ESSENTIAL

"Essential" is a compilation of Triumvirat and was released in 2012. It includes songs from all their seven studio albums that go from 1972 to 1980. It comprises tracks that belong to their progressive musical period as well as tracks from their pop rock phase. All Triumvirat's studio albums have been remastered on CD with bonus tracks and almost the tracks on this compilation are taken from the remastered editions. Many of the tracks are extracts or edited versions, smaller than the originals. Some are also taken from single versions, which are obviously also shortened versions.

"Essential" has seventeen tracks. The first track "Be Home For Tea" is an extract of a song originally recorded on "Mediterranean Tales "Across The Waters". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The second track "Broken Mirror" was originally recorded on "Mediterranean Tales "Across The Waters". The third track "Ride In The Night" is a non album's track. It was the first single of the band. It was included as a bonus track on "Mediterranean Tales "Across The Waters". The fourth track "Dancer's Delight" is also a non album's track. It was the second single of the band. It was included as a bonus track on "Illusions On A Double Dimple". The fifth track "Dimplicity" is an extract of a song originally recorded on "Illusions On A Double Dimple". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The sixth track "Million Dollars" is also an extract of a song originally recorded on "Illusions On A Double Dimple". This is also an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The seventh track "The Capitol Of Power" was originally recorded on "Spartacus". This is the version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The eighth track "The Sweetest Sound Of Liberty" was also originally recorded on "Spartacus". This is the version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The ninth track "Spartacus" was originally recorded on "Spartacus". This is also the version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The tenth track "Old Loves Die Hard" was originally recorded on "Old Loves Die Hard". The eleventh track "Take A Break Today" is a non album's track. It's the A side of another single of the band with "The Capital Of Power" as the B side. It was included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The twelfth track "The Hymn" was originally recorded on "Pompeii". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition. The thirteenth track "Waterfall" was originally recorded on "A La Carte". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The fourteenth track "(Oh I'm) Late Again" was also originally recorded on "A La Carte". The fifteenth track "Jo Ann Walker" was also originally recorded on "A La Carte". This is an edited version included as a bonus track on the remastered edition of that album. The sixteenth track "I Don't Even Know Your Name" was also originally recorded on "A La Carte". The seventeenth track "Party Life" was originally recorded on their last album "Russian Roulette".

As we can see by the track list of this compilation, it features tracks from all of Triumvirat's seven studio albums, as well as a few singles' tracks. The tracks were all placed in their correct chronological order. So, we have two tracks from "Mediterranean Tales (Across The Waters)", two tracks from "Illusions On A Double Dimple", three tracks from "Spartacus", one track from "Old Loves Die Hard", one track from "Pompeii", four tracks from "A La Carte", one track from "Russian Roulette" and three non album's tracks released as singles. However, and as I wrote before in the track list, many of those tracks are edited versions of the original tracks that were shortened to be commercially interesting to can be put on a compilation album. Despite this compilation be well enough representative of Triumvirat's career all over the yers, we can't say that it's very well representative of their music. Listening shortened versions isn't the same.

Conclusion: I don't like this compilation mainly because of two reasons. In the first place, Triumvirat was essentially a progressive band that essentially created long suites of music, which is particularly evident on "Illusions On A Double Dimple". So, it's incomprehensible to me that Jürgen Fritz and his record label only were bothered to include on this compilation extracts and edited tracks shorter than the original versions, what is, in my point of view, quite badly. In the second place, about one third of the compilation is filled by tracks that belong to their two last albums, which have clearly a very questionable musical quality. I can understand that a compilation that seeks to represent all the musical career of a band must include tracks from all their studio albums. However, the quality standards must always be kept very high, which isn't the case. It's true that fortunately only one track was chosen from "Russian Roulette" but is completely inexcusable to include six tracks from "A La Carte" and only include one track from "Pompeii", which is undoubtedly a much better album than "A La Carte". So, I can't consider "Essential" a true essential compilation, really. So, I advise you to check their five first albums instead of this compilation. This is only useful to collector's fans only.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)