Eela Craig

Eela Craig was an Austrian rock band of the 1970s and 80s that combined progressive rock with Jazz and classical music influences as well as Christian lyrics. The band's name is without known meaning.
The band was founded in Linz in 1970 and recorded its first album entitled Eela Craig in 1971 with a circulation of 1500. Critics compared this album with established bands such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer, King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Colosseum. The band had a few onstage performances with the Zürich Chamber Orchestra in 1972, which led to more performances in well known opera houses of Italy, Germany and Austria, very uncommon venues for a rock band at the time.
The band signed a contract with Vertigo Records in 1975 to release a number of singles and albums, including the Christian concept album Missa Universalis and a signature ethereal style cover version of Chris de Burgh's A Spaceman Came Travelling, both released in 1978.
Missa Universalis was a musical translation of a (Catholic) high mass, which embraced lyrics in Latin, German, English and French languages. The compositions resembled the works of Anton Bruckner, mixed with elements of rock and electronic music. The premiere was performed at the Brucknerfest of the city of Linz and received positive acceptance.
The band was largely inactive between 1982 and 1986, but the two founding members produced solo music under the Bognermayr/Zuschrader name with Bognermayr's own New Age label Erdenklang. 1987 saw the release of three singles, which were targeted to match the contemporary Pop Music style. Eela Craig released their last album Hit or Miss in 1987.
On 17 November, 1995, the band reunited for a one-time live performance in Linz. At the same time, Hubert Bognermayr published a compilation of the band's music entitled Symphonic Rock.
Eela Craig
Eela Craig - A Spaceman Came Travelling (3 CD Set)
Artist: Eela Craig
P:  1976 -1980 / 2025

More than 250 concerts in 7 countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Romania) have made the Austrian progressive rock legend EELA CRAIG an internationally acclaimed band. The stages range from renowned opera houses such as the Frankfurt Opera and the Hamburg Opera to the Philharmonie Berlin and major venues such as the Konzerthaus Vienna, the Stadthalle Vienna and the Wiener Festwochen. The diversity of their musical journey is also reflected in international appearances, including Zurich, Istanbul, Bucharest and the renowned "Sagra Musicale Umbra" festival in Perugia, Italy. From 1971 to 1980, EELA CRAIG released five studio albums, and in 1978 the band ventured into a "rock mass" with "Missa Universalis": a multilingual high mass in a strict liturgical style with instrumental use of electronics and elements of rock music. The mass includes all parts of the Ordinary of the Mass and makes use of the prescribed standard texts in Latin, German, English and French. Old chorale and Bruckner motifs can be heard in the compositions. The performance of the "Missa Universalis" at the 1978 International Bruckner Festival met with an extraordinary response. Die Zeit wrote at the time: "Pop music conquered the Brucknerfest 1978 with "Missa Universalis"". The Münchener Merkur wrote: "EELA CRAIG's music is a perfect blend of old forms and new sounds New sounds. This group goes further than Pink Floyd, their imagination is bigger and more expansive."
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