OLD LOVES DIE HARD

Old Loves Die Hard is perhaps very aptly titled as it generally gets way less appreciation than previous Triumvirat recordings Spartacus or Illusions on a Double Dimple. Yet, listening to this without prejudice, there is much to like here, maybe even more than some would admit, firstly with the vocals of Barry Palmer it becomes immediately apparent that the man has some serious lungs, unjustly lambasted later by some unforgiving critics for his REO Speedwagon-ish timbre! Dick Frangenberg on bass is also a slight upgrade but the solid drums of Hans Bathelt and Jürgen Fritz' deft wizardry are both more then up front and center, they shine. The 7 pieces here are cohesive, well-crafted songs that can stand on their own. "I Believe" is a fine example of Triumvirat's obvious qualities, a simple melody taken to symphonic heights with spirited and inspired arrangements, fabulous vocal dexterity combined by charismatic piano, organ and synth playing from the master himself. The 3 part "A Day in the Life" suite begins by sedately weaving a quirky little melody along unsuspectingly morphing into a melancholic romp that puts the spotlight on Fritz's unshakable "maitrise" on piano, his heroic fingers dazzling the ivories with resilient panache, romanticism at its musical best, the third part exploding into a symphonic Moog-fest, a stunning piece of classic prog-rock. Does it get better? The answer is a definite Yes! "The History of Mystery" Parts 1 and 2 are probably some of the finest music ever put down on tape by these German titans. The main melody is one immense hook, full of blustering pomp mixed with a flurry of expression, some magic melancholia, a dash of brazen bravado, a little playfulness and lots of lustful zeal. The theme is revisited repeatedly introducing intricate synths blaring, bossy organs aglow, zipping along at furious a pace, Palmer singing with passion and exaltation. Part 2 is a bold excuse for Fritz to show off his grandiloquent Moog skills, of which he has enough in spades. "A Cold Old Worried Lady" is essentially a vocal/piano duet of infinite splendor, vivid orchestrations adding to the overall fragility of the arrangement, almost like a proggy version of Elton John. "Panic on 5th Avenue" is the longest track here, a 10 minute plus prog meisterwerk, sirens blaring uncontrolled while the Hammond destroys everything in its bellicose way, the bass and drums hammering away pitilessly. This is where the Mannschaft gets to show its instrumental mettle, Fritz in particularly Kaiserly form, ruling over his multiple keyboard arsenal like a deranged madman, evoking images of Emersonian fury, Bathelt banging away with appropriate aplomb, the bald-faced bass rolling along like a steamroller . Even the organ goes "wow" on a few occasions, simply amazing music. Imagine a five minute synthesizer solo that is never overindulgent, boring or overtly technical, in fact it remains creative, even melodic throughout. The title track closes off the proceedings, a stirring soulful lament, expertly sung and brilliantly played, a true mix of classical symphonic prog with a massive dose of feeling. This unjustly underrated album is as seductive as the 2 better known icons but it has a mature cachet that is undeniable. 4.5 pretzels (Old Loves Die Hard!)

rounded up to the upper star

Fifth album I believe from the German answer to ELP, and one I can't figure out whether it was a spoof or they actually meant it. Nevermind for a second that this band did hazve the good moment of success (especially in the States), I can't think of a band that so clumsily collections all of the pompous prog clichés better (not even remaining a threesome) than they did. The catastrophic addition of vocalist Barry Palmer (I did NOT invent this, THEY did! ;o)p))) make them sound like some kind of Steve Perry- era Journey, although we'd probably have loved the latter to play this kind of stuff during their heydays. This one came with a different Mouse artwork in the States than this Gothic

Past the ultra laughable and overlong I Believe, where the lyrics are bad enough, but the interpretation is just so overdone that it gets surreal, the mini-suite A Day In The Life (I think they tried to pull a diversion here ;o)) is commanding a minimum of respect as keyboardist Jurgen Fritz is quite capable of flawless execution, despite lack if taste. One of the reason why I'm having trouble taking this very seriously is the two-part History Of Mystery (spread on both sides of the vinyl at that) with all the clichés and some either obtuse or intentionally confused lyrics (was there a need to mention the furher?), some tacky and cheesy synths sounds, furthermore dragging out almost 12 minutes, making the second part totalled unwelcome. Minus a full start for this blunder.

Another laughing point is the Palmer written Cold Old Worried Lady, where you'd have expected Palmer to write better English lyrics than his German colleagues, but the old lady probably died laughing than frozen. The 10-mins+Panic On 5th Avenue is actually a credible piece of instrumental bravado that would stand on its own if it wasn't soooooo Emerson-sounding... (I'm NOT doing this!!! THEY are!! :-(. Anyway nice piece of bravado outside its derivative nature. I'll skip over the title track, as I don't think I can remain polite about this kind of track, even if I managed to in my Journey reviews - well they seemed to have passed over my buddy Bob's approval.

The Cd reissue comes with a non-album single of the times, Take A Break Today, which was backed a another non-album track The Control Of Power, not included here (no idea why). Well the bonus track not only sticks out sonically like a sore thumb, but it's bound to give you another good frozen laugh, wondering inside it they did this for real or not, you'd wished they stopped, now!! Maybe that's why the other track is not included. Best avoided past two good but derivative instrumental tracks.

Even an experienced hunter may miss the prey

Since 1976 when I received a 90 minutes cassette with "Illusions on a Double Dimple" on side A and "Spartacus" on side B, I've been a fanatic of TRIUMVIRAT, not only because of the incredible talent and skills of Jürgen Fritz, but for the sound of the whole band and the hallucinating arrangements. But after the Helmut Köllen left the band, the average "Pompeii" and the disastrous "A La Carte", lost he interest and never had the will to listen "Old Love Dies Hard", mainly because of Barry Palmer's voice, doesn't matter the strong accent, the late Köllen was a stronger singer.

So the years passed and a few weeks ago during one of my usual CD safaris, found a very cheap copy of "Old Love Dies Hard" that the guy in the store was never ale to sell, after a short deal, I agreed to pay 3 bucks, took it to my house and placed it on the TRIUMVIRAT section of my collection, until past Monday when I took it to the car and placed it on the CD player....God, what a surprise!

Won't say it's in the level of "Illusions" or "Spartacus", but it's an excellent album that I missed for some decades due to a prejudice against the post trio formation of the band. The first surprise is the fact the album is absolutely guitarless (Well Köllen wasn't mainly a guitar player neither), but this lack of guitar enhances the listening experience of Fritz as a virtuoso keyboardist, specially with the piano where his technique is impeccable.

It's also important to notice that the original bassist Dick Frangenberg (Was replaced By Hans Pape before recording "Mediterranean Tales") is back, and the guy gave the size, because his performance is solid, as if he had never left the band. About Hans Bathelt is not necessary to talk, being that his style is part of the band since the start and is the only one capable to complement the style of Fritz.

The album starts with "I Believe", a well elaborate ballad in which Jürgen Fritz shows his skills with the Moog but mainly with the piano, changing the usually pompous atmosphere of the band for a more pristine sound that reminds of the softer tracks of "Spartacus" .

As I said before, Palmer's voice is not my cup of tea, but neither is annoying, and when Fritz does the backing vocals the sound is very pleasant, and if we add the perfect arrangements and the nice choirs, all the band sounds well, not brilliant by way above the average.

"A Day in Live" is another soft correct track in which again the arrangements make it sound much better, Bathelt (usually compared with Carl Palmer), achieves something that the great ELP drummer never could, to keep perfect timing, maybe needs more strength to play in band that keeps working as a Power Trio (Barry Palmer only sings so they are essentially a trio), but his technique makes any minor problem vanish. But the fascinating characteristic of this track is the clear and perfect piano, Fritz avoids using complex synthesizers to give an image of clarity and clean sound.

"The History of Mystery" (Talking about the whole track, because the division between parts 1 and 2 is only product of the limits of vinyl format) starts soft and melodic as the precious tracks, but after a short piano and vocals passage, TRIUMVIRAT takes us back in time to 1973, performing a pompous and brilliant track in the vein of "Illusions on a Double Dimple", as 4 years before Jürgen Fritz picks the heavy artillery and gives a lesson of versatility with each and every keyboard instrument he has on hand, demonstrating he hasn't lost the touch with the mighty Moog, while Frangenberg and Bathelt manage to follow his lead with the usual dexterity.

The track is anything but predictable, the changes are so radical that the casual listener doesn't know what to expect, the vocals enter when nobody could imagine and vanish as soon as he appeared to leave the keyboards reign, yes, they still remind of ELP, but in my opinion they are better most of the time, a fantastic song and a highlight of the album.

After a powerful epic as "The History of Mystery" a relief is required, and "A Cold Old Worried Lady" provides it, strangely in this beautiful melodic song Barry Palmer sounds great, his vocal ability sounds beyond his usual range and the band doesn't leave him along complementing him in every moment, not as vibrant ads the previous ones but still a solid song.

But anybody who knows TRIUMVIRAT must be sure that thee calm doesn't last forever, "Panic in the Fifth Avenue" is frenetic from start to end, as in their best era, the band doesn't rest for an instant, providing a breathtaking instrumental with memorable Hammond and Moog performances with a rhythm section that keeps the feet of the band solid in the ground and allowing maestro Fritz to wander wherever he wants, 10 minutes of pure Progressive Rock.

"Old Love Dies Hard" ends with the title song, which provides a softer closure to the album with excellent vocal performances by all the members and pristine clear arrangements.

As I said when starting this review, don't believe this album is in the level of "Illusions" and "Spartacus", but lets be honest, hardly any album is in that level, if I had only listened "Old Love Dies Hard", I'm sure would still consider THE RAT an icon of Prog and one of the best German bands ever.

Can't rate the album with less that 4 stars because it's an excellent addition to any Prog collection, a gem that I left behind for three decades due to an absurd prejudice.

With the departure of Helmut Köllen and the coming of two different people on the singing and bass playing roles, Triumvirat was ready to move on through its second musical chapter. It is evident from the writing credits printed in the album that Jürgen Fritz was becoming the absolute master of the band's direction, which specifically translated into a trend of sophisticated melodic rock that was, naturally, keyboard-centered. In some ways, the sonic strategy delivered in this album is a continuation of the musical results displayed in the successful "Spartacus" concept album, but there are also clear signs of transformation from core symphonic prog to melodic rock with progressive tendencies. Well, to speak in PA language, the band was becoming more crossover and less essentially symphonic. I guess that there was much of the "sign of the times" factor influencing Fritz's artistic mind, but you can also tell that drummer Bathelt was letting go of the sort of energy and muscle that he had delivered in all previous albums as a source of architecture for Fritz's compositions. While the tapestry of keyboards and the powerful tenor timber of Barry Palmer were, indeed, vehicles for the manifestation of exquisite progressive environments, the rhythm section falls a bit short at it because of Bathelt (no way to blame Dick Frangenberg, whose precision is always made evident). All in all, the ballads 'A cold old worried lady' and 'Old loves die hard' are symptoms of the band's transformation. While they present pretty ideas and progressively stylish ornaments, they also sound like forgotten pieces from Elton John's "Captain Fantastic" or Jesus Christ Superstar's OST: not bad albums at all, but definitely far from that special greatness that Fritz & co. used to instill to the softer tracks from any of the previous albums. More accomplished is the inspired opener, 'I believe', a manifestation of the symphonic grandeur that the band still had in store for the listener. The string synth orchestrations and electric piano flourishes really state the foundation of this track's greatness. The instrumental 'A day in a life' is even bigger regarding the progressive merits: part 1 is eerie, part 2 is reflective and part 3 is enthusiastic (maybe it should have been a bit longer, just a bit?). The album's suite 'The history of mystery' is abundantly akin to the spirit of "Spartacus", and that includes the subtle references to ELP's "Trilogy" and "Brain" albums: now it is not the Hammond organ, but the piano which incarnates the medium for Fritz's Emersonian exorcisms. 'Panic on 5th Avenue' completes the progressive factor in the shape of a psychedelic jam alternated with passages of architectonical orchestrations: once more, the irresistible (not so ever-present anymore) ELP factor emerges as a big source of inspiration. So, as a conclusion, I grant 3.3 stars to this album, the last consistent release by Triumvirat.

Well, you know that usually I don't like the so called "derivative prog bands" (think of Pendragon as Marillion's or Camel's clones since the early eighties, Pentwater as a reply to Yes in late sixties/early seventies, then also these "Triumvirat" in the seventies, a derivative band a-la ELP, whose music fortunately was more focused on their songwriting, despite They reached their peek with "Spartacus" only)...but apart from my introduction above, I think of this "Old Loves..." as a good and more "commercial" album, characterized by a vocalist- Barry Palmer-in a kind of trouble in his role, even though He's well coordinated by Jürgen Fritz here, true master mind of the band, which brings about a mood a-la Rick Wakeman regarding the melody and a-la K. Emerson (in a more simple way) regarding the harmony, like within "Panic on 5th Avenue"; while for instance "History of Mystery" is a weak episode, reminding me of the atmosphere inside "Love Beach" by ELP, that I don't like very much...and on the same wave there's "I Believe" (the opener), the most commercial track of the present album, which seems to be quite "journeysque" (unfortunately without Steve Perry on vocals); but the lyrics are quite good after all!! Instead the arrangement regarding the ballad ""A Day In the Life" is reminiscent of a mood which was quite typical in late seventies, even though the piano is evolving towards a more original melody at the piano...Then I have some doubts about the lyrics of "A Cold Old Worried Lady", in my opinion not so inspiring (like Palmer's vocals), as well as about the final title track, which is neither powerful nor so epic, but here the vocalist performs a better job- in a soft style- and such feature could be enough to make their work more suitable for the lovers of other different and more simple music genres (actually this German Band never rechead a commercial success, but nevermind...)

Interesting product, not their best one in my opinion!

Undergoing a lineup change and expanding to a four-piece with the addition of lead singer Barry Palmer, Triumvirat's Old Loves Die Hard tones down the Emerson, Lake and Palmer influence - and indeed scales back the full-on symphonic prog on all but a few tracks, yielding an album which is a curious blend of symphonic and symphonic-light art rock. Barry Palmer's vocals don't really add very much to the equation, by my reckoning, and I think it would be hard to argue that the instrumental backing here is as interesting as on any of the preceding three Triumvirat albums. As others have said, this album marks the start of the decline.

Cheese fondue sets was the must have item some years ago. It still is a must-have item for all true prog rock fans and the large majority of the PA fraternity got their highest wishes fulfilled when they found their cheese fondue sets under this year's glitteratzy Christmas tree.

A prog rock party and festive evening without the progsters surrounding a hot stewing cheese fondue set is not an evening worth adding to the annals of the mankind. Prog rock does not get much better than a chees fondue set.

....... That reminds me about something. I am actually trying to piece together 100 words about this album, Triumvirat's fourth album, while I am thinking about the cheese fondue set I got for Christmas. What a strange coincidence.

Triumvirat made three good ELP clone albums with some sub standard, but still charming German vocalist trying to sound like he was born at the shores of Loch Eerie. Which did not work out. Germans was actually apprehended and shot for better grasp on English when venturing into US of A in unauthorised uboats transportations some decades ago. So a guy with native grasp on the language was hired instead. I think Triumvirat lost a lot of charm and the fun factor by ditching the services of Mr Hopeless English.

Triumvirat has also ditched most of their ELP clone stuff and gone down the sugar sweet pop road with piano and sweetly harmonies. But there is still enough ELP clone stuff here to keep me enough buttered up to deem this a good album. My views on the pop stuff is better left out of my review. It is a limit to how many times you can write "Holy cow climbing up the tree" in a review. This is a good album and nothing more than that.

3 stars

I remember with Triumvirat's Old Loves Die Hard album, their fourth studio effort, released in 1976, I first heard and bought the album in 1988, and I was overwhelmingly impressed. Juergen Fritz's keyboard work, especially, moved mountains for me,with it's dazzling technique and real emotion. Yes, I do miss Helmut Koellen's presence in the band, but Barry Palmer as lead vocalist, and a returning Dick Frangenberg on bass, do some fine things on this record. Though I don't like Old Loves as much as their previous work, this still qualifies as a great record of their's.

Triumvirat are my favourite band, and always will be. At times, though, when I hear Old Loves Die Hard, I can't help but feel that in some ways when singer-songwriter-guitar player Helmut Koellen left the band at the end of '75, things were shaken up for Triumvirat. Koellen was an important and integral part of the band's sound. Still, in the same breath, even without him, this album is a strong, solid effort, both instrumentally, and vocally.

I am quite impressed with the suite "A Day In My Life", where Juergen Fritz really shines, especially in the section for solo piano, which is quite moving. Fritz's keyboard skills also come to the fore in the long side two track "Panic On 10th Avenue", which is an interesting listening experience. Sometimes, though, the bass and drum work that unites with Juergen's keys is not quite as engaging or exciting as on previous albums.

Regarding new vocalist Barry Palmer, he is a fine singer, being emotive without overdoing it, which is nice.

Though Old Loves has some things really going for it, I do confess that it signals slightly the start of the decline in quality of Triumvirat's opus's, in terms of progressiveness. Still, a great record, though. Four stars.

German synth wizard and Keith Emerson wannabe Jürgen Fritz had one foot on a bar of soap while recording this follow-up to his popular "Spartacus" album. The recruitment of British pop singer Barry Palmer, hired through a Melody Maker advertisement after the departure of Helmut Köllen, quickly undermined the original dynamic of the classic keyboard trio. Palmer's radio-friendly voice never meshed well with the band's higher (i.e. proggier) aspirations, and his AOR smoothness only greased the floor beneath a composer already looking for commercial salvation.

But don't blame the new guy for such an inconsistent change of pace. The revamped line-up was only one part of a deliberate bid by Fritz to simplify the Triumvirat sound and balance the band's deeper European heritage with a more shallow mainstream style. The richness of the former is evident in the albums stately opening notes; the compromise of the latter can be heard as soon as Palmer opens his mouth, unconsciously summing up the future of his adopted band in one ominous cliché: "I sold my soul to rock 'n' roll / I never got it back..."

More than enough traces of genuine Prog Rock vitality remained to make the album certainly worthwhile, with at least two highlights equaling anything the band did before: "Panic on 5th Avenue", and the mini-trilogy "A Day in a Life" (both entirely instrumental, please note). "The History of Mystery", originally split over two sides of vinyl, has some attractive grand piano as well, plus a few too many stylistic nods to ELP's "Karn Evil 9". But the bulk of the album ("A Cold Old Worried Lady"; the chorus of "I Believe"; and even the title track) was closer to Elton John than Keith Emerson, hardly recommending it to discriminating listeners.

Curiously, the European LP presented the music "in deepest sympathy", the words written on the back cover in mock-gothic script (but not a reference to the accidental death of old comrade Helmut Köllen, still a year away). The alternate artwork on the U.S. edition depicted the mascot rat, trapped in a corner, and both versions pretty much summed up the band's position in 1976. As any ardent Proghead will tell you, old loves do indeed die hard. This particular flame may not have expired yet, but (paraphrasing Frank Zappa) she was starting to smell a bit funny.

I don't think I was too shocked Old Loves Die Hard never really reached the heights of Spartacus. Late '70s pop tendencies that would totally take over Triumvirat within two albums was already starting to rear its head here. Helmut Kollen left to pursue a solo career, unfortunately he never lived to see his sole solo album. You Won't See Me (1977). In his shoes come Dick Frangenberg on bass, who was the original bassist for the group, before Mediterranean Tales was released, and Barry Palmer, a singer where the grasp of the English language was never in question given his British origins. I have to say the ballads on this album really throw me over the edge, especially "I Believe" and "A Cold Old Worried Lady". Although from 1976, these are two very insipid late '70s type of soft-rock balladry. I can hardly handle listening to these without my stomach turning. Barry Palmer's voice not helping. Although I was never a fan of punk, hearing these ballads make me understand more clearly why that movement was well under way roughly around this time period. At least Triumvirat did not abandoned prog, and "A Day in the Life", "The History of Mystery" and "Panic on 5th Avenue" show they can still do it, Jurgen Fritz often doing his best ELP imitations, although none of these reach the heights of Spartacus. I guarantee you had I heard this album twenty years earlier (like when I was 21 years old) I probably would have absolutely hated this album, but not now. But at least there are good moments, I just need to skip those ballads. At least I found a used LP copy on the cheap. Although the proggy stuff I like best here, I prefer Spartacus overall.

The fourth album for Triumverat marks a big change for the band. Their last two albums were successful in about every way possible and they had proven themselves to be capable progressive rockers that play music very similar to Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Up to this point, the band had been a trio and the original keyboardist, Jurgen Fritz (whom the band was centered around) and drummer/lyricist Hans Bathelt were still the loyal members of the band. For the last two albums, which the band is most known for, Helmut Kollen was the vocalist and bassist, but, finding that he was having problems singing the new songs, left the band and died not too long after that. A new singer was hired named Barry Palmer after he submitted a cover of Paul McCartney's 'Maybe I'm Amazed' in answer to an ad for a new vocalist to Fritz. But, the band was still without a bassist, so a fourth member had to be brought in. Instead of hiring someone new, Werner Frangerberg, who was the band's original bassist who actually left before the recording of their debut album, was brought back in, meaning that this would be the first album he would be featured on.

Getting used to this new line-up, and the fact that they were now a quartet, was something they would have to quickly adjust to. Would the band be able to retain their sound and their popularity with this new line up? From the surface, the album called 'Old Loves Die Hard' looks like it could be a contender with a mix of long and shorter tracks, one on the long ones being a 3-part suite and two others that exceed the 10 minute mark. The first side is made up of 3 good sized tracks starting with 'I Believe'. The song has a moderate beat with some complex rhythms and the topic is quite contemporary, not quite as epic as some of their previous tracks even at almost 8 minutes. It's an interesting enough track, but is definitely more 'straightforward' sounding than pervious, but still pretty good. Even though the keys are still prevalent, it sounds less like ELP than before, and more like Styx and also what sounds like a children's chorus towards the last part of the song.

Next is 'A Day in a Life' which is the 3-part suite mentioned earlier. This one is completely instrumental and it begins with 'Uranus' Dawn' which starts off with electric piano and synth playing a more mellow and laid-back feel than on their previous efforts. This meanders melodically along until it comes to 'Pisces at Noon' when the piano takes over. This is a nice and rhapsodic piano solo (mostly), but still not as complex as their previous albums. Fritz still gets to show off his mega-talent though, so it's not bad. It all ends with a sudden upbeat section called 'Panorama Dusk' where layers of synths and keyboards are all joined by bass and drums, now sounding more like before, but this section of the suite is quite short and is over quickly.

'The History of Mystery' follows the suite and is the longest track on the albums at almost 12 minutes. As the track begins, it continues with the more straightforward sound while it goes through a vocal section, but when the tempo picks up a bit more, it starts to sound more like ELP again, so at least there is a return to a bit of complexity as the keys take the band through various tempos, meter shifts and styles. Even though it took a while, at least all hope is not lost yet. Also Barry's vocals are definitely stronger than Helmut's were. On the LP version of the album, this track is divided into two parts with part 1 ending the first side and picking up with part 2 on the 2nd side. The break between parts is quite natural sounding though with no fade outs/ins needed.

'A Cold Old Worried Lady' is a piano-led ballad with nice vocals by Barry. The synths come in bringing in some nicely done string effects with other orchestral sounds. It sounds very much like Kayak's 'Ruthless Queen', or at least seems styled after it. It's quite straightforward, but still very nice. A long instrumental 'Panic of Fifth Avenue' follows this one, and the band returns to it's ELP style with heavy keys and synths backed up by great bass and drum work, tempo and meter shifts and so on. Excellent track, styled somewhat after 'Toccata'. It all ends with the title track 'Old Loves Die Hard', a moderate track with vocals, which acts more like a closer for the album than anything else.

Overall, the album is decent, but is a bit more straightforward than the previous albums by the band. It has some great tracks that recall the sound of the band that gave them the respected status from fans and critics alike. It is not yet a turn away from their signature sound, at least not yet completely, but it also isn't as solid as their best albums. However, classic prog lovers and ELP fans will still find plenty to love here anyway. But it does mark the beginning of a steep descent into failed commercialism that the band would embark in later. The band would even become more unstable as the original two members would soon separate with Bathelt leaving the band because of pressure from the record label to commercialize their music even more and Fritz going along with that plan. Also, the original bassist Frangerberg would leave the band once again. Still, this album was able to still give enough quality material to be considered an excellent album. 3.5 rounds up to 4 stars.

Review Nº 598

"Old Loves Die Hard" is the fourth studio album of Triumvirat and that was released in 1976. The inspiration did unfortunately and slowly begin to slip away from Triumvirat after their two excellent masterpieces, "Illusions On A Double Dimple", released in 1974 and "Spartacus" released in 1975. It's true that "Old Loves Die Hard" has its fair share of great moments, but the earlier mentioned lack of inspiration was already beginning to show, slight, but consistently.

The line up on the album is Barry Palmer (lead vocals), Jürgen Fritz (Hammond C3 organ, Moog synthesizers, ARP string ensemble, Steinway grand piano, Fender, Wurlitzer and Hohner pianos), Dick Frangenberg (fender bass) and Hans Bathelt (Slingerland percussion). Beyond the band's members, other artists participated on the album, Jane Palmer (backing vocals), Charly Schlimbach (saxophones), Sondra (spoken words) and The Cologne Children Choir.

This line up of the band is substantially different from their previous albums. In the first place and above all, for the first time the group have a lead vocalist, the British singer Barry Palmer, and the trio became now as a quartet. In the second place, and once more, the band changed the bassist. Their previous bassist Helmut Köllen left the band to start a solo career. This situation had happened before when Helmut Köllen replaced Hans Pape, the original Triumvirat's bassist.

"Old Loves Die Hard" has seven tracks. The first track "I Believe" written by Jürgen Fritz and Hans Bathelt is a good song to open the album. This is a very simple but very well elaborated ballad, very powerful and with a very pompous atmosphere. It's a song with inspired symphonic musical arrangements, powerful vocals and it has also great chorus on the background. This is a typical Triumvirat's song. The second track "A Day In A Life" is divided into three parts: "Uranus' Dawn", "Pisces At Noon" and "Panorama Dusk". All three parts were written by Jürgen Fritz. This is a multi-part song with some diversification. It's a very progressive song with great musical and complex arrangements. This is a simple suite instrumental piece of music using piano as lead melody and where Jürgen Fritz shows how great he is in the classical music. This is an amazing track that shows Triumvirat at their best. The song "The History Of Mystery" is divided into two tracks, the part one on track three and the part two on track four. The song was written by Jürgen Fritz, Hans Bathelt and Barry Palmer and was only divided due to the limits of the vinyl format of the records in the 70's. It's a song strongly and heavily influenced by Emerson, Lake & Palmer's sound. This is a song with a great splendour, very bombastic and full of keyboards. It's a very complex and progressive song with an excellent composition and some great arrangements. This is really a brilliant track and it's probably the best musical composition on the whole album. It represents one of the finest musics ever composed by them, too. The fifth track "A Cold Old Worried Lady" written by Jürgen Fritz and Barry Palmer is a beautiful and melodic ballad and where the voice of Barry Palmer sounds very well in a soft range. It isn't as vibrant and catchy as the others previous songs but however it's a very good, pleasant and a solid song. The sixth track "Panic On Fifth Avenue" written by Jürgen Fritz always was one of my favourite songs on the album. It's a very frenetic song from the start to the end and we can see more clearly the performance of Jürgen Fritz in a very close style to Keith Emerson. This is really a memorable musical moment with great individual musical performances by the trio providing 10 minutes of pure symphonic progressive rock. This is the Kaiser Jürgen Fritz at his best on Triumvirat. However and unfortunately, in my opinion, this was the last great epic song of the band. The seventh track is the title track "Old Loves Die Hard". It was written by Jürgen Fritz and ends the album. It's a soft ballad well arranged with a nice melody, excellently sung, and where all the band's members performed very professionally.

My CD remastered edition has also another song, a bonus track, "Take A Break Today". This song was released only as a single and was backed with another song "The Control Of Power", not included here as a bonus track. I will not review it, because usually I don't review bonus tracks. However, I must say one thing about this song. It has nothing to do with the rest of the album. It's an average commercial pop song that unfortunately pronounced what the bad would do in the future music of Triumvirat. Unfortunately, it was a premonition of another fall of a great prog band of the 70's.

Conclusion: "Old Loves Die Hard" is a very good album, indeed. It's true that it isn't as good as "Illusions On A Double Dimple" and "Spartacus", and is more commercial. But, anyway, it still is a great piece of music. The tracks "A Day In A Life", "The History Of Mystery" and "Panic On Fifth Avenue" are absolutely brilliant and represents some of the best compositions made by them. "I Believe", "A Cold Old Worried Lady" and especially "Old Loves Die Hard" are also good songs but they haven't the same quality of the others. Without that reason I would have rated this album with 5 stars, probably. However and unfortunately, this was, in my humble opinion, the last great musical work released by the band.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)