The last of the trilogy of excellent albums made from 1976-1
Jeffrey J.Park | Massachusetts, USA | 04/09/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This 1979 album opens with an incredibly spacey synth introduction (Astral Entrance) that would not have been out of place on the album Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd, 1975). In fact, the combination of Gilmour-esque guitar playing, the wall of synthesizers, and the chord sequence sounds a little...well, TOO familiar. It's not a big deal for me though - I love both Pink Floyd and Eloy, and musicians are generally fond of quoting one another as a form of tribute.
However, once Master of Sensation kicks in with the punchy, trebly, bass of Klaus-Peter Matziol, the virtuosic drumming of Jurgen Rosenthal, and the heavy Germanic accent of vocalist/guitarist Frank Bornemann, it becomes clear that this is in fact an Eloy album. I know this has been stated a billion times before, but a lot of people don't like Frank's vocals, citing his thick accent as a major problem - I for one like his vocals quite a lot. In addition to Frank, there are some "soulful" female backup vocals by Brigitte Witt on a few tunes - in fact they don't sound unlike the vocal parts on Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd, 1973). The lineup on this album is simply spectacular, and along with great keyboardist Detlev Schmidtchen and his spacey keyboard work (Arp synth, mini-moog, mellotron, and Hammond organ), generated the best music Eloy made in the 1970s (including the albums Dawn (1976) and Ocean (1977). Unfortunately, drummer Jurgen Rosenthal and keyboardist Detlev Schmidtchen left Eloy after this album, which is a pity - they really contributed a lot to the band.
The 6 tracks on the album range in length from the 3'03 Astral Entrance to the 14'55" mini epic The Apocalypse. The lyrics by drummer Jurgen Rosenthal are pretty cosmic and I have absolutely no clue what he was writing about, but then that's part of the fun of listening to 1970s prog.
The remastered album by EMI is excellent although copy-control technology was used and some folks have complained about playback problems. I for one have played this copy controlled product on everything including a cheap Sony discman; my laptop; and an excellent Harmon-Kardon CD player with no playback problems whatsoever. The liner notes are detailed, although they are in German, and there are loads of band photos scattered throughout. Like all of the Eloy albums, the sound quality is excellent with good separation, crisp highs, and deep bass. The two bonus tracks include the not-so-great Child Migration and the slightly better Let the Sun Rise in my Brain.
All in all, this is an excellent album of well played spacey prog and is highly recommended along with Dawn (1976), Ocean (1977), and Planets (1981)."
Inspired, Inspiring
Mark Champion | San Antonio, TX United States | 10/24/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Well, at least you can appreciate their inspiration. I doubt, however, that Pink Floyd or Hawkwind would ever feel the need to appropriate Neal Peart to drum for them. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery these guys were indeed on the edge of time, as they point out in 'Master Of Sensation'. Not that they could ever cut it - - both WISH YOU WERE HERE and WARRIOR ON THE EDGE OF TIME came out in 1975, and this sort of lumbered along (echoing as it came, you see) in their wake three years later. Best track: 'Force Majeure' for two reasons - - 1) It's a familiar-sounding instrumental; and 2) It flattered Tangerine Dream so much that they were inspired to name their next album in its honor the following year."
Metaphysical art rock
Zeus Pendragon | 02/02/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes is the only Eloy album comparable to Ocean in scope. Very long and well crafted songs (five this time) are the last statement from this line up before its breaking up. Jurgen Rosenthal and Detlev Schimdtchen would leave the band after this album.
The first song is divided in two parts. The first one, Astral Entrance, could be compared with many Pink Floyd tunes such as Shine on Your Crazy Diamond. However, any floydy reference is blown away when the band kicks in with Matziol bass taking on a leading role. Master of Sensation, the second part, features some excellent guitar and synth work while Rosenthal's drumming is outstanding.
The Apocalypse is the epic of the album. This song is divided into three parts. Parts I & II are fairly standard Eloy material (That means excellent!) featuring, again, excellent instrumentation and a beautiful female choir. The last section, Force Majeure shows us Eloy at its best. Pumping bass playing, some percussion, powerful guitar chords and especially excellent synth work which really gives the song the necessary scope. At times you can hear until five synths at the same time. Brilliant!
Next three songs are a bit shorter. Pilot to Paradise is a driving and dynamic song where bass is pumping again and the drum fills remind of some Neil Peart's work. The main melody is beautiful, with a very symphonic feel. The last section is heavier with Bornemann's guitar solo taking the leading role.
De Labore Solis is a beautiful atmospheric song that features some lovely synth work and some beatiful harmonies and melodies.
Mighty Echoes ends the album with another classic, symphonic kind of melody. Before the end there is a break that features some intricate synth work before the band repeats the main theme until the album is finished.
Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes rivals Ocean thematically and musically. The scope is similar and the lyrics are great dealing with some religious, or if you want, metaphysical issues. Very poetic, philosophical and profound lyrics as Eloy got us used to. As usual artwork is fantastic and the atmosphere of the album is quite unique.
The bonus tracks in this remastered edition are very good and are not live versions of songs from the album. Both, Child Migration and Let the Sun Rise in Your Brain deserved to be released as official tracks in any other album. The latter would have found its right place in Colours, for instance."
Hard to believe great prog could be released in 1979
BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 03/18/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"And that's true, given how bad in shape the prog rock scene was by 1979. We all know about punk and disco taking a toll on the genre, the punk rock scene accusing prog rock of being pretentious, while the disco scene basically asked everyone to party and have a good time (not to mention it generated a lot of money for the record companies), meaning there was no time for intellectual lyrics and extended compositions (and I don't mean some extended version of "Love to Love You, Baby", since it still conforms to disco rules) and tricky time signatures. Pretty much just about every prog rock band in 1979 had seen their best days behind them and many of them sounding really hopeless finding themselves during changing fads (since most weren't in to disco or punk, they simply became much more mainstream and pop-oriented, if they survived this long, that is).
One band that completely avoided that and totally ignored those changing fads was Eloy. In 1977 they recorded one of their finest albums ever, Ocean, and against all odds, became a huge seller in Germany outselling much better known acts as Genesis and Queen in Eloy's home country. And how do they follow up with that masterpiece? With Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes, which was recorded at the end of 1978 (November and December), and released in '79. I call it a miracle this album even came out, because the band simply ignored whatever fads were in their place (New Wave was becoming big in '79) and still recorded prog like it was still 1975 (and in fact, aside from the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano, most of the other keyboards used on this album were made before '75, so no polyphonic synths here like the Prophet V or Yamaha CS-80). And you know what? This album was another German smash hit!
And speaking of 1975, the opening cut, "Astral Entrance" sounds so much like a missing piece from Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" from Wish You Were Here (from 1975) that you can easily get mistakened for a lost Wish You Were Here session. Here Detlev Schmidtchen used those same droning string synths that Rick Wright did on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", with Frank Bornemann giving those David Gilmour-like lead guitars. And in fact this album has a stronger emphasis to Bornemann's lead guitar playing than did Ocean. "Master of Sensation" finds the whole band kicking in, with prepared piano that's not unlike something off Meddle. Lots of nice Moog solos too. "The Apocalypse" is a wonderful three part epic, with lots of great string synths, Hammond organ, and Moog, and some female choruses. "De Labore Solis" is a very spacy ballad that's not unlike some of the spacier moments of Ocean, while "Mighty Echoes" has some rather dominate Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano, and an ELP reference in the lyrics ("Just take a pebble and cast it to the silent sea", or something like that.
This album also marked the end of Detlev Schmidtchen and Jurgen Rosenthal's stay in the band. According to Frank Bornemann their departure was because of their egos. Both Schmidtchen and Rosenthal did continue on as Ego on the Rocks and around 1981 released the album Acid in Wounderland, which unsurprisingly, has an Eloy-like sound. Eloy continued on until 1984 with some new guys (Hannes Arkona, Hannes Folberth, Jim McGillivray, and after 1981, Fritz Randow returning, replacing McGillivray), and of course the reunion in 1988 with Michael Gerlach.
Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes only proves how to do prog rock in the ever difficult times of 1979, and it's an album I very much highly recommend."
Track Listings (5) - Disc #1
