Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Eloy
Label: EMI Records
Release: 1976
Rating: 4.5/5
With “Dawn” Eloy made a gigantic leap in their musical evolution. After the release of “Power And The Passion” (1975), their first bold foray into the world of concept albums, which many now count as one of the cult albums of space rock but which never got the commercial breakthrough everyone hoped for, a rift opened up between guitarist/singer/producer Frank Bornemann and the rest of the band. The main difference showed up in where the band’s sound should go next. While Frank wanted to take the band up to the next, more refined symphonic prog rock level through a more sophisticated sound and a range of orchestral arrangements, the “rebels” wanted to keep going down the space rock road, with a heavy emphasis on hard rock interplay between Hammond organ and guitar riffs, plus the odd long solo excursion. Since Frank had by then established himself as the undisputed boss of the band, the others had to hit the road. While they went their separate ways (keyboardist Manfred Wieczorke joined Jane, an obscure but fairly popular band in their native Germany), Frank had to build a new version of Eloy from scratch. His vision paid off, and he upgraded the band with even better musicians. Wieczorke, who was mostly obsessed with the sound of the Hammond organ, was replaced by the far more versatile Detlef Schimdtchen, who enriched their symphonic sound even further with a colorful selection of organs, Moog and Mellotron. Klaus Peter-Matziol, with his sophisticated, melodic approach, noticeably raised the bar on bass. The drum stool went to Jürgen Rosenthal, former drummer of German heavy rock icons Scorpions, whom Frank had met while producing the Scorpions album “Fly To The Rainbow”. Rosenthal’s drumming style was in many ways reminiscent of Neil Peart (Rush), so he was pretty much a bullseye. With this lineup, Eloy became the most successful German progressive rock band for several years and, if I leave out the electronic dreamers Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, the only one to pull off a notable commercial breakthrough outside their home turf.
“Dawn” was thus the key album that catapulted Eloy from obscure space rockers heavily influenced by Pink Floyd and Uriah Heep into world-renowned representatives of progressive rock. By this point in their career the band’s sound had moved very close to symphonic prog in the vein of Yes or Genesis. The Hammond organ was no longer dominant, becoming just one integral part of a broad palette of keyboards. The keyboard lines and Frank’s guitar passages began to flow into each other in building certain motifs to the point where they almost completely fused, much as was typical of Genesis. The more-than-obvious psychedelic ties to Pink Floyd were successfully trimmed down this time to a minimum, mostly covering a few more ambient moments, while the art/hard rock influence all but vanished, apart from Frank’s use of guitar riffs. Another important source of the enriched symphonic refinement is that Frank brought in a symphony orchestra under Wolfgang Maus, who contributed a sizeable share of mighty symphonic arrangements. Combined with their trademark energetic guitar riffing and sophisticated keyboards, these give the album an utterly majestic and esoteric atmosphere. Another important change is the introduction of female choir vocals, which from then on became a notable element of most of their albums. Frank’s German-accented vocals are still a matter of personal taste, but he’d clearly improved by now at stressing individual English words. Frank’s production also took a more-than-noticeable step forward on “Dawn,” and I’d say it was among the best in progressive rock at the time.
Although “Dawn” was conceived as a concept album, there’s no actual written concept to be found on it, because it was deliberately designed so that each listener builds their own concept. Thanks to the esoteric atmosphere and the nature of the individual arrangements, in my own mental picture the album leads you on a spiritual journey through space, from the birth of our world and back down to solid ground again. Most of the lyrics, which are as usual one of their weaker points, mostly revolve around the influence of the sun on human life and
eternal questions both within and beyond time and space. In the tradition of concept albums, the tracks flow straight from one into the next.
The opening “Awakening” begins with the sounds of a storm, the kind that could only have raged at the dawn of life on our planet, and with extremely tasteful orchestral arrangements in which melancholic violins play the lion’s share. Then a subtle guitar and slightly frenetic vocals slip in within the orchestral melody, backed by a refined rhythm. After the first transition comes “Between The Times,” which is split into four different sections. The first wins you over with an energetic guitar riff backed by dynamic drums, which brings some
of that original Eloy heavy rock magic into the symphonic arrangements. The next section, “Memory Flash,” calms the mood a little with soft layers of keyboards. After a symphonic arrangement comes “Appearance Of The Voice,” with an extremely subtle guitar solo supported by fine symphonic curtains. A female voice joins in here, and again a calmer section follows. “Return Of The Voice” brings in a dramatic heavy rock motif with a combination of punchy riffing and fiery drum fills. “The Sun Song” opens with gorgeous melancholic symphonic curtains and a fragile guitar melody. Here the band gradually builds up a dramatic atmosphere by slowly introducing orchestral arrangements. Frank, despite his accent “flaw,” gives it everything on vocals this time. The first transition brings in the “space” section, where orchestral arrangements and dramatic passages on guitar and keyboards blend together in an incredibly artful way.
After a sudden ending, the composition flows into “The Dance In Doubt And Fear”. It opens with a dramatic build-up on bass and kick drum while symphonic Mellotron curtains swirl in the background. In between you can hear some distant, unintelligible narration, which can get a bit annoying at times because of the very strong German accent. Frank’s guitar is run through various effects here, producing a particularly subtle sound. It’s one of the few moments on the album where you can feel the Pink Floyd influence again. A proper school in refinement and subtlety. Next up is “Lost!? (Introduction)”, which opens with dramatic choir vocals and Moog sounds, repeating at intervals until an energetic drum break kicks in. Here a great Moog solo drops in, driven up by a dramatic rhythm and mighty guitar passages, and the whole thing is wrapped up by a melancholic vocal. The ending brings the sound of rolling waves and exceptionally beautiful, gentle orchestral arrangements. The follow-up “Lost!?? (Decision)” opens with the dramatic sound of organs and waves of Mellotron, which together weave an exceptionally melancholic mood. Within the delicate symphonic curtains, guitar, bass and drums come in at intervals. While Matziol weaves his melodic bass lines, Bornemann asks in his vocals which way humanity is sailing and whether the future lies in the stars and exploring the expanses of space after all.
Next comes (in my opinion) the peak of the album: “The Midnight Fight/The Victory Of The Mental Force,” which opens with the rustling of wind, a drum build-up on cymbals and the sound of organs. The dramatic vocal slowly ratchets up the tense atmosphere before they bring in energetic passages in great style, with drums, guitar and organ battling it out. A turbulent riff sits perfectly on a bouncing rhythm, and both are accompanied in the background by tasteful orchestral arrangements . In the middle section too, orchestral arrangements on violins are laid with great delicacy over sharpened guitar riffs and witty drum fills. In the closing part, energetic guitar passages, Hammonds and a red-hot rhythm hone each other against one another, with a witty guitar solo thrown in. A composition that is without a doubt one of the highlights of their career. The melancholic “Gliding Into Light And Knowledge” opens with electronic keyboard sounds and a delicate guitar melody. Spacey passages on the Moog synth combined with orchestral arrangements crank up the dramatic mood while Frank’s vocal in the “Le Réveil Du Soleil” section sings a hymn to the sun. Conceptually that part is admittedly under the more-than-obvious influence of Yes and their “Nous Sommes Du Soleil” from “Tales From The Topographic Oceans” (1973), but the structure is completely different and the atmosphere is far more mysterious. A longer “space” instrumental section follows, with a string of electronic sounds, colorful percussion with bells on the forehead, a dreamy guitar melody with the obligatory delicate solo, and a palette of female choir vocals. The excellent closing solos on guitar and Moog are finger-licking good, proving how far the band had come since the previous album as individual instrumentalists. The closing title section “Dawn” ends with an almost
shamanic percussion sound and a call to the sun to “rise.” An excellent finish to this splendid album. Its current reissue has a slightly altered number of tracks, as the shorter pieces from the second to the fifth were merged together as sections of “Between The Times,” while the closing track is split into two parts. I based this review on that edition.
With “Dawn” Eloy created the first of their trilogy of space rock masterpieces from the second half of the 70s, made during the most fertile period of their career. “Dawn” has the wonderful quality of effortlessly carrying the listener’s consciousness off on an unforgettable spiritual journey through space. For a fuller experience, I think this kind of esoteric album is best listened to in the dark. The gorgeous symphonic arrangements manage to carry the listener on a long trip through space and time and back down to Earth, where in the end they offer thanks in a hymn to one of the main sources of life – the sun. For that reason I think it rightly deserves masterpiece status and a place among the best prog rock albums of the second half of the 70s. With this album Eloy finally managed to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best British and Italian (symphonic) prog acts – a small achievement for the world rock scene, but a big one for the German one. Frank took a big risk by starting completely from scratch, but it more than paid off, because he created one of the band’s three key albums, the one that finally pushed them onto the world map of rock music.
Line-up
Fank Bornemann – vocals, guitar
Klaus-Peter Matziol – bass guitar, vocals
Detlev Schmidtchen – keyboards, mellotron, guitar, backing vocals
Jürgen Rosenthal – drums, percussion, voices
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Symphony orchestra conducted by Wolfgang Maus
Production
Frank Bornemann
Track list
1. Awakening (2:38)
2. Between the Times (1:50)
3. Memory Flash (1:55)
4. Appearance of The Voice (1:12)
5. Return of The Voice (1:08)
6. The Sun Song (4:55)
7. The Dance in Doubt and Fear (4:27)
8. Lost!?? (Introduction) (5:15)
9. Lost?? (The Decision) (5:51)
10. The Midnight Fight/The Victory of Mental Force (7:18)
11. Gliding into Light and Knowledge/The Dawn (11:04)
Album length: 48:08
Track list from the 2004 reissue:
1. Awakening (2:39)
2. Between The Times (6:07)
– a. Between The Times
– b. Memory Flash
– c. Appearance of The Voice
– d. Return of The Voice
3. The Sun-Song (4:24)
4. The Dance in Doubt and Fear (4:28)
5. Lost!? (Introduction) (5:20)
6. Lost?? (The Decision) (5:01)
7. The Midnight Fight/The Victory of Mental Force (8:07)
8. Gliding into Light and Knowledge (4:16)
9. Le Réveil Du Soleil / The Dawn (6:48)
Album length: 48:12
