Eloy

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For the Spanish footballer, see José Olaya Prendes. For the city in Arizona, see Eloy, Arizona.

Eloy
Eloy logo
Background information
Origin	Germany
Genres	progressive rock, symphonic rock, space rock, psychedelic rock
Years active	1969–1984, 1988–present
Labels	Philips (1971) EMI/Harvest (1973–1984)
Website	Eloy

Members	Frank Bornemann Michael Gerlach Hannes Folberth Steve Mann Klaus-Peter Matziol Bodo Schopf

Past members	Erich Schriever Manfred Wieczorke Helmuth Draht Wolfgang Stöcker Fritz Randow Luitjen Janssen Detlef "Pitter" Schwaar Detlev Schmidtchen Jürgen Rosenthal Hannes Arkona Jim McGillivray

Eloy is a German progressive rock band, whose musical style includes symphonic and space rock, the latter theme being more prevalent on earlier albums. Despite their nationality and time period, the band is not generally considered krautrock because of their sound, which has much more in common with English symphonic rock groups such as Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Yes and Camel.

History

Founded in 1969 by guitarist Frank Bornemann, the band has endured several line-up changes, with Bornemann being the only consistent member of the group. In the 1980s, after a series of major splits in the group, Bornemann pursued a more commercial direction. Despite attracting a large following in Germany, the band never gained popularity in the United States. However, in later years, former members of the band re-joined, and in 1998 released the album Ocean 2, a return to the classic symphonic progressive rock genre for which the band was well known.

Bornemann described the origin of the name of the band thus: "The name Eloy is based on the book 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells. Wells describes in his book the situation of mankind about 800,000 years later, and 'Eloy' is a human race in his story. The Eloy in Wells' story have made a new start with the help of the time traveler. In a way, it was a new beginning for the human race. German rock bands in the late 1960s played mainly covers from other bands instead of playing their own compositions. Record deals for German bands were absolutely rare and German bands generally were considered to be second class bands in their own country. At that time it was a strong effort for a German band to come out with only their own compositions. It was a start into an unknown future, and from this point of view, comparable to the human race in Wells' story. That is why I got the idea to name the band 'Eloy'."^[1]

In August 2009, it was announced that Eloy would be reforming for a new album. "The strong feedback from all parts of the world, which has been around for many years, eventually reached the musicians themselves. And so Frank Bornemann, lead singer, guitarist and producer of Eloy, has brought the band together again for a 40th anniversary reunion. After a break of eleven years, they launched a new album with the title 'Visionary' aiming to recapture the spirit of the early years.

The 'The Legacy Box' double DVD was released in December 2010 and contains numerous videos and TV recordings from all the band's periods, as well as a comprehensive documentary of the band's history with interviews, a photo gallery and many other features. "^[2]

The band played at festivals in Germany and Switzerland in July 2011 with the personnel largely the same as on the 1994-1995 tour.^[3]

Eloy cancelled their first-ever performance in North America. The band was supposed to headline the North East Art Rock Festival on Sunday, June 24, 2012.^[4] The cancellation was due to Frank Bornemann's injury following a road accident in March 2012.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Date
Eloy	1971
Inside	1973
Floating	1974
Power and the Passion	1975
Dawn	1976
Ocean	1977
Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes	1979
Colours	1980
Planets	1981
Time to Turn	1982
Performance	1983
Metromania	1984
Codename Wildgeese (soundtrack)	1984
Ra	1988
Destination	1992
The Tides Return Forever	1994
Ocean 2: The Answer	1998
Visionary	2009

Compilation / remix albums / box sets

Title	Date
Rarities	1991
Chronicles I	1993
Chronicles II	1994
The Best of Eloy Vol.I - The Early Days 1972-1975	1994
The Best of Eloy Vol.II - The Prime 1976-1979	1996
Timeless Passages	2003
The Legacy Box	2010

Live albums

Title	Date
Live	1978
Live Impressions (DVD)	2013
Reincarnation on Stage (2 CD + DVD)	2014

Band members

**Official Eloy members**
1971–1972	Frank Bornemann - guitar Erich Schriever - vocal, keyboards Manfred Wieczorke - guitar, bass, vocal Helmuth Draht - drums Wolfgang Stöcker - bass
1973	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Manfred Wieczorke - organ, guitar, vocal Wolfgang Stöcker - bass Fritz Randow - drums
1974	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Manfred Wieczorke - organ, guitar, vocal Luitjen Janssen - bass Fritz Randow - drums
1975	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Detlef "Pitter" Schwaar - guitar Manfred Wieczorke - organ, guitar, vocal Luitjen Janssen - bass Fritz Randow - drums
1976–1979	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Klaus-Peter Matziol - bass Detlev Schmidtchen - keyboards Jürgen Rosenthal - drums
1980–1981	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Klaus-Peter Matziol - bass Hannes Arkona - guitar Hannes Folberth - keyboards Jim McGillivray - drums
1982–1984	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Klaus-Peter Matziol - bass Hannes Arkona - guitar Hannes Folberth - keyboards Fritz Randow - drums
1984–1987	Band split.
1988–1993	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Michael Gerlach - keyboards
1994–1997	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Michael Gerlach - keyboards Klaus-Peter Matziol - bass
1998–2010	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Michael Gerlach - keyboards Klaus-Peter Matziol - bass Bodo Schopf - drums Hannes Folberth - keyboards
2011–present	Frank Bornemann - guitar, vocal Michael Gerlach - keyboards Klaus-Peter Matziol - bass Bodo Schopf - drums Hannes Folberth - Keyboards Steve Mann - Guitar

References

External links

Official Eloy Website
Eloy at www.progweed.net
Eloy's biography (in German) - http://www.germanrock.de/e/eloy
Eloy page on Gnosis2000.net
Rétrospective Eloy on Bigbangmag.com (in French)
Mert Gocay's Eloy page
Eloy on Progarchives

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