Compilation By Jon Dolan, Dan Epstein, Reed Fischer, Richard Gehr, Brandon Geist, Kory Grow, Will Hermes, Ryan Reed, Jon Weiderhorn (rollingtone.com)
For close to a half century, prog has been the breeding ground for rock's most out-there, outsized and outlandish ideas: Thick-as-a-brick concept albums, an early embrace of synthesizers, overly complicated time signatures, Tolkienesque fantasies, travails from future days and scenes from a memory. In celebration of Rush's first Rolling Stone cover story, here's the best of the deliciously decadent genre that the punks failed to kill.
TRIUMVIRAT
''ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE''
1974
58:17
1 Illusions On A Double Dimple 23:21
. Flashback (Fritz/Bathelt) 0:57
. Schooldays (Fritz/Bathelt) 3:22
. Triangle (Fritz) 6:53
. Illusions (Fritz/Bathelt) 1:42
. Dimplicity (Fritz/Bathelt) 5:37
. Last dance (Fritz) 4:53
2 Mister Ten Percent 21:30
. Maze (Fritz) – 3:03
. Dawning (Fritz) – 1:02
. Bad Deal (Fritz/Bathelt) 1:40
. Roundabout (Fritz) 5:49
. Lucky Girl (Köllen/Bathelt) 5:14
. Million Dollars (Fritz/Bathelt) 4:42
3 Dancer's Delight (Bonus) 03:30
4 Timothy (Bonus) 04:07
5 Dimplicity (Edit) (Bonus) 03:13
6 Million Dollars (Edit) (Bonus) 02:33
Jürgen Fritz – Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, electric piano, Steinway grand piano, vocals, arranger
Hans Bathelt – drums, percussion
Helmut Köllen – bass, acoustic & electric guitars, vocals
Hans Pape – vocals, bass guitar (on most parts of "Illusions On A Double Dimple")
The Cologne Opera House Orchestra – orchestra
Kurt Edelhagen Brass Section – brass
Brigitte Thomas – backing vocals
Hanna Dölitzsch – backing vocals
Ulla Wiesner – backing vocals
ABOUT THE ALBUM/WIKIPEDIA
Illusions on a Double Dimple is an album by the German progrock group Triumvirat. It was a breakthrough for the band, that started to open shows in a U.S tour for Fleetwood Mac playing it entirely, and made the band more popular in some countries. This popularity would be increased on their next release, Spartacus.
BIOGRAPHY/WIKIPEDIA
Triumvirat was a German progressive rock trio that formed in 1969 in Cologne, Germany. The founding members were: keyboardist/composer Hans-Jürgen (later simply Jürgen) Fritz (born March 13, 1953), drummer/lyricist Hans Bathelt, and bassist Werner Frangenberg.
Triumvirat is the Latin word for a triumvirate, a grouping of three powerful men, thus referring to the musical trio.
During its early years, Triumvirat initially played Top 40 songs at local venues in Cologne. The Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer heavily influenced Triumvirat’s musical direction and the band incorporated some of Nice/ELP music into their repertoire (Rondo among others). In fact, at the height of their fame during the 70’s prog rock era, Triumvirat was often referred to as the ‘German Emerson, Lake & Palmer’ or ‘ELP clone’ due to Fritz's classical virtuosity on keyboards and synthesizers.
In the early 1970s, the band sent a demo tape to EMI Records in Cologne and won their first record contract. Triumvirat subsequently produced modestly successful albums during the early to mid-1970s, including Mediterranean Tales: Across The Waters and Illusions on a Double Dimple and toured the United States with Fleetwood Mac to support Illusions on a Double Dimple, playing the album in its entirety. In 1975, Triumvirat reached the apex of their commercial success with the release of Spartacus, which is considered by many as a classic "prog rock" masterpiece album, along with Illusions on a Double Dimple.
The band underwent numerous personnel changes over the course of its life and eventually disbanded in 1980 with the release of their final album Russian Roulette. In 2002, they planned to release The Website Story; however, the album was never released. An officially-authorized biography of the group was written by Russell Schenewerk and appears on www.triumvirat.net.
In spring 2012 EMI released the first ever Triumvirat compilation Essential with tracks from all of the seven albums.
Vocalist/bassist Helmut Köllen (performing on the band's most successful albums, Illusions and Spartacus) left the band after Spartacus to pursue a solo career. On May 3, 1977, at the age of 27 (born March 2, 1950), he died from carbon monoxide poisoning while listening to some of his studio tracks in his car's cassette player while running the engine in his garage. His debut solo album You Won't See Me was released posthumously in October 1977.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP
For close to a half century, prog has been the breeding ground for rock's most out-there, outsized and outlandish ideas: Thick-as-a-brick concept albums, an early embrace of synthesizers, overly complicated time signatures, Tolkienesque fantasies, travails from future days and scenes from a memory. In celebration of Rush's first Rolling Stone cover story, here's the best of the deliciously decadent genre that the punks failed to kill.
TRIUMVIRAT
''ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE''
1974
58:17
1 Illusions On A Double Dimple 23:21
. Flashback (Fritz/Bathelt) 0:57
. Schooldays (Fritz/Bathelt) 3:22
. Triangle (Fritz) 6:53
. Illusions (Fritz/Bathelt) 1:42
. Dimplicity (Fritz/Bathelt) 5:37
. Last dance (Fritz) 4:53
2 Mister Ten Percent 21:30
. Maze (Fritz) – 3:03
. Dawning (Fritz) – 1:02
. Bad Deal (Fritz/Bathelt) 1:40
. Roundabout (Fritz) 5:49
. Lucky Girl (Köllen/Bathelt) 5:14
. Million Dollars (Fritz/Bathelt) 4:42
3 Dancer's Delight (Bonus) 03:30
4 Timothy (Bonus) 04:07
5 Dimplicity (Edit) (Bonus) 03:13
6 Million Dollars (Edit) (Bonus) 02:33
Jürgen Fritz – Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, electric piano, Steinway grand piano, vocals, arranger
Hans Bathelt – drums, percussion
Helmut Köllen – bass, acoustic & electric guitars, vocals
Hans Pape – vocals, bass guitar (on most parts of "Illusions On A Double Dimple")
The Cologne Opera House Orchestra – orchestra
Kurt Edelhagen Brass Section – brass
Brigitte Thomas – backing vocals
Hanna Dölitzsch – backing vocals
Ulla Wiesner – backing vocals
ABOUT THE ALBUM/WIKIPEDIA
Illusions on a Double Dimple is an album by the German progrock group Triumvirat. It was a breakthrough for the band, that started to open shows in a U.S tour for Fleetwood Mac playing it entirely, and made the band more popular in some countries. This popularity would be increased on their next release, Spartacus.
BIOGRAPHY/WIKIPEDIA
Triumvirat was a German progressive rock trio that formed in 1969 in Cologne, Germany. The founding members were: keyboardist/composer Hans-Jürgen (later simply Jürgen) Fritz (born March 13, 1953), drummer/lyricist Hans Bathelt, and bassist Werner Frangenberg.
Triumvirat is the Latin word for a triumvirate, a grouping of three powerful men, thus referring to the musical trio.
During its early years, Triumvirat initially played Top 40 songs at local venues in Cologne. The Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer heavily influenced Triumvirat’s musical direction and the band incorporated some of Nice/ELP music into their repertoire (Rondo among others). In fact, at the height of their fame during the 70’s prog rock era, Triumvirat was often referred to as the ‘German Emerson, Lake & Palmer’ or ‘ELP clone’ due to Fritz's classical virtuosity on keyboards and synthesizers.
In the early 1970s, the band sent a demo tape to EMI Records in Cologne and won their first record contract. Triumvirat subsequently produced modestly successful albums during the early to mid-1970s, including Mediterranean Tales: Across The Waters and Illusions on a Double Dimple and toured the United States with Fleetwood Mac to support Illusions on a Double Dimple, playing the album in its entirety. In 1975, Triumvirat reached the apex of their commercial success with the release of Spartacus, which is considered by many as a classic "prog rock" masterpiece album, along with Illusions on a Double Dimple.
The band underwent numerous personnel changes over the course of its life and eventually disbanded in 1980 with the release of their final album Russian Roulette. In 2002, they planned to release The Website Story; however, the album was never released. An officially-authorized biography of the group was written by Russell Schenewerk and appears on www.triumvirat.net.
In spring 2012 EMI released the first ever Triumvirat compilation Essential with tracks from all of the seven albums.
Vocalist/bassist Helmut Köllen (performing on the band's most successful albums, Illusions and Spartacus) left the band after Spartacus to pursue a solo career. On May 3, 1977, at the age of 27 (born March 2, 1950), he died from carbon monoxide poisoning while listening to some of his studio tracks in his car's cassette player while running the engine in his garage. His debut solo album You Won't See Me was released posthumously in October 1977.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP