CLASSICS

I was a big fan of these guys in the late seventies before they adopted a more commercial sound in the eighties. Having said that, I did like some of their songs that were on the radio back then, which is what prompted me to purchase this compilation cd some time ago.This is probably only the second time i've listened to it though, and some of the songs do take me back in time which is cool.

"Tears In The Rain" sounds like they tried to make a hit single. Worst song on here. Ouch. "Hold On" opens with acoustic guitar and is one of my favourites from them. "Working For The Weekend" is a straight up rocker. "Magic Power" has been a song i've always liked. It has such a beautiful intro.The words "I'm young i'm wild and i'm free" used to mean a lot more than it does now. Haha. "Follow Your Heart" has a nice heavy sound, although it reminds me of eighties Metal.

"A World Of Fantasy" has a good beat to it. It's ok. "Fight The Good Fight" is a good song with meaningful lyrics. Some nice guitar 3 1/2 minutes in and even better before 6 minutes. "Spellbound" is average, but it does have it's moments. "Somebody's Out There" is an encouraging song lyrically. "Lay It On The Line" used to be a favourite of mine. The lyrics sound like cliche eighties Metal now though. "Rock N' Roll Machine" sounds like a different band from all that has gone on before. And that's a good thing. This one is a killer track. The drumming is amazing and so is the virtuoso guitar playing.

If you want to hear TRIUMPH at their best get "Rock N' Roll Machine", the rest for me is more about the memories than the music.

I keep thinking the band name should read Triumpth. I have no idea why. These guys were a Canadian hard rock trio who were compared to Rush because they were a trio and singer/guitarist Rik Emmett sorta sounded like Geddy Lee. Bass player Mike Levine played keyboards too but it's not a significant enough factor for the critics to have mentioned it. Unlike Rush, drummer Gil Moore sang some of the lead vocals on some songs. I was kind of surprised to see Triumph here on ProgArchives as well as another Canadian band Max Webster. FM made sense though. But Triumph's first two or three albums do have some longer, proggier songs on them.

You won't find any prog here. You will find a few really good commercial hard rock songs included however. "Hold On," "Magic Power," "Follow Your Heart," "Somebody's Out There" and "Lay It On The Line" are still played heavily on Canadian radio. "Fight The Good Fight" is the proggiest song here with some nice synth and a Rush/Zeppelin vibe. They didn't but should have included the Moore sung ballad "Just One Night." I always liked that song but apparently some of the band's fans don't like it. I only ever owned Classics so I was never a hardcore fanboy anyway. Fans of the more mainstream side of Rush might enjoy this. A half decent compilation but not of much interest to most fans of prog rock. 2 stars.