy began making records in the early seventies, producing 16 studio albums to date, their latest being the 1992 release Destination. The group takes its name from a fictional peace-loving race written about by H.G.Wells in the science fiction novel "The Time Machine." The music is a mixture of heavy and space rock with classical and jazz influences. The music invokes various progressive bands of the 70's and 80's and can best be compared to the likes of Pink Floyd, Yes, Gabriel's Genesis, Kansas and Alan Parsons. Eloy's main audience is their home country Germany, although they have attracted followings in Switzerland, the U.K. and other European countries. Not so surprisingly they were never introduced in the Americas. Perhaps their publishers felt that Americans wouldn't buy records made by a foreign sounding group. The lead singer, guitarist and driving force behind Eloy, Frank Bornemann had a distinct German accent. This, in my opinion at least, lent the group character and distinguished it from the many other progressive groups of the seventies and eighties. Another contributing factor may have been that most of their songs are at least five minutes with many lasting eight to ten. Definately not Top-Ten fodder to say the least. Eloy is straight ahead rock and roll filled with political statements and unlike anything the group has done since. This is on limited edition re-issue CD from Philips and is quite expensive, so it would probably only be of interest to collectors. Overall rating: Time Waster * Inside is what many perceive to be Eloy's real "first album." The first song "Land of No Body" begins soft and slow, but soon bursts into the classic 70's progressive rock sound that characterizes the rest of the album - somewhat subdued but competent lead guitar, leslied Hammond organ dominating the melody and a strong but very elegant bass line. I find this album sounds remarkably like early Jethro Tull (without the flute) especially on the title cut and "Future City." Some songs invoke memories of the Genesis album Nursery Cryme. Overall rating: Good *** Floating sounds very similar to Inside, but doesn't break much new ground and simply isn't very interesting. "Castle in the Air" stands out as far and away the best track on this album and also contains the first (brief) appearance of the distinctive spoken poetry of Eloy. Overall Rating: OK ** Power and the Passion is a concept album that tells the story of a young man whose father is a scientist experimenting with a "time eroding" drug. The young man "somehow" takes the drug and makes a journey back to 1358. The story is developed more than the music. The album contains some spoken dialogue which may take some getting used to. The guitarist (Frank Bornemann) and the drummer have both improved technically. The group is starting to use more sophisticated and symphonic soundscapes. Somewhat interesting... Overall Rating: OK ** Dawn features a completely new lineup, with Frank Bornemann the only original band member remaining. This incarnation of Eloy is (IMHO) the most creative and talented musically and will stay together for several albums. Things have really changed musically. The sound is polished and production values are much improved. There are more instruments, most notably strings or their synth equivalents. This is a very arty concept album that demands a few listens. Lots of variety, rich tectures and some surprises. Sometimes tense, sometimes spacey. Highly recommended. Overall Rating: Good *** Ocean is a *great* concept album that tells the story of the creation and destruction of Atlantis. The music is outstanding and has a spacey feel.. I'm particularly fond of the first half, especially "Poseidon's Creation" which contains a unique fretless bass line counterpointed by weeping slide guitar - really wonderful. Perhaps the only downside is the overlong lead-in to "Atlantis' Agony...." This is one of the two or three "must have" Eloy albums. Overall Rating: Excellent **** What can you say about a live album? The quality of Live is good with minimal distortion. I enjoy the alternate renditions of the Ocean tracks and the expanded version of "The Sun Song," altho half its 8'30 length is spoken German which I can only assume is the story behind the Dawn album 'cuz I didn't understand a word... :-) Overall Rating: Good *** Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes is as close to a shameless Pink Floyd copy as I've ever heard, complete with effects that could be samples from Meddle. Frank Bornemann has refined his guitar playing in the style of Dave Gilmour and the whole album sounds so much like 70's PF it must be either a tribute or a ripoff - but the songs and themes are original and it sounds great, so go figure... Imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery. Overall rating: Good *** Colours is a "must have" Eloy record and my personal favourite. It is perhaps the most accessible of all and strongly invokes the Alan Parsons and Genesis sound of the late 70's. There are metallic riffs here, but in my opinion they are tasteful and tempered by some of the best vocals, guitar and keyboard work I've heard. No doubt this is a transitional album and marks the demise of Pink Floyd emulation and the evolution into a heavier, more percussive and more original band. Hello flute! Frank Bornemann really lets the others stretch. If you're into progressive music you should get this record. Overall Rating: Excellent **** What the heck happened? Unfortunately, most of Planets and Time to Turn sounds really uninspired, as if the writers were just going through the motions. The first of a pretentious two album long concept that concludes in Time to Turn. The cuts "Point of No Return" and "Sphinx" (both from Planets) stand tall in the mediocrity. Sound is moody, dominated by synthesizer. "Through a Somber Galaxy" (from Time to Turn) is OK but musically based on a theme that was thoroughly explored on the Colours album. "Time to Turn" is a really good cut, but not good enough to redeem this, another disappointing record. Ho hum... Where's the lead guitar? Aaaaaaargh! Overall Rating for both: Time Waster * Performance is a better record. More breaks, upbeat compositions and lively performances from all quarters. Not as derivative as older albums. Feels like the band has emerged from an identity crisis, tho the sound is still dominated by lead synth... Overall Rating: OK ** On Metromania, synth still dominates but there are more lead guitar parts. The music has taken a decidely heavy metal turn. There is a definate Roger Waters/The Wall sound to this record; that is, lots of heavily pumped up martial music punctuated by a combination of shouted, spoken and sung lyrics. "All Life is One" is cool and cosmic with vocoder vocals, but this is primarily a heavy rock record. This was the last Eloy record to be a true band effort. Overall rating: Good *** After four years... Beginning with RA, Eloy is now basically a collaberation between Frank Bornemann and one Michael Gerlach on keyboards. Various session musicians and guests have taken the place of permanent band members. Yet this is a truly great record! Eloy speaks again in neat intros to songs on this concept album about immortality. The music is still heavy metal space rock, but very tastefully done and reminds me of Nektar. High production values (ADD mixing) add neat digitally sampled effects. Bornemann's refined guitar makes several appearances. Bravo! Overall Rating: Excellent **** Rarities is an interesting collection of B -sides and a couple rare, unreleased tunes from the early years. One tune, "Wings of Vision" sounds like a knockoff of contemporary (Collins/Banks) Genesis - it was so perfect I had to laugh. "Let the Sun Rise in Your Brain" is excellent. Probably of interest mainly to collectors... Overall Rating: Not applicable, but good nonetheless Eloy - Destination is another Bornemann/Gerlach collaboration. This album has definately cut back on the metal although it is still kind of heavy. An original band member, bassist Klaus Peter Matziol appears on two numbers. Many of the tunes feature Bornemann singing lead vocal in falsetto and this sounds amazingly like Jon Anderson/Yes. Overall Rating: Good ***

Phase One of Eloy is quite raw Floydian prog-rock with a simplistic line-up of guitar, Hammond organ, bass and drums. Frank Bornemann's vocals are a dead ringer for Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, though with audible evidence of a German accent. The combination works best on Inside, with its spacy side-long piece "Land Of No Body", full of swooshing phase-shifts. It begins sounding redundant by the time Floating rolled out, so they added synthesizers, and subsequently a new dimension in their sound developed. The Power And The Passion was the first of a long series of trippy concept albums full of warbling synthesizers, Gilmourian guitar and ever more pretentious lyrics about the inner workings of the universe. They perfected the mix on their next album, Dawn, on which the band was augmented by strings on several tracks. By the time of Silent Cries however, the band's albums reached such a point of homogeneity, all of them sounding rather the same, that they resorted to outright plagiarism. Note the similarity to the female vocal on "The Vision--Burning" to the female vocal on Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig In The Sky." And they thought we wouldn't notice. :) The eighties albums feature a slightly altered lineup with one guy on keyboards AND guitar, giving the option of either dual keyboards OR dual guitars. As a result, the sound is very rich, and Planets may be their best album. Celestial synth textures abound, over which Bornemann provides inspired guitar solos, and we even see the re-introduction of orchestra to their music on a few tracks. Some of their most intricate and worthwhile music is on this album. -- Mike Ohman

This band from Germany is excellent instrumentally. While their vocals are not necessarilly weak they do have a very heavy German accent, and for some can take a while to get used to. They have a total of 15 albums, not counting the sountrack to Codename Wild Geese. There are several different styles to their albums. Albums like Planets or Time to Turn are mellow symphonic progressive. While albums like Colours and Metromania are quite the opposite, with a harder edged progressive sound (with energy similar to early Marillion). On the album Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes they try to sound quite a bit like Pink Floyd. Any one of the above are a good place to start. On the other hand, their first three albums tend to be a little harsher than the rest, sounding more like a cross between a heavy metal band and Jethro Tull.

This German band, who's debut dates back to 1971, take to the '80s on Planets, with a soft and melodic symphonic rock. The band includes keyboards, voice/guitars, guitars, bass and drums. The songs are usually text-based (in English) and the rich keyboard arrangements set the tone. The guitars and rhythm section take on a solid but supportive role. The compositions are simple but remain efficient through careful presentation. A slow but energetic symphonic rock (Pink Floyd style) with a spacy flavour. -- Paul Charbonneau

Someone described these guys to me as "sounding like a different group on every album." In the spirit of this, I can definitely say that Ra sounds like new Yes, Ocean like excellent Grobschnitt, Power and The Passion like Tull, Floating like Pink Floyd. Definitely German, definitely interesting, nothing by these guys has really impressed me, although I'd have to say that Ocean was probably their best.

Frank Bornemann and company have long been considered the masters of modern space rock, picking up where Pink Floyd left off before they turned gloom and doom depression. Eloy's sound soars skyward, propelled by heavy guitar passages, cosmic synthe excursions, treated vocals and exotic special effects. Personally I find the earliest stuff (before Silent Cries) to be repetitive and sorta boring, while the later stuff (Colours onward) contains a lot more power and hyperdrive. Start with Performance or Colours.

I can never get over the thickly accented vocals, and vocals usually don't bother me. Perhaps it's the sing/speak stories of Poseidon, or the unevenness of their many recordings, or a lack of identity. Later recordings are more "metal like" and try to sound like Yes.

One of the better known bands of the German space/symphonic scene. Early albums, including their third, Floating is said to sound a lot like Tull, but at least in Floating, I don't hear it. The Floyd comparisons are valid, though. Floating combines some nice space elements with some great jamming and is a pretty decent album. Power and the Passion becomes a bit spacier as the Pink Floyd elements become more prevalent. It's a conceptual album about a kid who travels back to the year 1358 in his father's time machine. The spacey keyboards begin to play a dominant role where before they were better balanced with the guitar. By the way, it should be noted here that Frank Bornemann, guitarist, vocalist and purveyor of all that is Eloy, sings in English but with a pretty thick accent. I don't find it a bother but some folks seem to find it on the annoying side. Power and the Passion is decent but could use a little better material. Next comes Dawn which is another conceptual album. All the members of changed with the exception of Bornemann and it shows in the music. Because Bornemann writes most of the music the overall style is the same as on Power and the Passion but it is better executed. The album alternates between spacey and jamming. This is followed by Ocean, yet another concept album about Atlantis. Continuing the down the road started by Power and the Passion and Dawn, Ocean shows many Pink Floyd elements. This influence culminated in Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes, probably their best work to that point in time and perhaps even their best work ever. Strongly Pink Floyd influenced (circa Wish You Were Here), especially in the keyboard department. If you like melodic and spacey synth Prog served up ala Pink Floyd, check out Eloy. Definitely not bad but the writing and musicianship certainly can't be thought of as astounding. For early stuff, I recommend Floating which has some pretty nice jams.

They are a prolific German progressive rock band, whose brand of music is based on a keyboard/guitar foundation. It tends toward the melodic, and may be compared in some ways to Focus. However, since they are relatively well-known, many other German bands tend to be compared to them! Destination is a new release from the band whose recent material is probably best described as powerful symphonic rock. The lineup on this release is the same as that on Ra, the duo of Bornemann and Gerlach plus a bevy of guest musicians, and the music is in similar vein. There are eight tracks, most of which are in the 6 - 8 minute range, giving time for each track to develop musically. Bornemann provides vocals and operates guitars, riffing and soloing in his typical style, with full-sounding, melodic guitar licks amidst a wall of Gerlach's keyboards and the rhythm section. In conclusion, Destination is a logical extension to Eloy's more recent style, and will appeal to those who enjoyed Ra, Performance, etc.

The only LP I'm familiar with is Floating. There these guys manage to cobble together a unique sound that's half Hawkwind, half very early Deep Purple (ca. "Hush"). There are good jams throughout, highlighted by Manfred Wieczorke's superbly spacey organ playing, and suitably loopy lyrics. This manages to straddle the border between progressive rock and hard rock very effectively, and should appeal equally to fans in both camps. Highly recommended. -- Doug Bassett

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