MEDITERRANEAN TALES (ACROSS THE WATERS)

Triumvirat was a German progressive rock band that was formed in 1969 in Cologne, Germany. Triumvirat was initially a classical based trio were the founding members were Hans-Jürgen (later simply Jürgen) Fritz, Hans Bathelt and Werner "Dick" Frangenberg. Bathelt was the drummer/lyricist, Frangenberg the bassist, and Fritz the keyboardist. Triumvirat was strongly influenced by The Nice. In fact, they played some of their songs, like "Rondo". Being fans of The Nice, they loved when Emerson, Lake & Palmer got together. Frangenberg left the group and was replaced by Hans Pape in 1970. With Pape injecting some more life on vocals and bass, Triumvirat soon began to experiment with studio recordings. The result of that was a smart classically adapted debut album, "Mediterranean Tales (Across The Waters)".

So, "Mediterranean Tales (Across The Waters)" is the debut studio album of the German symphonic progressive rock band Triumvirat and was released in 1972. The line up on the album is Jürgen Fritz (vocals, organ, electric and acoustic piano, synthesizer and percussion), Hans Pape (lead vocals and bass) and Hans Bathelt (drums and percussion).

The album has four tracks. The first track "Across The Waters" is divided into six parts. The first part "Overture" was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and was arranged by Jürgen Fritz, the second part "Taxident" was composed by Jürgen Fritz and Hans Bathelt, the third part "Mind Tripper" was composed by Jürgen Fritz, the fourth part "5 O'Clock Tea" was composed by Jürgen Fritz and Hans Bathelt, the fifth part "Satan's Breakfast" was composed by Jürgen Fritz and the sixth part "Underture" was also composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and once more was arranged by Jürgen Fritz. This is an incredible start for the album, with sixteen minutes of a multi part epic musical piece clearly influenced by several classical musical influences that go from the Baroque style to the Romantic style, inclusive with two small pieces of music signed by one of the masters of classical music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. With this strong debut suite, Jürgen Fritz convinces as a keyboard virtuoso and brings in his energetic game in addition to rocking-driving ideas also classical elements to advantage, with complex rhythms, sweeping keyboard runs and constantly changing chord progressions. This is an impressive and amazing starting point for the career of this band. The second track "Eleven Kids" is also a very good song with the instrumental part with plenty of diversity, harmony and beauty with classical good keyboard work supported by powerful bass and drums. The main problem is the vocals because we have to get used to the voice with the German accent of Hans Pape, which isn't a great singer. The third track "E Minor 5/9 Minor/5" is also a very good, incredible and seductive instrumental track with some exploratory keyboard work, which curiously some keyboard parts remind me Peter Bardens of Camel. This is probably the track that also reminds me more The Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The fourth track "Broken Mirror" is another great song that is separated in several distinct parts. The first part shows clearly what their classical sound is and showing a very complex musical structure and the second part is a jazz fusion section, indicating the possible way that Triumvirat could follow in the near future. It also showcases the style of Fritz's touch on the piano, highlighting some great work.

My CD version is the remastered edition of 2002 and has four bonus tracks. The fifth track "Be Home For Tea" is an edition of the fourth part "5 O'Clock Tea" of the opening track, the sixth track "Broken Mirror" is also an edited version of the fourth track with the same name, and the seventh track "Ride In The Night" and the eighth track "Sing Me A Song" are two new songs that didn't appear on the original vinyl version. As usually, I will not review bonus tracks but I must say they're much weaker than the songs of the original release and didn't bring anything interesting to the album.

Conclusion: Triumvirat is a great band and despite the clear influences they suffer from Emerson, Lake & Palmer, including into their line up, a keyboardist, a bassist/vocalist and a drummer, I refuse the idea that they're an Emerson, Lake & Palmer's clone. It's true that there are some strong influences and similarities between both bands, but there are also a big number of differences too. So, Triumvirat is far from being a clone and "Mediterranean Tales (Across The Waters)" is certainly a perfect example of that. Despite the band have declared that they were huge fans of The Nice, I sincerely think that their musical arrangements, the lyrics and the way they sing with a strong German accent, are absolutely unique and, in my humble opinion, I really think that they deserve much more recognition than they've got until now. "Mediterranean Tales (Across The Waters)" is a great debut album from this fantastic and very interesting German symphonic progressive rock band. It's true this album isn't a masterpiece but certainly is a great album and we may ask how many bands were able to release their debut album as a masterpiece. Anyway, "Mediterranean Tales (Across The Waters)" represents only the beginning of their music proposal and soon, other better things would come.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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