ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE

This is the second album from Germany band Triumvirat led by composer and keyboard player Jurgen Fritz, a graduate of The Cologne music conservatory. After recorded and released their debut "Mediterranean Tales" in April 1972, they returned to the studio in 1973 to record their second album "Illusions on A Double Dimple". There is line-up change from its debut album whereby bassist Hans Pape was replaced by multi- instrumentalist Helmut Kollen. Together with a string quartet from the Cologne Opera Orchestra, the brass section of the Kurt Edelhagen Band and a background choir, Triumvirat continued to work on the new material from June to October, obviously much longer than originally scheduled. The result of their hard work and commitment was an album worth collecting.

The album comprises only two epic tracks which at the time of vinyl meaning one epic per side of LP. The first one is the title track "Illusions on A Double Dimple" (23:22) comprises 6 parts: flashback, schooldays, triangle, illusions, dimplicity, and last dance. It's very obvious through this first epic that the band tried to make all the stories went into one common theme with music of various styles. It starts with a nice piano touch and nice vocals of Jurgen Fritz followed with all instruments: bass guitar, drum and synthesizer play collaboratively to form a nice music. One might see the influence of ELP right from the beginning but Triumvirat has put an effort that their music seems sweeter and a bit lighter than ELP. The music moves nicely from one segment to another, from one part to another. Some transition seem unnatural that sounds like a disjointed part but with repeat play of the CD it's gonna be fine.

The second epic "Mr. Ten Percent" (21:31) comprises 6 parts also with: maze, dawning, bad deal, roundabout, lucky girl and million dollars. With this track the band pushed their limits further so that the influence of ELP seems lesser as compared to the first epic. The music style is something like an opera with vocal style that supports a dialogue style. The trade-off of having this style is that the music is less melodic compared to the first. Combined together, the two epic tracks form a cohesive whole at album level and they sound like one theme as storyline.

Personally, I only knew this album after I got "Spartacus" album which was really legendary for me. From "Spartacus" I knew the band's name and tried to trace back any other albums of the band. Overall, this is an excellent addition to any prog music collection. It's legendary album. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW