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The sound of an organ with an ancient flavor breaks the silence and takes over the room. I let myself surrender to the vibration, a journey back in time. “Power and the Passion” is precisely about this, a tormented love story that transcends time. But also about how human relationships, over the centuries, have not evolved at the same pace as technology.
An ingenious concept album perhaps in the lyrics, but decidedly valuable in content, both conceptual and musical. The year is 1975, and the Teutonic Eloy have reached their fourth work, completing the change in stylistic and expressive register started with “Inside.” Leaving behind the hard rock of their beginnings, the group approaches a symphonic prog characterized by extensive instrumental digressions. A music with a strong visionary impact. “Power and the Passion” is a dreamlike journey that unfolds between hypnotic bass lines and plentiful keyboards, with the Hammond always in great prominence. Essential atmospheres, almost fairy-tale-like, at times reminiscent of early Pink Floyd. Airy arrangements upon which the caressing melodies of guitars stand, rarely aggressive.
The notes flow like images from a film. From the sudden plunge into the past (“Journey into 1358”) to the suspended melodies of the splendid “Love Over Six Centuries,” with its engaging acted dialogues. A love that blossoms and strengthens, passing through stories of insurgency (“Mutiny”) and imprisonment (“Imprisonment”). But the desire to return to real life is great (“Thoughts of Home”) and its realization (“Back Into the Present”) is not as expected. The epilogue is, in fact, a song of disillusionment (“The Bells of Notre Dame”) and the protagonist finds himself bewildered in his own reality and prisoner of that sweet memory. No happy ending. We always reach the same crossroads: to let oneself be overcome by despair or to continue steadfastly on one's path? The protagonist's choice in this story we will probably never know. We do know, however, that Eloy is still active today. An almost forty-year career, always lived in the underground yet characterized by commendable works. Theirs is indeed a story of stubborn passion.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
04 Mutiny (09:08)
Your father told me I can stay,
But he mistrusts my unfamiliar ways:
He want's to use the things I've learnt
Six hundred years of knowledge sorely earned.
But if we can stay together,
I don't mind the things he tells me:
Of defending him in mutiny,
I don't care if you're there, I don't care
One the farms they've made a stand,
Against the hated iron hands, they're uniting
They're backed by everyone in town,
And I must ride to beat them down, how they're fighting:
But I understand their cause
To fight against the laws, they're right:
I promised to defend
your father to the end and fight
The hatred's there in their eyes,
They'll break his might it's no surprise if they do it:
But I must take the other side
And somehow learn to stand and fight, and come through it:
Though there's little chance
That I beat bow and lance, I must:
Our love drives me on
For you're the only one I can trust.
06 Daylight (02:38)
Daylight, back to daylight,
see the sun break through the trees
Daylight, back to daylight,
turning darkness into peace
Daylight, daylight, freedom once again
Daylight, daylight, farewell to the chains
Living can be easy if you take life in your stride
I see new horizons push my loneliness aside.
10 The Bells of Notre Dame (06:40)
It seems like a dream that's come to an end
But it still carries on,
I don't know what to think, it's unreal
The world seems to start outside of my body
I don't know what I feel.
In these four hallowed walls
the peal of the bells remind me
of my journey through time
but Jeanne still remains in my memory
I wish she were with me,
I need her here.
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