POMPEII

A bit of a disappointment, really. Pompeii was not really a group efford, it´s more like an Jürgen Fritz solo album with some backing musicians. While is still a good prog record, it is also very clear the chemistry that once made Triumvirat one of the most interesting prog bands of the 70´s is missing here. Fritz did all the songwriting and arrangements. And from the previous line up only Barry Palmer was retained. Curiously, his vocals are not as good as he has done in Old Loves Die Hard. Certainly Fritz called up some great musicians, both Curt Cress (drums) and Dieter Petereit (bass) played in the jazz rock combo Passport, but still the sound is not up to what they had done before.

Th songs are good in general, but not outstanding. Jürgen Fritz is not only a great keyboards player, but also a great arranger, making some subtle add ons with strings, horns and choirs. His orchestrations are never overblown, which is a big quality. Still, the songwriting (and Barry´s interpretation) fails to generate the same excitement it used to do on their previous works.

So, in the end, a good CD, but quite uncharacteristic. And saddly, their last prog album under the Triumvirat´s banner. Conclusion: if you know and have all the previous Triumvirat records, Popeii is recommended. However, this is not a good starting point for the newbie. 3 stars.