ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE

"Illusions on a Double Dimple" is TRIUMVIRAT's magnum opus, a whole quantum above their other work in my opinion. Whilst their later (and probably better known) album "Spartacus" is a great album, "Illusions" is brilliant.

"Illusions" has a theme: life's struggle, or something along those lines. The album title refers to the Dimple brand of Scotch whisky (so-called because of the distinctive dimpled bottle, I suppose), so the album title refers to drowning one's sorrows, thus introducing the theme.

TRIUMVIRAT were a progressive rock band whose music involves lots of synthesiser and other keyboards, and are often compared to EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER. Some of TRIUMVIRAT's music has more of a 'pop' feel to it than ELP's, or maybe it's just more melodic. Jürgen Fritz is certainly an extremely talented keyboard player (and classically trained, too). It is often said that TRIUMVIRAT imitated ELP; perhaps there is some truth in that on the later albums but, to me, "Illusions" is on a par with the best that ELP produced and is no imitation. "Illusions" also has the Cologne Opera House Orchestra, plus an 8-piece brass section, plus 3 female backing vocalists. There are plenty of great synthesiser and keyboard moments throughout the album, and some very good guitar and drum playing too. The instruments, the melodies and the lyrics fit perfectly to produce a classic progressive/symphonic rock album.

The 2002 re-release is a digital re-master of the songs on the original LP, plus four extra tracks: two I had never heard before plus two singles of songs on the original LP. The sound quality is good.

In my opinion this is a must-have album.