ELI - 1977
This was the first album which Jan produced after leaving FOCUS and saw him once again team up with two old comrades in Pierre van der Linden and Kaz Lux. It won a Grammy award.
Eli was complex concept album concerning the dream life of a woodcutter and contains references to the Swedish playwright August Strindberg who was famous for developing symbolic dramas such as the "Dance of Death" which seems to have an influenced on Kaz Lux's lyrics.
Jan's guitar playing is sparse and rhythmic with a total absence of the type of guitar solos he made famous in FOCUS. The title track is a good example with some excellent rhythm guitar playing. The album shows Jan developing a leaning towards a jazz style of guitar playing which can be heard on tracks like "Guardian angel", "Can't fake a good time", and "There he still goes" which would resurface on his next album.
The best tracks on the album include the instrumental track "Tranquilliser" and the "Naked actress" which has a solid groove some good soulful singing from Lux and probably contains the best guitar playing on the whole album.
Definitely worth a listen as it is now on CD.
Timothy Baugh
This page was made by Rodrigo Mantovani.