TRIUMVIRAT

This album gets a lot of underserved criticism. The year was 1976 and Triumvirat was one of the few bands that were trying to do prog that sounds a bit different from the early seventies without conceding to pop. They'd be forced by their record label later and do a bad and an atrocious album. But that is not the subject here.

With a new lineup and no guitars, Triumvirat makes a tremendous job in keeping their sound fresh and very progressive. The four songs over seven minutes are all different, remarkable and enjoyable. The string synths are a special treat, just check the atmospheric passages on A Day in A Life and The History of Mystery, the two best tracks of the album.

Another highlight in a completely different mood is A Cold Old Worried Lady, which is basically a song with only piano and vocals (there is a bit of string Synthesizer as well). The piano arrangement is simply impressive and the song very emotional.

Unfortunately, the fortunes of this progressive rock band were changing, as the genre started losing its prominence in the late seventies and the following albums would never reach the heights of Old Loves Die Hard, that, along with Spartacus, represent the best and most inventive part of Triumvirat career.

Review Nº 755

"Essential" is a compilation of Triumvirat and was released in 2012. It includes songs from all their seven studio albums that go from 1972 to 1980. It comprises tracks that belong to their progressive musical period as well as tracks from their pop rock phase. All Triumvirat's studio albums have been remastered on CD with bonus tracks and almost the tracks on this compilation are taken from the remastered editions. Many of the tracks are extracts or edited versions, smaller than the originals. Some are also taken from single versions, which are obviously also shortened versions.

"Essential" has seventeen tracks. The first track "Be Home For Tea" is an extract of a song originally recorded on "Mediterranean Tales "Across The Waters". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The second track "Broken Mirror" was originally recorded on "Mediterranean Tales "Across The Waters". The third track "Ride In The Night" is a non album's track. It was the first single of the band. It was included as a bonus track on "Mediterranean Tales "Across The Waters". The fourth track "Dancer's Delight" is also a non album's track. It was the second single of the band. It was included as a bonus track on "Illusions On A Double Dimple". The fifth track "Dimplicity" is an extract of a song originally recorded on "Illusions On A Double Dimple". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The sixth track "Million Dollars" is also an extract of a song originally recorded on "Illusions On A Double Dimple". This is also an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The seventh track "The Capitol Of Power" was originally recorded on "Spartacus". This is the version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The eighth track "The Sweetest Sound Of Liberty" was also originally recorded on "Spartacus". This is the version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The ninth track "Spartacus" was originally recorded on "Spartacus". This is also the version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The tenth track "Old Loves Die Hard" was originally recorded on "Old Loves Die Hard". The eleventh track "Take A Break Today" is a non album's track. It's the A side of another single of the band with "The Capital Of Power" as the B side. It was included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The twelfth track "The Hymn" was originally recorded on "Pompeii". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition. The thirteenth track "Waterfall" was originally recorded on "A La Carte". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The fourteenth track "(Oh I'm) Late Again" was also originally recorded on "A La Carte". The fifteenth track "Jo Ann Walker" was also originally recorded on "A La Carte". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The sixteenth track "I Don't Even Know Your Name" was also originally recorded on "A La Carte". The seventeenth track "Party Life" was originally recorded on their last album "Russian Roulette".

As we can see by the track list of this compilation, it features tracks from all of Triumvirat's seven studio albums, as well as a few singles' tracks. The tracks were all placed in their correct chronological order. So, we have two tracks from "Mediterranean Tales (Across The Waters)", two tracks from "Illusions On A Double Dimple", three tracks from "Spartacus", one track from "Old Loves Die Hard", one track from "Pompeii", four tracks from "A La Carte", one track from "Russian Roulette" and three non album's tracks released as singles. However, and as I wrote before in the track list, many of those tracks are edited versions of the original tracks that were shortened to be commercially interesting to can be put on a compilation album. Despite this compilation be well enough representative of Triumvirat's career all over the yers, we can't say that it's very well representative of their music. Listening shortened versions isn't the same.

Conclusion: I don't like this compilation mainly because of two reasons. In the first place, Triumvirat was essentially a progressive band that essentially created long suites of music, which is particularly evident on "Illusions On A Double Dimple". So, it's incomprehensible to me that Jürgen Fritz and his record label only were bothered to include on this compilation extracts and edited tracks shorter than the original versions, what is, in my point of view, quite badly. In the second place, about one third of the compilation is filled by tracks that belong to their two last albums, which have clearly a very questionable musical quality. I can understand that a compilation that seeks to represent all the musical career of a band must include tracks from all their studio albums. However, the quality standards must always be kept very high, which isn't the case. It's true that fortunately only one track was chosen from "Russian Roulette" but is completely inexcusable to include six tracks from "A La Carte" and only include one track from "Pompeii", which is undoubtedly a much better album than "A La Carte". So, I can't consider "Essential" a true essential compilation, really. So, I advise you to check their five first albums instead of this compilation. This is only useful to collector's fans only.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 667

"The Golden Collection ? The Best Of Triumvirat" is a compilation album of Triumvirat that was released in 1995. During their entire career, Triumvirat released seven studio albums. Anyway, "The Golden Collection ? The Best Of Triumvirat" has only tracks from four of those studio albums, of their second "Illusions On A Double Dimple" released in 1974, of their third "Spartacus" released in 1975, of their fourth "Old Loves Die Hard" released in 1976 and of their sixth "A La Carte" released in 1978. None of the tracks that are part of their debut "Mediterranean Tales (Across The Waters)" released in 1972, of their fifth "Pompeii" released in 1977 and of their seventh "Russian Roulette" released in 1980, were included on "The Golden Collection ? The Best Of Triumvirat". So, it has five tracks from "Illusions On A Double Dimple", three tracks from "Spartacus", four tracks from "Old Loves Die Hard" and two tracks from "A La Carte".

So, "The Golden Collection ? The Best Of Triumvirat" has fourteen tracks. From "Illusions On A Double Dimple" we have "Schooldays", "Dawning", "Bad Deal", "Roundabout" and "Lucky Girl". "Illusions On A Double Dimple" is divided into two parts, "Illusions On A Double Dimple" and "Mister Ten Percent". "Schooldays" is one of the five parts that belong to "Illusions On A Double Dimple". "Schooldays" is a shining and happy song that starts with a fantastic riff, giving a happy atmosphere condensed by the catchy vocals. Here, we have a great performance by all band's members with special emphasis to a great guitar work. "Dawning", "Bad Deal", "Roundabout" and "Lucky Girl" are four of the six parts of "Mister Ten Percent". "Dawning" is the shortest track on that album. It's a song with a beautiful piano work, performed only by Jugen Fritz. It's a kind of an introduction to the next track, "Bad Deal". "Bad Deal" is another short song. It's a very energetic track, a grandiose rocker, with great keyboard work that ends with a touch of a jazzy section with the peculiar style of Triumvirat. Helmut Kollen's bass is stronger than ever and Hans Bathelt does a great drum work. "Roundabout" is a great track with a nice rhythm section. It's a song influenced by jazz and with some dramatic changes. It really reminds me the influence of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. "Lucky Girl" is a different track from the others. It's a beautiful and soft track in a ballad style, which is probably a reference to "Lucky Man" of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. I like this track because is particularly enjoyable with its musical atmosphere. From "Spartacus" we have "The Capital Of Power", "The Sweetest Sound Of Liberty" and "Spartacus". "The Capital Of Power" is a magnificent and powerful track, an instrumental epic piece that leads us into the ambient of the concept and the atmosphere and music on that album. This is an excellent instrumental musical track. "The Sweetest Sound Of Liberty" is a short ballad. This song is a kind of a break in the music of that album. But, it also keeps totally the musical cohesion on that album. "Spartacus" is a suite divided into three parts, "The Superior Force Of Rome", "A Broken Dream" and "The Finale". This is a very progressive and complex track, very powerful and full of contrasts and musical changes. It has some musical sections very frenetic where others are more soft, nostalgic and sad. From "Old Loves Die Hard" we have "I Believe", "The History Of A Mistery", "A Cold Old Worried Lady" and "Old Loves Die Hard". "I Believe" is a simple but well elaborated ballad, very powerful and with a pompous atmosphere. It has inspired symphonic musical arrangements, powerful vocals and a great chorus in the background. "The History Of A Mistery" is divided into two parts. It's a complex and progressive track with excellent composition and great arrangements. It has great splendour, very bombastic and is full of keyboards in the style of Emerson, Lake & Plamer. "A Cold Old Worried Lady" is a beautiful melodic ballad with the voice of Barry Palmer sounding well in a soft range. It's a very good, pleasant and solid track. "Old Loves Die Hard" is a soft ballad, well arranged, with a nice melody, excellently sung, with a professional performance. From "A La Carte" we have "Waterfall" and "Darlin'". "Waterfall" is a decent musical numbers, with the strong vocals of David Hanselmann leading with Jurgen Fritz in a support role of multiple keyboards. It's a nice pop song in those years. "Darlin'" is a generic and bland song, a pale of Supertramp's songs with the obvious intention to achieve the Billboard charts, which sadly for them, they never been able to achieve. So, we can say these two last songs belong to another time and place.

Conclusion: Despite some inconsistencies we can say that "The Golden Collection ? The Best Of Triumvirat" is a good compilation album of the band. It has some of their best and most prog moments that were part of their musical career, which was sometimes great but unfortunately in some others it was awful. Who knows very well the entire career of the band, like me, knows that the musical career of Triumvirat was very unbalanced. Their first four albums are prog and great, their fifth still can be considered good but the last two are simply awful. So, returning to this compilation and according to what I said before, we can say this is a good compilation album of the band. It's true that lacks to it tracks from two of their essential albums and the two last tracks are expendable. Anyway, as a whole, it has great moments.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review #78!

What is widely considered German progressive rock trio Triumvirat's magnum opus, 'Illusions On A Double Dimple' is no easily overlooked album. It even was ranked #45 on Rolling Stone's '50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time' article. Triumvirat was often unfairly given the label 'German ELP Clone'. While not all that far off (no offense), Triumvirat was not just a clone of ELP. They built on that sound and made it their own. I personally enjoyed this album more than ELP's 'Brain Salad Surgery' of the same year. But there were some times while listening to this record when I felt they were way too reminiscent of other prog artists and bands, and not even just ELP. Here are some.

Rush Yes Genesis Van Der Graaf Generator Jethro Tull

I hear Rush in some of the keyboard in the title track, Yes in the occasional pretty harmonies, Genesis in the lead vocals, Van Der Graaf in the dramatic aspect in some of the movements on both suites, and Jethro Tull at the beginning of 'Lucky Girl'. But let me just explain why I personally hear ELP in this album. The extremely technical keyboard and percussion, the occasional times when Helmut K'llen sounds like Greg Lake, and the 'Tarkus'-esque rock organ really are why haters call Triumvirat ELP clones. Whether that statement is true or not, Triumvirat's 'Illusions On A Double Dimple' is a great one.

Review Nº 629

Triumvirat was a progressive symphonic rock band formed in Cologne, Germany in 1969, around the keyboardist Jürgen Fritz. Triumvirat is the Latin word for a triumvirate, a grouping of three powerful men usually connoted with the famous triumvirates of the Ancient Roman Empire. However, in this case, the word is referred to a simple musical trio.

The founding members of the group were the keyboardist and musical composer Hans-Jürgen Fritz, later simply known as Jürgen Fritz, the bassist Werner "Dick" Frangenberg and the drummer and lyricist Hans Bathelt. During their earlier days, Triumvirat initially performed Top 40 songs at local venues in Cologne. The Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer heavily influenced Triumvirat's musical direction, unlike almost all of their Teutonic compatriots that founded the krautrock musical style. The group envisioned a more progressive rock music style as it came mainly from England, instead pieces of music with detuned guitars and ghastly singing. In fact, at the height of their musical career during the 70's progressive classic rock era, Triumvirat was often referred to as the "German Emerson, Lake & Palmer clone", with some injustice because they were more and better than that, due to Fritz classical virtuosity on keyboards and synthesizers, in the same vein of Keith Emerson and his musical style. They made some really amazing things, really.

Triumvirat subsequently produced modestly some very successful albums during the early to the middle of 70's. The band had numerous changes in their line up but always was headed by Fritz. Their debut studio album "Mediterranean Tales: Across The Waters" released in 1972, was however dismissed by the media as a second rate infusion of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and also their follow second studio album "Illusions On A Double Dimple" released in 1974, met in Germany only a moderate response. In the following years, the band released their third studio album "Spartacus" in 1975 and their fourth studio album "Old Loves Die hard" in 1976, their most commercial successful album. In 1977 and 1978 they released their fifth and sixth studio albums "Pompeii" and "A La Carte" respectively, and in 1980 they released their seventh and last studio album "Russian Roulette". Like other progressive rock bands of the 70's, the end came for Triumvirat with the turn of the decade, with the advent of punk and disco music. "A La Carte" and "Russian Roulette" changed drastically their usual musical progressive style, bringing new musical compositions geared to funk, reggae, disco and pop rock, as if Triumvirat was trying to adapt to the new musical tastes of that era.

The line up on "Russian Roulette" is Jürgen Fritz (piano, moog, organ, synthesizers and percussion), Arno Steffen (lead vocals), Jeff Porcaro (drums), Steve Lukather (bass and electric guitars), Tim May (electric and acoustic guitars), Robert Greenidge (steel drums), Neal Stubenhaus (bass), Pete Christlieb (saxophone and clarinet), Mike gong (electric guitar), David Hungate (bass) and Alan Estis (congas and maracas).

"Russian Roulette" followed in the footsteps of their previous studio album "A La Carte". It achieved the unthinkable by collecting an even more annoying and stylistically uninteresting collection of tunes than on the poor "A La Carte". As with its predecessor, there's absolutely no indication on it that Triumvirat was once a very accomplished symphonic progressive rock band, or that Jürgen Fritz was one of the finest keyboard masters of the 70's. Tediously, generic pop rock is what they made, this time with new wave overtones and even with a reggae track. The album opens with melodic, weak Rock'n'Roll and Pop numbers in the style of Status Quo and Toto. I will admit to linking a couple of tracks such as "You Can't Catch Me", "We're Rich On What We Go" and "Twice" are all decent rock songs. Yet, for every bearable song there's a complete abominations, most notable are the funky effects of "Cooler" or the unthinkable and inadmissible reggae "The Ballad Of Rudy Turner". The rest of the tracks are completely forgettable. So, "Russian Roulette" has nothing to do with prog rock, and, what is much worse, it also comes without no noteworthy ideas, really.

Conclusion: When I reviewed "A La Carte" I wrote that it was one of my biggest disillusions in the progressive rock. However, "Russian Roulette" is even worse than "A La Carte" is. The keyboard wizard Jürgen Fritz managed to make an even worse album. He could have buried the sensational progressive rock band in the 70's. This is by far the worst thing Triumvirat ever did. "A La Carte" is a real weak album but was a pop rock effort with some few honest songs. But, this album has nothing positive to offer to a Triumvirat's fan. At least it managed to do a good thing. It became to be the band's final album, so no more pain for band's fans like me. After reviewing so many albums on this site, I only gave 1 star to two albums, till now, "Giant For a Day" of Gentle Giant and "Earthbound" of King Crimson. With "Earthbound" there was a very special reason. It deals more with the sound quality of the album than with its musical quality. But, "Giant For A Day" is really a bad work. However, "Russian Roulette" is the worst of all. So, do yourself a favour stay away of it. If you never listened to it, you'll never have a bad image of the band, especially if you are a newbie with them.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 621

Triumvirat was a progressive rock band that was formed in 1969 in Cologne, Germany by keyboardist Jürgen Fritz, bassist Werner "Dick" Frangenberg and drummer and lyricist Hans Bathelt. Frangenberg left the group in 1970 and was replaced by Hans Pape. They released their debut album "Mediterranean Tales (Across The Water)" in 1972. During the making of their second album "Illusions On a Double Dimple" released in 1973, Pape also left the group and was replaced by Helmut Köllen. Their third album "Spartacus" released in 1975, gave to Triumvirat their greatest commercial success. At the end of the live tour of "Spartacus" Köllen left the group too. Frangenberg rejoined the band and Barry Palmer was their new lead vocalist. This quartet released their fourth album "Old Loves Die Hard" in 1976. Their fifth album "Pompeii" was released in 1977. The band was firefly renamed New Triumvirat due to legal dispute between Fritz and Bathelt. As all we know, by 1978 progressive rock was no more a popular musical genre. So, it was in this difficult musical context that Triumvirat recorded their new album, the sixth Triumvirat's album "A La Carte" released in 1978.

If we take a look to Triunvirat's career, it becomes clear how much the band changed all over the years. Starting out as a bombastic, keyboard-led prog machine, or an Emerson, Lake & Palmer clone as many have labelled them, with such classic albums as "Illusions On A Double Dimple" and "Spartacus", the band slowly went the commercial avenue, and the culmination of that style became with this album "A La Carte". While certainly no "Spartacus", this CD does contain some good moments. However it sounds like a completely different band. With its mix of Toto or Ambrosia sounding California pop/prog and Eectric Light Orchestra harmonies, combined with the Keith Emerson inspired keyboards of Jurgen Fritz, "A La Carte" is commercial pop at times, average prog rarely, but bland or mediocre for most of the time.

The line up on the album is David Hanselmann (vocals), Jürgen Fritz (keyboards), Werner Kopal (bass) and Mathias Holtmann (drums). The album has also an endless number of many other participating musicians.

"A La Carte" has nine tracks and is a very complete different album than their other previous five studio albums. As I wrote before, it even sounds more like a completely different band. The band's established The Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer symphonic progressive rock style is suddenly discarded on this album, as well are the virtuoso keyboard excursions of the band's leader Jürgen Fritz. In their place we have a collection of pop rock tunes that had exchanged the bombast and opulence of former offerings for slimmer arrangements, successfully based on international musical productions along the lines of Supertramp. And the worst of all is that the pop song writing is very inconsistent and unbalanced, a true mix salad, making of "A La Carte" a very difficult album to listen to even if you are a great pop rock fan. Undoubtedly, the album reflects the band's most commercial significance in those days, and turns the album a true lavish pop rock feast. The album seems to be really a menu, describing the nine tracks as if they were truly dishes.

In relation to the tracks, I must say the following. "Waterfall", "(Oh, I'm) Late Again" and "Jo Ann Walker" are decent musical numbers, with the strong vocals of Hanselmann leading the way and with Fritz in a support role of multiple keyboards. In fact, these tracks are all very nice as pop songs in 1978. "For You" is a soft sappy pop ballad that makes even cry the paving stones. "I Don't Even Know Your Name" is a mediocre light rocker musical number with lots of horns featuring all sorts of guest musicians. "A Bavarian In New York" is the first really good track on the album. It's a hard driving song with a good bass line, interesting symphonic synthesizers and organ and nice piano works by Fritz. "Original Soundtrack From The Movie O.C.S.I.D." is a very good piece of music and can be considered the best track on the album. The two last tracks "Darlin'" and "Good Bye" are two both generic and bland songs, a pale of Supertramp's songs with the obvious intention to achieve the Billboard charts, which sadly for them, they never been able to achieve.

Conclusion: "A La Carte" is, for me, one of my biggest disillusions in the progressive rock. How was it possible that the same virtuoso musician that released "Illusions On A Double Dimple" and "Spartacus" do something like this? Like antonio I also think that "A La Carte" is better than "Russian Roulette" is, but like him, I also think this is another story. However, I can't agree with progbaby when he says that "A La Carte" is a good album and the only problem with it is that he isn't a progressive album. I must say that, in my humble opinion, all Genesis' studio albums since "?And Then There Were Three?" are slightly progressive or even non progressive, and that has not made of them too weak albums. By the other hand, "Giant For A Day" is even worse than "A La Carte" is, and is almost as bad as "Russian Roulette" is. And this isn't only for being non-progressive albums, but mainly because their musical quality. Concluding, "A La Carte" is a very weak album and it has nothing to do with all previous Triumvirat albums. This is a commercial pop rock album, without great quality, and almost with nothing of what we can call progressive music. So, I'm very disappointed.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 599

"Pompeii" is the fifth studio album of Triumvirat and that was released in 1977. The band released the album under the name of The New Triumvirat, due to temporary legal squabbles over the original name of the band by former members.

"Pompeii" is a conceptual album of Triumvirat about the devastating earthquake from 62 A.D. It represents the end of an era for this great German progressive rock band. Their subsequent two studio albums, "À La Carte", released in 1978 and "Russian Roulette", released in 1980, took a complete commercial pop flavor, and left most of the bombastic symphonic rock that they were famous for in the dust. So, this is the last Triumvirat's album with progressive lines.

The line up on "Pompeii" is Barry Palmer (lead and background vocals), Jürgen Fritz (Hammond C3 organ, Moog synthesizers, ARP string ensemble, Steinway grand piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Yamaha polyphonic synthesizer CS-80 and GX-1, Hohner clavinet, bells and tympani), Dieter Petereit (Fender, Rickenbacker and Yamaha basses) and Curt Cress (Gretch and Fiber drums, roto toms, timbales, Paiste cymbals and gongs, handclaps and moog- synthesized percussion).

So, again the line up on a Triumvirat's album changed one more time. However, this time the changes were much deeper. Of the line up of their previous album, "Old Loves Die Hard", only remained Barry Palmer and Jürgen Fritz. Still, the main change of all was the departure of their drummer, Hans Bathelt. We can't forget that Hans Bathelt was with Jürgen Fritz one of the founding members of the band. But above all, Hans Bathelt was the "right arm" of Jürgen Fritz.

"Pompeii" has eight tracks. The first track "The Earthquake 62 A.D." written by Jürgen Fritz is a very good song, very progressive, and in the same line of the usual Triumvirat's music. This is a very good song to open the album, very promising for what would appear on the album. It's a song with great musical changes, very strong and with plenty of keyboard solos. This is a great track. The second track "Journey Of A Fallen Angel" written by Jürgen Fritz, proves unfortunately that what was promised will not be fulfilled. This is a very pop and commercial song that hasn't anything to do with the concept and the previous music. It reminds me, in some moments, Procol Harum's music and the only thing I can say is that I'm very disappointed because this isn't the music of our beloved prog band. The third track "Viva Pompeii" written by Jürgen Fritz and Curt Cress is, fortunately, another very good song where they return to their style of music with some jazzy influences. It's an excellent instrumental piece of music with rich textures, very well arranged and with fantastic keyboard works by Jürgen Fritz. The fourth track "The Time Of Your Life" written by Sondra and Jürgen Fritz isn't a bad song. It's very well arranged and orchestrated and has a good vocal performance. However, I'm a bit disappointed with it because, like the second song, it has nothing to do with the musical concept of the album. The fifth track "The Rich Man And The Carpenter" written by Jürgen Fritz is a song that leaves me confused and divides my personal feelings. It has some great musical parts, the instrumental parts and the parts with calm and soft vocals, but I don't like particularly of some other vocal parts of Barry Palmer. Imagine that I even get to miss the presence of their previous vocalists with their German accent. The sixth track "Dance On The Volcano" written by Jürgen Fritz is a song which fortunately remains with the good things and the great sound of this great German band. This is really a very good instrumental song, very melodic and with great quality, in the Emerson, Lake & Palmer's style. This is one of my favourite songs on this album. The seventh track "Vesuvius 79 A.D." written by Jürgen Fritz is another song with great progressiveness and with some of the best and most complex musical sections on this album. It has great keyboard sounds that are very well combined with the rhythm section. However and unfortunately, it has the same vocal problems on some parts that I disliked on the previous song "The Rich Man And The Carpenter". The eighth and last track "The Hymn" written by Jürgen Fritz is a song which was also released as a single. This is a nice, soft and mellow ballad, clearly the most commercial song on the album. I recognise this is a good song but it has nothing to do with the traditional sound of the group. In relation to Triumvirat's music, I think this is a song too much mellow for my taste.

Conclusion: In the first place, I must say that I was a bit disappointed when I heard this album for the first time. Then, I said to myself that the progressive rock music lost again through the lure of the commercial success. I also thought that, unfortunately and once more, the world was losing another great progressive rock band. "Pompeii" is, in my opinion, a transitional album in the musical career of a band that oscillates between the progressive rock music and the pop music. And like any transition album it can't be a great album because it doesn't defines clearly its type of music. So, despite some very good tracks, this is, without any doubt, the weakest musical effort of the band, till that moment. However, it seems that it was only the beginning. Unfortunately, many other things, much worse, were on their way.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 598

"Old Loves Die Hard" is the fourth studio album of Triumvirat and that was released in 1976. The inspiration did unfortunately and slowly begin to slip away from Triumvirat after their two excellent masterpieces, "Illusions On A Double Dimple", released in 1974 and "Spartacus" released in 1975. It's true that "Old Loves Die Hard" has its fair share of great moments, but the earlier mentioned lack of inspiration was already beginning to show, slight, but consistently.

The line up on the album is Barry Palmer (lead vocals), Jürgen Fritz (Hammond C3 organ, Moog synthesizers, ARP string ensemble, Steinway grand piano, Fender, Wurlitzer and Hohner pianos), Dick Frangenberg (fender bass) and Hans Bathelt (Slingerland percussion). Beyond the band's members, other artists participated on the album, Jane Palmer (backing vocals), Charly Schlimbach (saxophones), Sondra (spoken words) and The Cologne Children Choir.

This line up of the band is substantially different from their previous albums. In the first place and above all, for the first time the group have a lead vocalist, the British singer Barry Palmer, and the trio became now as a quartet. In the second place, and once more, the band changed the bassist. Their previous bassist Helmut Köllen left the band to start a solo career. This situation had happened before when Helmut Köllen replaced Hans Pape, the original Triumvirat's bassist.

"Old Loves Die Hard" has seven tracks. The first track "I Believe" written by Jürgen Fritz and Hans Bathelt is a good song to open the album. This is a very simple but very well elaborated ballad, very powerful and with a very pompous atmosphere. It's a song with inspired symphonic musical arrangements, powerful vocals and it has also great chorus on the background. This is a typical Triumvirat's song. The second track "A Day In A Life" is divided into three parts: "Uranus' Dawn", "Pisces At Noon" and "Panorama Dusk". All three parts were written by Jürgen Fritz. This is a multi-part song with some diversification. It's a very progressive song with great musical and complex arrangements. This is a simple suite instrumental piece of music using piano as lead melody and where Jürgen Fritz shows how great he is in the classical music. This is an amazing track that shows Triumvirat at their best. The song "The History Of Mystery" is divided into two tracks, the part one on track three and the part two on track four. The song was written by Jürgen Fritz, Hans Bathelt and Barry Palmer and was only divided due to the limits of the vinyl format of the records in the 70's. It's a song strongly and heavily influenced by Emerson, Lake & Palmer's sound. This is a song with a great splendour, very bombastic and full of keyboards. It's a very complex and progressive song with an excellent composition and some great arrangements. This is really a brilliant track and it's probably the best musical composition on the whole album. It represents one of the finest musics ever composed by them, too. The fifth track "A Cold Old Worried Lady" written by Jürgen Fritz and Barry Palmer is a beautiful and melodic ballad and where the voice of Barry Palmer sounds very well in a soft range. It isn't as vibrant and catchy as the others previous songs but however it's a very good, pleasant and a solid song. The sixth track "Panic On Fifth Avenue" written by Jürgen Fritz always was one of my favourite songs on the album. It's a very frenetic song from the start to the end and we can see more clearly the performance of Jürgen Fritz in a very close style to Keith Emerson. This is really a memorable musical moment with great individual musical performances by the trio providing 10 minutes of pure symphonic progressive rock. This is the Kaiser Jürgen Fritz at his best on Triumvirat. However and unfortunately, in my opinion, this was the last great epic song of the band. The seventh track is the title track "Old Loves Die Hard". It was written by Jürgen Fritz and ends the album. It's a soft ballad well arranged with a nice melody, excellently sung, and where all the band's members performed very professionally.

My CD remastered edition has also another song, a bonus track, "Take A Break Today". This song was released only as a single and was backed with another song "The Control Of Power", not included here as a bonus track. I will not review it, because usually I don't review bonus tracks. However, I must say one thing about this song. It has nothing to do with the rest of the album. It's an average commercial pop song that unfortunately pronounced what the bad would do in the future music of Triumvirat. Unfortunately, it was a premonition of another fall of a great prog band of the 70's.

Conclusion: "Old Loves Die Hard" is a very good album, indeed. It's true that it isn't as good as "Illusions On A Double Dimple" and "Spartacus", and is more commercial. But, anyway, it still is a great piece of music. The tracks "A Day In A Life", "The History Of Mystery" and "Panic On Fifth Avenue" are absolutely brilliant and represents some of the best compositions made by them. "I Believe", "A Cold Old Worried Lady" and especially "Old Loves Die Hard" are also good songs but they haven't the same quality of the others. Without that reason I would have rated this album with 5 stars, probably. However and unfortunately, this was, in my humble opinion, the last great musical work released by the band.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

The album begins with "Illusions On A Double Dimple", a rather Genesian suite that opens as sad as possible. Fritz starts the album by being almost entirely the protagonist of what happens: a succession of failures viewed ridiculously. The instrumental method is heavily symphonic and prioritizes the keyboards. The bass and drums simply accompany the rhythmic changes and the madness of the electronic piano with neatness.

The instrumental section called "Triangle" is probably the first step of the album, where the frenzy delivers the quality we expect after such a pessimistic introduction. The percussion comes into its own a little more in these moments and the backing vocals serve as passages. The song gradually raises its level, and by part IV ("Illusions") has captured us on an island of carefree defeat, but with that hidden optimism so characteristic of human beings that is almost always due to the frustrated dream of happiness that can never be fully embraced with our hands or our soul.

Apart from its verses and its lyrical concept, the entire song gives a sense of rebelliousness when its instrumental parts arrive, due to the fact that everything is constantly changing places. The hammond in the final minutes seems to say that nothing has a solution any more, by means of wild and spectacular sounds, as if a madman was giving a circus performance as funny as it is embarrassing. The bass lines at times remind me of Richard Sinclair's technique and his muffled notes.

I think this is a song that cannot be modified in any way. It has an attractive structure and brings strength and emotion to this fine work.

We move on to "Mister Ten Percent", the second and last suite of the album (this one more inclined to ELP's entire discography) starts electronically presenting an instrumental mess not easy to digest. Both the first and the second epic consist of 6 parts and last about the same length. In certain aspects I see this side very different from the other, but what doesn't vary (and what gives the album its essence) is the prominence of the keyboards and their crazy chaos.

The hammond, in the way it's played here, inevitably reminds me a lot of Keith Emerson in ELP's middle period, especially Brain Salad Surgery. This song has more instrumental length than the previous one, and that allows for a different kind of artistry and creativity to shine through. Unexpectedly an electro-acoustic guitar emerges in the middle of the suite (beginning of the V-part "Lucky Girl" composed by Helmut K'llen) to change its course and sing about a little girl dealing with her dramatically exaggerated little problems. The transition to part VI "Million Dollars" is fantastic, but the whole thing becomes less and less original. Not only in the keyboards but now also in the vocals there is a grey imitation of Greg Lake that leaves a lot to be desired towards the end of the song. After two long epics, the long-awaited ending fades in your mind as sadly as almost the entire album.

Almost three quarters of an hour of professional performances and a more than satisfactory production, but without a defined style, no album can thrive. It sounds as symphonic as I've rarely heard, and that's why it's such a shame that they didn't get off the ground enough for this album, because I think it could have been a truly memorable piece of work.

Review Nº 481

"Spartacus" is the third studio album of Triumvirat and was released in 1975. This is a conceptual album based on the story of the Roman gladiator Spartacus who led the third slave uprising in the Roman Empire in 73?71 BC. This is an album in the same vein of Emerson, Lake & Palmer but it isn't a clone. It was certainly inspired by their music and style but the music of Triumvirat has a personal touch of their own. "Spartacus" is considered by many their best album, deserving many reissues in different countries all over the world. It was also the band's greatest commercial success.

The line up on the album is Jürgen Fritz (Hammond organ, moog synthesizer, Steinway grand piano, ARP string ensemble and electric piano), Helmut Köllen (vocals, bass, acoustic and electric guitars) and Hans Bathelt (drums and percussion). After this album Helmut Köllen left the band to start a solo career. However and unfortunately, fate decreed that two years later he died dramatically of carbon monoxide poisoning when he was in his car, when he was listening to his own studio musical compositions on his car's cassette player while running the engine of the car in his garage.

"Spartacus" has nine tracks. The first track "The Capital Of Power" written by Jürgen Fritz is a magnificent and very powerful overture for the album. It's an instrumental epic piece of music which leads us into the ambient of the concept and also of the atmosphere and music on the entire album. This is an excellent instrumental musical section. The second track "The School Of Instant Pain" is divided into four parts: "Proclamation", "The Gladiator's Song", "Roman Entertainment" and "The Battle". All were written by Jürgen Fritz and Hans Bathelt. This is an incredible and brilliant multi-part epic piece of music. Musically it's a song very diversified with great individual works performed by the trio of the band. It has also a fantastic and powerful ballad, an interesting jazz section, and in the end, Hans Bathelt performed a massive drum solo so typical on the albums of the 70's. The third track "The Walls Of Doom" written by Jürgen Fritz is another instrumental song. We can divide this song into two distinct parts. In the first part the music is dominated by drumming work and has also a very nice bass line. In the second part the music explodes and has an excellent keyboard work in the style of Keith Emerson, but with a very own approach and style. The fourth track "The Deadly Dream Of Freedom" written by Helmut Köllen and Hans Bathelt is a very sweet and beautiful ballad, essentially made of vocals and piano, very well accompanied on the back by a very beautiful guitar work. Despite be a song with a different style of music, it keeps totally the musical cohesion of the entire album. The fifth track "The Hazy Shades Of Dawn" written by Jürgen Fritz is another instrumental song with the music style of a march. It's a progressive and complex track, very majestic and grandiose in the style of Emerson, Lake & Palmer but once more with the very own Triumvitat's approach and style. The sixth track "The Burning Sword Of Capua" written by Jürgen Fritz is another great instrumental track. Despite be a very small song, it's very complex with several musical changes, what makes of it a brilliant piece of music. The seventh track "The Sweetest Sound Of Liberty" written by Helmut Köllen and Hans Bathelt is a very short ballad in the same vein of "The Deadly Dream Of Freedom". Once again, this song is a break in the kind of the music of the album, but it also keeps in totally the musical cohesion on the album. The eighth track "The March Of The Eternal City" is divided into three parts: "Dusty Road", "Italian Improvisation" and "First Success". All were written by Jürgen Fritz and Hans Bathelt. It's another multi-part epic song very diversified. This is a song with some extremely complex parts with crossed rhythms and complex keyboards, has also lengthy instrumental sections and has also some improvisation musical parts. It's a very progressive track. The ninth track is the title track "Spartacus". It's also divided into three parts: "The Superior Force Of Rome" written by Jürgen Fritz and Hans Bathelt, "A Broken Dream" written by Jürgen Fritz and "The Final" also written by Jürgen Fritz. Like the previous track this is another mini epic track. This is another very progressive and complex song, very powerful and full of contrasts and musical changes. It has some musical sections very frenetic where others are more soft, nostalgic and sad. This is a nice way to end this great album.

Conclusion: "Spartacus" and "Illusions On A Double Dimple" are, without any kind of doubt, the two best releases of Triumvirat. These are two masterpieces with a very unique and own sound, despite the clear influences of the music of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Both albums placed Triumvirat as one of the best German progressive rock bands in the 70's. Both albums also made of Triumvirat a classic and necessary progressive rock band to check, even in our days. The genius of Jürgen Fritz and his virtuoso musical performances, and the technical superior drumming of Hans Bathelt are absolutely unique, fantastic and completely unforgettable. So, the only thing I can do, in this moment, is to recommend strongly both albums and the band to all prog heads. Both albums must be in your collection if you are a real prog fan.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)