With Understanding Comes Appreciation
Eloy's masterpiece, period.
Ocean delivers shivers on your spine with that spacey rhythm the band is so famous for. Each track here contains a "chapter" of the story of a marine city's birth, rise and decay, an apocalyptical epic journey through layers of synths and powerful guitar notes that make it a mesmerizing and at the same time accessible album. This is one of the legendary prog albums that must be considered in the whole history of progressive music. Some 6 years into their career, Eloy came up with what is arguably their defining album. Ocean is a four track concept album of breathtaking beauty and refinement. When listening to the music here, it is all too easy to forget that it dates from 1977 since the sound is as vibrant and fresh today as it was then. The tale, which is based around the legendary city of Atlantis, is played out lyrically and instrumentally with spoken word and spacey sounds alternating with strong melodies and harmonic vocals. Hence we have an album which defies categorisation. At times this is indeed space rock, but it is also highly symphonic. On top of that, the album arguably represents one of the first examples of the genre now defined as neo-prog, its influences being apparent in the music of bands such as Jadis, IQ and Pendragon.
In terms of influences on the music, the sound of Pink Floyd is strong, especially the "Wish You Were Here" era. The drifting synth background used to such great effect on "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is apparent throughout, with the opening "Poseidon's Creation" being particularly partial to the nuances of that piece. The closing ""Atlantis Agony..." on the other hand has a synth solo which is very reminiscent of "Welcome to the Machine." This however is not simply a WYWH clone album. The sounds and influences are taken and developed, then incorporated into what was at the time a highly original piece of music. Even today, Ocean has the sound and content of a highly accomplished album.