ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE

During the recording sessions of the second album Triumvirat had to deal with the departure of bassist Hans Pape, who got married and life on the road did not suit with this new chapter.Bathelt and Fritz were now searching for a new bassist, who could actually sing.This was meant to be Jürgen's cousin Helmut Koellen, who was a mechanic but also a talented singer and bass player in a number of bands around the Cologne area.The result of this collaboration was the album ''Illusions on a Double Dimple'', released again on Harvest, and featuring help by the orchestra of The Cologne Opera House and the brass section of The Kurt Edelhagen Brass Section plus some guest backing singers.

This was definitely among the most ambitious efforts of the whole German Prog scene, as the album consists of two sidelong epic compositions.The eponymous 23-min. one is a great seminar on how to use Hammond organ , grand piano and moog synths to create a tight composition full of epic, dramatic or romantic atmospheres.Full-blown keyboard-based Progressive Rock with some instant melodies, keyboard pyrotechnics and discreet use of electric guitars, divided into E.L.P.-like virtuosities and more smooth NOVALIS-like moments with Koellen's voice on the forefront.Actually Koellen prooves to be also an excellent bassist and next to Hans Bathelt he completes a confident rhythm section.Among the monster sound of synths and organs there are some nice string sections performed by the orchestra of Cologne, but the majority of the track is characterized by Fritz'es dual and triple keyboard crescendos.

The flipside is also dedicated to one track, the 21-min. ''Mister Ten Percent'', which contains actually some pretty humourous vocal lines that are more than welcome to my ears.Musically this continues from where the eponymous suite stopped, E.L.P.-influenced organ-driven Progressive Rock with huge Classical references. But this time there are also some differences, as the rhythm section sounds really pounding and bombastic, given more space, while the great brass section appearing on the chorus sounds great.There is even an acoustic part around the middle performed by Koellen, who's voice comes closer and closer to GREG LAKE's, and as a whole the composition sounds a little more flexible than the opening one, but at the end it doesn't sounds as tight.

Very talented group.Although the music of Triumvirat constantly steps on the fundamentals of E.L.P., noone can deny that these guys could perform great and come up with some majestic moments.Strongly recommended to all keyboard freaks out there...3.5 stars.