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Joined: June 14 2007
Location: Near York UK
Status: Offline
Points: 7024
Posted: September 21 2017 at 17:15
Trace. Rick van der Linden was one of the truly great keyboards players, and when you add Jaap van Eik and ex Focus drummer Pierre VDL (who was then replaced by Ian Mosley, of course), you have a killer band.
Joined: July 01 2004
Location: CA
Status: Offline
Points: 18755
Posted: September 21 2017 at 17:31
Hercules wrote:
Trace. Rick van der Linden was one of the truly great keyboards players, and when you add Jaap van Eik and ex Focus drummer Pierre VDL (who was then replaced by Ian Mosley, of course), you have a killer band.
Joined: February 17 2012
Location: 444 Grove St RZ
Status: Offline
Points: 763
Posted: September 22 2017 at 03:00
Hercules wrote:
Trace. Rick van der Linden was one of the truly great keyboards players, and when you add Jaap van Eik and ex Focus drummer Pierre VDL (who was then replaced by Ian Mosley, of course), you have a killer band.
Triumvirat are good, but not in the same league.
When I think of great keyboard players, I think of Konvergencie (Collegium Musicum) or Alas, Trace was never too big for me. Very classical, but I found it decently repetitive. I only own the Trace debut, so I can firmly say that Spartacus wins it for me, even though I like Double Dimple lots better.
Other keyboardists I like much better, in the following bands: Cardiacs, Atlas, Crucis, Dom, Finch, George Duke (Zappa), Gryphon, Hatfield, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jose Cid, Le Orme, Locanda, Mort Garson, Metamorfosi, Motoi Sakuraba, National Health, OMD, Residents, Tom Ze, Van Der Graaf..
My point is: I'm not too big on Trace, and I was hoping I would be because I love keyboard-oriented albums, but that album just doesn't stick. At least for me!
Joined: January 24 2010
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 8780
Posted: September 22 2017 at 10:21
I tried, I really tried, with Trace. From what I had heard about them, I thought I would love them to bits, but they are second rate, in my estimation. They seem to be just going through the motions in their music, whereas Triumvirat, well most of you know my stance on that. T'rat's Spartacus is so refreshing and full of vitality, upon every listen, and I have been listening to it for decades. Trace are not in the Rat's league, really, though how hard they try!
Joined: October 09 2005
Location: infinity
Status: Offline
Points: 30855
Posted: September 22 2017 at 11:10
presdoug wrote:
I tried, I really tried, with Trace. From what I had heard about them, I thought I would love them to bits, but they are second rate, in my estimation. They seem to be just going through the motions in their music, whereas Triumvirat, well most of you know my stance on that. T'rat's Spartacus is so refreshing and full of vitality, upon every listen, and I have been listening to it for decades. Trace are not in the Rat's league, really, though how hard they try!
I am taking my Triumvirat albums for a walk today (Mediterranean-Pompeii), been a while. Did a quick search and realised there are no live recordings from them! Any info about the reason why, Doug? I mean, everybody has released at least one live record during the 70's.
That Trace sounds interesting. Cheapest I saw it is $30 so I'll probably wait for a used copy to show up.
Joined: January 24 2010
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 8780
Posted: September 22 2017 at 11:22
Barbu wrote:
presdoug wrote:
I tried, I really tried, with Trace. From what I had heard about them, I thought I would love them to bits, but they are second rate, in my estimation. They seem to be just going through the motions in their music, whereas Triumvirat, well most of you know my stance on that. T'rat's Spartacus is so refreshing and full of vitality, upon every listen, and I have been listening to it for decades. Trace are not in the Rat's league, really, though how hard they try!
I am taking my Triumvirat albums for a walk today (Mediterranean-Pompeii), been a while. Did a quick search and realised there are no live recordings from them! Any info about the reason why, Doug? I mean, everybody has released at least one live record during the 70's.
That Trace sounds interesting. Cheapest I saw it is $30 so I'll probably wait for a used copy to show up.
There are some bootleg live Triumvirat recordings, several, though not in all that great sound; the best of them, performance and soundwise, is this
Joined: January 24 2010
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 8780
Posted: September 22 2017 at 11:26
Not really sure why something truly legit and live does not exist by the band. I guess that in their prime, they had a pretty short lived tenure. I will keep hunting high and low, though. There may be something archival we don't know about that is audio and really great sounding. Let's hope so.
Joined: October 09 2005
Location: infinity
Status: Offline
Points: 30855
Posted: September 22 2017 at 12:26
presdoug wrote:
Not really sure why something truly legit and live does not exist by the band. I guess that in their prime, they had a pretty short lived tenure. I will keep hunting high and low, though. There may be something archival we don't know about that is audio and really great sounding. Let's hope so.
Joined: January 18 2014
Location: Mar Vista, CA
Status: Offline
Points: 4812
Posted: September 22 2017 at 14:54
presdoug wrote:
I tried, I really tried, with Trace. From what I had heard about them, I thought I would love them to bits, but they are second rate, in my estimation. They seem to be just going through the motions in their music, whereas Triumvirat, well most of you know my stance on that. T'rat's Spartacus is so refreshing and full of vitality, upon every listen, and I have been listening to it for decades. Trace are not in the Rat's league, really, though how hard they try!
Yeah, you are a little "presdoug"-sposed (yuck, yuck).
Edited by Rednight - September 22 2017 at 14:55
"It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno
Joined: February 09 2017
Location: Fort Erie
Status: Offline
Points: 501
Posted: September 22 2017 at 19:22
I went with Trace. Focus got me into progressive rock back in '74 same year that the first Trace album came out. They definitely capitalised on the success of Focus and I was also into Ekseption. Always looked at Trace as slightly better than ELP. Triumvirat lacked the musical background of both but had some good compositions on Illusions and Spartacus. Trace were just more exciting. Birds was a masterpiece. Love that whole album as well as the artwork. Great stuff.
Joined: August 09 2015
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 15216
Posted: September 24 2017 at 08:50
Nice poll, I hadn't listened to Spartacus for ages and wasn't aware of Trace, and this one made me listen to them both. Although I'm not that keen on Koellen's vocals and it's a bit too ELP-like for me, Spartacus wins it. My appreciation for Trace is intellectual but it mostly misses me emotionally (same for some other of van der Linden's music).
Joined: February 09 2017
Location: Fort Erie
Status: Offline
Points: 501
Posted: September 26 2017 at 19:53
Just listened to Spartacus for the first time in eons. The Gladiator theme sails the seas of Lindberger. The music is fine but it's just those cheesy lyrics. The cover with the mouse has absolutely nothing to do with the theme of the album. At least on Pompeii they has some cheesy artwork that had something to to with thecheesy theme. That's the problem I've always had with this band. Too cheese. I'm not even going to say anything about a la Carte.
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