The story of OMEGA's fourth album is a little confusing. As an old fan of the group I remember having their fourth LP c
alled "Elo Omega", packaged in aluminum sleeve (yes, the first pressing of that album was packaged in aluminum sleeve,
later it came out in regular cardboard package). It was a "live" album and not knowing the story behind it, I took it a
t the face value and just enjoyed the record. Too bad I don't have that vinyl anymore, the aluminum packaged LP is supp
osed to be very rare by now.
Anyway, a few years ago I came across this remastered version of OMEGA's fourth album published on CD. When I listened
to it for the first time I was quite surprised, it is a "studio album"!!! This made me do some Internet research and fi
nally I found out that this remastered version (included here) is the fourth album as the band intended it to be. Howev
er, the communist authorities refused to allow this album to be published and the "Elo Omega" came out instead.
Now the story becomes a bit more confusing. Some sources, like progarchives for example, say that:
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This long pla
y record includes recordings from OMEGA concerts, which took place from 17th january till 10th march 1972. It was publi
shed as a substitute for the LP "200 .vvel az utols. h.bor. ut.n", which was falled victim to censorship.
Other souces claim that "Elo Omega" was a "fake" and that the original album, when it was refused to be published, unde
rwent a little "treatment". The offending track "200 evvel az utolso harboru utan" was deleted, other tracks' order was
a bit re-shuffled and the public applause effects were mixed into the original tracks (in studio) to simulate the "liv
e recording".
Which verion of the story is true, I don't know. However, I do know that this (remastered) version contains all the tra
cks from "Elo Omega" plus the title track previously omitted. I also have the original "Elo Omega" on CD-R (the first d
isc from the 3-CD package of "Omega - Osszes Koncertfelvetele 1" is basically the same as "Elo Omega" with one older tr
ack added). Also, being a "nutty collector" I have the original unremastered CD version of "Elo Omega" on order and hop
e to get it in a few weeks. So, if someone doesn't do this sooner, I hope to be able to present to you the "Elo Omega"
in its original form when I get it.
For now, let's enjoy the remastered and "as intended" version. It is basically the same music, in better sound quality.
The only reason for presenting "Elo Omega" would be (if it can happen) that it has a different feel to it...
Next part of OMEGA history, as written at easternrock.nm.ru:
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Nothing seemed to stop Omega from becoming even more successful, but 1971 brought news about Locomotiv GT - H
ungarian first supergroup - being formed with help from Presser and Laux. Everyone thought that loss of Presser . Omega
's prime mover . will immediately ruin the band. Instead, they brought in Ferenc Debreceni (ex. . Neoton) as a new drum
mer, while Benko assumed main composer's role. Then, if there was not enough trouble, their next-to-be album was banned
from release by Communist authorities. It was only released on CD in 1998. However, Omega proved strong. At least two
post-Presser albums . .Elo Omega' (.Live Omega', a fake live album) and .Omega 5' . undoubtedly belong to their finest
of all time.
