''Beyond the Astral Skies'' is the third and final album by

Electric Sun Electric Sun was a heavy metal band formed by Uli Jon Roth after his departure from the Scorpions in 1978. They recorded three albums between 1979 and 1985. Their first album, ''Earthquake'', was released in 1979 and features guitarist/vocalis ...

. It was released in 1985 on

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

Track listing

* All songs composed by Uli Jon Roth # "The Night the Master Comes" - 4:16 # "What Is Love?" - 3:24 # "Why?" - 4:51 # "I'll Be There" - 5:02 # "Return (Chant of Angels)" - 3:27 # "Icebreaker" - 2:39 # "I'm a River" - 4:45 # "Angel of Peace" - 3:43 # "Eleison" - 6:56 # "Son of Sky" - 2:21

Personnel

*Michael Flexig (as Michael Flechsig) - lead vocals on 2, 6, 9, 10, harmony vocals on 1-4, 6-10 *

Uli Jon Roth Uli Jon Roth (born Ulrich Roth; 18 December 1954) is a German guitarist who became famous for his work with the hard rock band Scorpions and is one of the earliest contributors to the neoclassical metal genre. He is also the founder of Sky Aca ...

- lead and backing

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, bass *

Nicky Moore Nicholas Charles Moore (21 June 1947 – 3 August 2022) was an English blues, rock and heavy metal singer, who was best known as a member of the British band Samson. He replaced Bruce Dickinson who left the band to join Iron Maiden in 1982. ...

- harmony vocals on 1 *Ule Ritgen -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, harmony vocals on 2, 4 *

Clive Bunker Clive William Bunker (born 30 December 1946) is a British drummer. Bunker is best known as the original drummer of the rock band Jethro Tull, playing in the band from 1967 until 1971. Never a self-professed technical drummer, Bunker engage ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, timpani *Elizabeth Mackenzie -

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

and

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

on 9 *Robert Curtis -

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

on 9 *Jenni Evans - harmony vocals on 1, 5, 6, 8 *Dorothy Patterson - harmony vocals on 5, 6 *

Zeno Roth Jochen "Zeno" Roth (30 June 1956 – 5 February 2018) was a German guitarist and songwriter, playing in a neoclassical/blues style. He was the younger brother of guitarist Uli Jon Roth. Biography In the 1970s, Roth and Ule W. Ritgen formed B ...

- harmony vocals on 1, 3, 6, 8 *Rainer Przywara - harmony vocals on 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10

Production

*Produced by Uli Jon Roth

Influence

The composer-guitarist Andy DiGelsomina of

Lyraka Lyraka is a multimedia art project. There has been one musical CD released from the project, Lyraka Volume 1, with another in the works. Also in the making is a graphic novel collaboration between the project's original creator, Jasmine Aliara, an ...

has mentioned the album as containing both his favorite guitar solos and tones.Interview with Andy DiGelsomina on the Lyraka website
quote: "...all my absolute favorite guitar solos and tones are on "Beyond the Astral Skies".

References

1985 albums Electric Sun albums {{1980s-hard-rock-album-stub