ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE

Truly this is one of the best German Prog Albuns I've ever listened to. But let's face it: TRIUMVIRAT was never an 100% original group. They owe a lot to ELP, but in this particular record, they weren't just a cheap copy yet. Unfortunately, that didn't last long, as the next album, SPARTACUS, it's a terrible German clone of TRILOGY from ELP. But ILLUSIONS is an amazing album. Fritz it's a great and original keyboard player, with good piano guts, covered by a pretty good band, maybe not genius, but good. The tittle track is basically in the same level of any ELP organ-driven suite. It has many brilliant themes and good lyrics (the vocals aren't bad either). The other track, MISTER TEN PERCENT, has a very acid criticism to music industry, but musically is in the same level of the previous. An excelent album, truly, but this is the only one to get by this band, unless you're a big fan.

-Guilherme Baldin