#125
Reviewed by Lori Alley
Triumph
Progressions of Power
Genre: Hard Rock with some slow dances mixed in
Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
According to Wiki, this is Triumph's 4th studio album, released in 1980 and some songs made the Billboard 100+200. That's saying something for a band that had plenty of competition in this genre, especially a band from Canada. They are a much celebrated band with many many awards over the years. BUT I DO NOT like this kind of music and that made this fun to review in a way. I can appreciate that these guys are really great musicians and vocalists. The quality of this stuff is very high. For me, it's like discovering there's a Dior section at Walmart. I can tell it's a VERY GOOD something of something I don't like. The first song and their biggest hit "I Live for The Weekend has a George Thorogood/Zepplin sound (even kinda lawsuity if you ask me, but whatever, I don't make the rules). The rock songs on this album are very very "Canadian," they have a down and dirty sound but with gentle and very polite lyrics like "chasing rainbows in the sky." I spent a lot of time in Canada because my mother is from Nova Scotia. This is the kind of music you'd hear when my uncle picked us up in his car from the ferry, wearing his slippers and smoking a cig (careful, the door is broken). FIRST STOP - the liquor store to exchange your American money for Canadian because, let's face it, we have to go there anyway. It also brings to mind Trailer Park Boys and Ricky's clearing stick, and Canadian cheese (same as American, but we're ARE in Canada aren't we)? and milk sold in a plastic bag. But back to the review: Confusingly, the album kind of falls apart after the first song, nothing that follows has the same roc energy verve and they're are stylistically all over the place. If you told me it was a soundtrack to a musical that would make more sense. Leo Kottke and Chet Atkins show up for "Finger Talkin" (just kidding, it's the guitarist playing a damn good instrumental but it sounds like a guest star showed up out of the blue) and same with the obligatory rock band ballad "Take My Heart" which is actually quite a masterful singer/songwriter piece. Tear the Roof Off is a pretty good rock offering, I'd recommend it JUST for the guitar solo. It makes me wonder if they were hoping that more singles would break out of this. Otherwise, I can imagine going to the concert and getting my money's worth of musicality and fun, but it's not that original, it's just really well done. AND these guys can play the hell out of whatever they're doing.
https://open.spotify.com/album/3vv6d0yNu6OCQYQQfNlYcT?si=VHs275izTq2KjLIuKSvLgQ
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