TRINITY

I doubted whether to give this album four stars or five stars, but I decided on four stars since the next album that Van der Linden would make with his new band Trace deserves that honour. Nevertheless, this truly is an excellent album which shows a fully matured Ekseption with its unique own mix of prog rock, classical and jazz. Of course, the classical composers are not forgotten: Bach's famous 'Toccata', Beethoven's 'Romance from his second violin concerto' as well as Rimsky Korsakov's devastatingly fast 'Flight of the bumble bee' are transformed through Rick's unique recipe into a unique, exciting cocktail. Besides the classical composers there also are Rick's own compositions as well as a great piece of music written by Tony Vos, 'Dreams', where the brass is carrying Jan Vennik's flute. 'The Peruvian Flute' is based on a Peruvian traditional, but of course Rick places his own stamp on the music to such a degree that it becomes unmistakenly Van der Linden. In 'Improvisation', the longest track on the album, each of the band members is allowed a solo, and whereas usually this can lead to some boring showcase of the individual's mastery of technique, on this song everything blends ekseptionally well together. The album ends with the beautiful 'Finale III', where members of the Dutch Chamber Choir sing their part as well, an inspired closing track to an uplifting album. I hope it will see its release on CD soon. This one definitely is a must have.

Trinity is my only experience with Ekseption, and I was pretty pleased with it. The first track is Toccata, a very good classical cover piece, gotta love that organ. After that is the highlight, The Peruvian Flute. This song is an energetic, rollicking jazzy piece that uses the peruvian flute (surprise) to perfection with horns and Van Der Linden's keyboard work- very catchy too. Next is Dreams, not very interesting, a transitional interlude-type track at best. Smile is a nice little relaxing poppy tune that fits its name well. Lonely Chase is a three minute keyboard solo, not too interesting. Romance is a nice short tune that soon dives into a jazzy freakout, very nifty. Then comes Improvisation, the longest track here. This song uses that peruvian flute again, and also has a really, REALLY awesome bass solo. Meddle is a nice but not particularly stunning 1-minute track, followed by Flight of the Bumblebee, another classical cover, which came out nicely. And finally, Finale III is, well, a finale piece, well made. Overall Trinity is an album that has its moments, but for the most part is merely good, not excellent- three stars.

You should not miss this!

Ooops ..... I am surprised that there are very minimum number of reviews on this excellent album bu the Dutch's Ekseption. In fact I almost forgot not writing anything about an album that colored my teenage life. I remember vividly my big brother had a cassette version of this album and I was amazed with one track that I kept playing many times when it reached this one: Improvisation. As teenager I liked something unique pertinent to certain track. Imrovisation of course blew me away at first spin as this one really reminded me to the music of another Dutch: Focus especially during the opening part where it had dynamic flute-work. I though it was played by Thijs van Leer. I was wrong, it;s Jan Vennik. The flute is really dynamic supported by relatively fast tempo music with drums, bass and synthesizer. What follow is the part where it demonstrates bass guitar solo in a very stunning way and of course it's energetic. The duration of bass guitar solo is quite long and then it follows beautifully with jaw-dropping drum-work. Whooaaa......it's really great! The ending part is then concluded back with flute work. Overall, this track is truly a masterpiece one. Even, it's worth having this album even if you only love this track - in fact that was my case when I was teenager.

Fortunately, the album also offers other excellent tracks like "Toccata" (5:16) which has eerie organ work by Rick van der Linden. The following track is another excellent one demonstrating flute as the title implies: "The Peruvian Flute (traditional)" (8:04). The beauty of Ekseption music is the blend of all brass section, synthesizer, and flute work into one excellent composition. The other tracks are excellent as well : "Lonely Chase" (3:10) , "Romance" (3:30) and "Finale III" (2:50).

Overall, it's an excellent addition to progressive music collection that you should not miss. It offers instrumental music combining classical, pop and rock elements. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Trinity is Ekseption's sixth album which was made in 1973 by this dutch group I would consider symphonic rather than eclectic. I am surprised this record isn't rated higher because of it's elegance. I really like their adoption of classic music and making it into their own style. On this record participate Rein van der Broek, Jan Vennik, Cor Dekker, Pieter Voogt and Rick van der Linden.

This starts strong with some Bach, a well known piece that does something new with this wonderful music. It's not only Bach goes rock, there is also great brass instruments and I enjoyed it immediately. The second track is another marvelous piece, some indian style but not real peruvian flutes, though very good och gives me happiness. This could have been film music. "Dreams" is a little jazzy track. "Romance" is a very classical and beautiful song that also becomes jazzy in the middle. "Improvisation" gives us a great bass solo and many innovative happenings. "Meddle" also sounds like Bach and "Flight of the bumble bee" is a tribute to Nikolaj Rimskij Korsakov who made the classical piece with the same name. Ekseption does is perfectly and they also give it their own touch with great saxophone for example. On the last track we meet a choir.

I would compare this record with Camel's The snow goose, a wonderful instrumental very melodical album. When I give stars to records I ask myself. Could this be better than it is now. And the aswer here is no. The only thing I missed was guitar, but not very much, it's perhaps beacuase I am so used to that I feel the lack. This is a perfect record I will play many times and I think Ekseption will be a favourite in the future. I have hard to understand why the group is classified eclectic prog when Emerson, Lake and Palmer is symphonic, I wouldn't have argued about the opposite. As a conclusion: a high recommended record, especially the tracks: "Toccata", "The Peruvian flute", "Romance", "Improvisation" and "The flight of the bumble bee".

A long forgotten gem!

I am very pleased that someone has paid attention to this album - again. By my standards, "Trinity" is my fave album of this band. Partly because of lesser focus on interpretation of classical pieces, thus allowing for more expression of individual talent.

Some of you in my age group probably recall the numerous reader's polls in the '70's endlessly - and also pointlessly - debating as which keyboard player was the best. The contest usually centered around Emerson, Wakeman, Van der Linden and to a lesser extent, Vangelis. Classical interpretations were very fashionable then and Van der Linden's band Ekseption have received perhaps excessive recognition - for their excessive approach to that.,

Notwithstanding that they were fine musicians, the band got themselves seriously boxed in as more of interpreters as opposed to innovators. "Trinity" is that rare album that manages to redress that situation. Typically of the band, this is not an overly complex piece either, but allows for a bit more stretching out. There is even an excellent bass solo followed by a drum solo.

Altogether it achieves a fine balance and remains my most preferred release from this band. Highly recommended..

An incredibly innovative accomplishment, and although other bands were doing similar things, Ekseption really carved out their own sound with this album. Combining a number of different genres across the entire work, including classical, rock, folk, jazz and world music. But despite mingling different genres together, I think it is safe to say that there is a definite overall classical theme on this album.

The classical themes, intermingled perfectly with breakneck playing, is both impressive and a pleasure to listen to. This album does not leave you bored or wanting to skip a single track. If you are an open-minded prog fan, the entire experience of listening to this album is a vibrant and exciting one. And if you are an avid classical music fan, you might be a bit unsure about how well they have put their own touches on a few classical pieces. I consider myself both a prog and classical music fan, and to me, it sounds fresh. I also believe that it holds up to this day in regard to being innovative. I do not believe they sullied those timeless Beethoven and Rimsky-Korsakov classics, but instead added their own unique prog charm to them.

The various keyboard sounds from Rick Van Der Linden stand out on many tracks and is responsible for the faster, more fluttering sections and livelier phrases. The track, 'The Peruvian Flute' is rich with instrumental gold, and takes you on a strange, unpredictable journey that ends just as strongly as it began. I never thought I would find the pan flute interesting, until I heard this rendition of a traditional song.

The trumpet work on 'Smile' reminds me of a moment in the past. It has a sense of longing, of nostalgia. The track is slower than the rest on the album, but just as beautiful. This leads into the punchy track, 'Lonely Chase' which is definitely the most bizarre but unique track in my opinion. It always reminded me of old video game music form the eighties, in a way. Its speedy insistence is fantastic, and I still maintain that it sounds like boss battle music in parts.

Moving quickly onto side B, the bass and percussion in Improvisation is outstanding. Jumpy, bright and exciting. The whole song could have just been bass and drums and I would have been happy. Props to Cor Dekker and Pieter Voogt. This song is the definition of energetic and crisp, even though the entire album pretty much goes the same route. There is a short, 'blink and you miss it' moment with the track 'Meddle' which adds a folky, medieval flavor; right before falling into their rendition of 'Flight of the Bumble Bee' which mixes their usual bombastic style of playing with some smooth jazz mid-song. Finally, the album fades out with a choir singing in angelic waves, signaling the end of a truly unique and astounding album.

I will end the review by stating that 'Trinity' is mainly a synth, sax and trumpet heavy album with many added elements. And if I could describe the overall feel of it in three words: Bright, Fast and Clean.