ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE

This is one of those albums that I recognized as a big favorite of mine just after my first listening experience. It's been almost four years since then and I'm still highly enthusiastic about this album which hopefully means that it wasn't just one of those passing fads. The comparison to the works of ELP is of course very hard to ignore by this point of Triumvirat's development, but I'll try to spin it 180 degrees and proclaim that Illusions On A Double Dimple is the Tarkus that just never got made.

As most of you know, Tarkus was an important album in ELP's career since it featured a side long genre-defining Tarkus suite. There's really no denying that the 21 minutes of an epic is a masterpiece which should not be overlooked by fans of progressive rock music. The real problem comes up once we transition to side two of Tarkus only to find it being filled by shorter and much less exciting material. If you are like me and think this ruins some of the momentum that was created on side one, chances are you might find Illusions On A Double Dimple to be a great improvement.

With the strategic replacement of Hans Pape with Helmut Köllen, Triumvirat not only got themselves the needed support in the guitar and bass departments but also a great improvement of the vocals! Jürgen Fritz has definitely improved his songwriting since Mediterranean Tales and the long jam interludes have now been substituted with smooth transitions between the different sections of these two lengthy suites. The music itself is Symphonic Prog music at its finest with the album's title track being a great example of the balance that can be achieved between great solo-spots and the melodic instrumental arrangements.

Unfortunately I have the feeling that some people won't be able to enjoy this music solely because they'll be busy finding all the sections that Triumvirat had taken from the U.K. scene of the time. After all, ELP is not the only band that Triumvirat has taken their 'inspiration' from. As much as I'm partially guilty of that same nit-picking, there's just so much passion in these two compositions that I am able to overlook most of the flaws and concentrate entirely on the excellent songwriting.

This is where Triumvirat was on top of their game and so they took the occasion to show ELP just what those lads could have achieved if only they expanded their Tarkus suite to the full LP size. Even though Triumvirat's two compositions have taken a great deal from bands like ELP and Yes, Fritz and his band still managed to make it sound fresh and exciting which can sometimes be more than enough for a masterful performance.

***** star songs: Illusions On A Double Dimple (23:24)

**** star songs: Mister Ten Percent (21:37)

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