Pompeii

Triumvirat, a German Prog Rock band from the 1970s, was every bit the rival of Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Genesis, and King Crimson. It did not get the press or the following of the other bands, however. Listen to "Pompeii," the mid-70" offering from the re-formed "New Triumvirat." It features some of the best Hammond C3, Yamaha CS80 (brand new instrument, at that point), Fender Bass, and drums that _any_ prog band committed to tape in that era.

The music is very good, and the musicianship is masterful. Curt Cress' drumming is as good as Hans Bathelt, perhaps even better. Jurgen Fritz is his usual masterful self. I highly recommend this CD.

If you notice, the band is billed as "New Triumvirant Presents.." The reason: Hans Bathlett and Dick Frangenberg left the group after "OLD LOVES DIE HARD" [1976], and they got together and threatened to sue Jurgen Fritz if he released the new album as a Triumvirat release. But come on, any Triumvirat fan knows that JURGEN FRITZ was Triumvirat. Without his keyboard wizardry and composition skills, it never would have existed. Nevertheless, Jurgen being the class act that he was, just said fine, I'll call it New Triumvirat. Barry Palmer did remain as the Lead Vocalist, so the sound of the band really didn't change, just the rhythm section. With that being said, even though it is a good CD, it's certainly not Triumvirat's best work. I think most Triumvirat fans would ultimately agree on the 1975 release, "SPARTACUS". And if I were to go one step farther out on the limb, I'd say 2nd place would go to either "ILLUSIONS ON A DOUBLE DIMPLE" [1974] OR "OLD LOVES DIE HARD" [1976]. Hans Bathlett was the percussionist on both of these albums, but on "Double Dimple" , Helmut Kollen performed all bass, electric & acoustic guitar work, plus most of the lead vocals due to the fact he was a better vocalist than Jurgen. Again, if I may add my 2 cents worth, I'd choose Helmut over Dick Frangenberg simply because Helmut Kollen was the more versatile musician. I'd never debate which was the better bassist. Even though I enjoy listnening to "Pompeii", it's good, but don't expect it to be one of their best.

I had this on Vinyl.. and loaned it out to somebody and thought I'd never get another copy of it! Well, I have it now! They are the German version of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer!! They Crank!! If you like ELP you will like these guy! Thanks!

The song title listing posted for this cd are for another album, Old Loves Die Hard. Check elsewhere for the real song listing for this cd. It is a very good cd, as all Triumvirat music is, and highly recommended.

Not the best Triumvirat album, but I knew that going in. I have owned the LP for decades, and found the CD version worthy of the ten dollar price. No more pops and ticks for me!

Triumvirat is not exactly a household name for 70's progrock, and the few of us who found their records here in the US were surprised by a band with a keyboard player that was everybit as talented as the great Keith Emerson, the earlier records like Old Loves...Illusions on a...and Sparticus had their moments of brilliance, vocals aside. When this album around I was intrigued by the addition of drummer Curt Cress and Dider Petereit on bass. Both had been involved with the fantastic German fusion outfit Passport. But the vibrancy they brought to the band raised some of the band interplay up a bit. The old line up had chops too, but these two are that much more. The recording and production on this lp was also very solid. It's not a perfect lp start to finish, but it has moments of greatness, the drumming is well worth the price of ownership.

Pompeii is an excellent CD. The music is in the vein of "Old Loves Die Hard." This CD, however, is a bit lighter overall and even more prominently features B. Palmer's somewhat flowerly yet pleasant vocals. In my view, the 2002 re-master of this CD is just plain poor. The bass is too heavy and dull, and the sound lacks brightness. Increasing the treble, manually, will help the music to shine. Also, the bonus track is merely an edited version of the last tune on the CD, so its inclusion is hardly of value.

Ein schwieriges Album für Triumvirat. War der Erstling "Mediterranean Tales" ein gelungener Einstand, die 2. CD "Illusions on a Double Dimple" die am meisten geliebte Scheibe und die 3. "Spartacus" der nationale und internationale Durchbruch, so war "Pompeij" sehr schwierig. Von der Urbesetzung war nur noch Komponist Jürgen Fritz dabei. Viele Beobachter hielten "Spartacus" für etwas aufgeblasen und fast schon zu "zuckrig" - dementsprechend hatte es "Pompeij" schwer. Wieder wurde - wie bei "Spartacus" - ein historisches Thema gewählt: Pompeij eben. Doch aus der Erwartungshaltung machte Fritz eine Tugend und rekrutierte Leute, die nicht nur einen Namen, sondern auch Vielseitigkeit besaßen: Barry Palmer (voc.), Curt Cress (dr), Dieter Petereit (b). Letztgenannte hatten sich u.a. bei Passport ihre Sporen verdient. Die CD fiel tatsächlich kommerzieller aus als ihre Vorgänger - doch büßte sie NICHTS von Jürgen Fritz' unglaublicher Musikalität ein. Up-Tempo-Nummern (z.B. "Viva Pompeij", das auch starke Jazz-Anleihen enthielt und "The Rich Man and the Carpenter"), Balladen (vor allem "The Hymn") finden sich ebenso wie Songs, die einfach nur in die Beine gehen und zum Air-Drum-Spielen einladen. Das musikalische Bett ist wie aus einem Guss, und Ex-Kenny-Sänger Barry Palmer läuft zu Höchstform auf. Ob die Musik eine Naturkatastrophe wie den Ausbruch des Vesuv und den Untergang der Stadt Pompeij adäquat umsetzt, muss jeder für sich selbst entscheiden. Auf jeden Fall schafft es diese CD, die Qualität der Anfangs-Trilogie perfekt fortzusetzen. Der Sound ist genauso wuchtig wie der beschriebene Vulkanausbruch - die ausströmende Klang-Lava lässt die Herzen aller Fans von melodiösem Progressiv-Rock höher schlagen. Einen Bonus-Track gibt's: die als Single ausgekoppelte geschnittene Version von "The Hymn". Auch das Booklet ist wieder hervorragend gestaltet. Neben ausführlichen Produktions-Notizen und Jürgen Fritz' thematischer Einleitung sind wieder einmal detaillierte Liner-Notes in deutsch und englisch sowie alle Texte enthalten. Ein wahrer Genuss, und eine mit großer Liebe produzierte Wiederveröffentlichung! Empfehlenswert - eine Scheibe für die Ewigkeit.

一般的には2nd～4thがこのバンドの傑作とされているが、この5thアルバムは個人的な最高傑作。EL&Pから受け継いだエッセンスを自分なりに昇華させたサウンドは、もはやEL&Pコピーバンドではない。現代のバンドが出すアルバムに比べて曲数や時間が短めだが、曲が粒ぞろいでダレずに聴ける。

Lo recibi a tiempo y un excelente disco

Offert en cadeau. Pas d'évaluation

Underrated German prog rock band. Often slagged off as an ELP ripoff but far better than that. When this album arrived the band was down to one original member and was thus called the "New" Triumvirat. For some reason prog mags underrate this album a lot? No idea why as its great! Yeah maybe slightly more song oriented but even still its a great place to start and really not that much different from their other albums. It starts off not unlike Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Centre of the Earth but then heads off into some great territories with some cool twists and turns. If you don't know them they are slightly like ELP (but more mellow)/YES/Jon and Vangelis (but more stretched out and vox not like Anderson's)/Rick Wakeman. A product of a different time.