Unknown Soldier

It was about the fourth or fifth Cheap Trick album that I bought back in the 1980s from my favourite record store (back then it was only vinyl and tapes) it was a great second hand record store on two floors and as far as I was concerned back then it was the full concert and came with a ****ing cool Japanese photo booklet of the band (all in Japanese of course) It wasn't until the internet arrived donkey's years later and I found that nearly half the concert was missing, as for how the **** they left "Auf Wiedersehen" of the original release I don't know, but then again the object of the original ten tracks was to break the band in the US and therefore they used the most commercial sounding material, which was mostly from In Color the band's most commercial sounding album at the time.

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Lights out in Chicago and Louisville!

Strangers in the Night is often regarded by critics as one of the finest live albums of the decade and it’s certainly a live album worthy in every respect, of drawing to a close the era of the ‘classic live album’ which of course was the 1970s! It seemed in the 1970s that every great band needed a classic live set and UFO in this respect left their live offering quite late in their discography. Despite the album’s high standing amongst critics, the band themselves were far from pleased with the final cutting of the album, as the band felt that stronger tracks from these two US concerts in Chicago and Louisville could’ve been used instead of those that were chosen. But it seems over the years that band opinion has largely been ignored, as Strangers in the Night has made a number of best ever lists including Kerrang’s “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time” list amongst numerous others. The track order of the album tends to follow the classic UFO pattern, which often leads us in with lighter melodic fare with songs like “Natural Thing” actually the only song from Heavy Petting on the album and also “Only You Can Rock Me” which also sits near the front of the album, but between these two songs the album is cleverly and gradually beefed up with a song like “Out in the Street”. The album contains some of the band’s best known efforts such as “Doctor Doctor” “Lights Out” “Shoot Shoot” and the showpiece track “Rock Bottom”. There is also a strong emphasis on heavier and slower tracks like “Mother Mary” and “This Kid’s” with their powerful drumming and pinpoint riffs and both these tracks are from the heavy Force It album, but when it comes to power it doesn’t get much better than the Lights Out album closer “Love to Love”. Strangers in the Night is a true connoisseurs delight, as across 69 minutes (a double album) we have a live album that does what a live album should do and that is to give us a front row seat experience, which it does in abundance. In 1999 an expanded version of the album came out and added another 7 minutes to the actual album and also rejigged the order of some of the tracks, which in hindsight made it one of the most complete live albums of its time, as only 7 minutes had originally been missed off the original release. The album is also the last recording of the classic line-up intact, as Michael Schenker had actually left the band whilst on tour and briefly headed back to the Scorpions. The band would never quite be the same without him and his performance on the album’s showpiece track "Rock Bottom" is one of the great moments of rock history!

Phil Mogg- Vocals
Michael Schenker- Guitar
Pete Way- Bass
Paul Raymond- Keyboards/Rhythm
Andy Parker- Drums

Production- Ron Nevison
Chicago and Louisville, USA 1978

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Out there cutting some slack from Rush.

Triumph were one of the biggest bands to come out of Canada and had their commercial heyday as a band between the period of the late 1970s and the mid 1980s. They were a power trio that played a forceful blend of commercialized hard rock, that also appealed strongly to an AOR audience, and as the name Triumph suggests they still appealed to a harder rocking audience as well. Just two years earlier they had released their average debut the eponymous Triumph and then improved their songwriting for their sophomore set Rock & Roll Machine, before finally firing on all cyclinders for their third album Just a Game. Just a Game was also the album that broke the band not only to an international audience, but also broke the similiarity chain that they had to their more famous Canadian rock peers Rush. Like any potentially strong band, the band’s two frontmen Rik Emmett and Gil Moore were constantly at loggerheads with each other throughout the band’s career and this tension often drove them to try and outdo each other songwise on the band’s albums and most Triumph fans usually had a preference for either frontman. Guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett wasn’t exactly a world away from Geddy Lee vocal wise and tended to focus on the more interesting compostions with an eye on commercialism, while drummer/vocalist Gil Moore concentrated on the more clichéd rocking tunes. Third member bassist Mike Levine was the in-house producer for the band and designed the album cover for Just a Game. The huge commercial aspect of the band can be noted from the word go on the album opener the Styx inspired “Movin On” the first of the Gil Moore compositions, but from then on his selections are hit and miss, as the pick of the tracks on the album come from Rik Emmett and these are tracks like s “Lay it on the Line” the title track “Just a Game” and “Hold On”. Just a Game is a great commercially friendly hard rock album that will also appeal to fans of potent AOR as well and it was the album started the chain of great Triumph albums from this period.

Rik Emmett-Guitar/Vocals
Gil Moore- Drums/Vocals
Mike Levine- Bass

Production- Mike Levine

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

William_the_Bloody

Triumph rocked, but as a Canadian, I must point out that Trooper also deserves some honourable mention in the annuals of hard rock... as they haven't popped up yet.

I'm not sure if they are quite well known outside of Canada?

Unknown Soldier

Yes I've featured a number of lesser known Canadian bands on here and the scene there from my limited knowledge was far better than it's often given credit for. Trooper I know the name, but not much more than that and I didn't know the songs you posted but from what I've heard they would've been borderline as far as the journal criteria goes. I also know that a number of albums have slipped under the radar or have just been plain forgotten by me.

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Anteater

Never been much of a Triumph fan tbh, but then again, I've never spent more than an album's worth of quality time with them either, so great little review on Just A Game there. Perhaps the door will open now.

Looking forward to the 80's old boy, and truly excellent work so far: I think we can all agree that this is one of the best journals MB has ever seen by this point.

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Unknown Soldier

Thanks this is really high praise.

Yer Just a Game is the place to start with Triumph and it starts a sequence of really good albums by them.

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Urban Hat€monger ?

.... After Pete Way smacked a pool cue over his head.

Just thought I'd embellish this story with my favourite part of it

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Unknown Soldier

Pete Way was always pretty badass anyway.

I also saw another story about Phil Mogg hitting Michael Schenker with his mic stand and on that occasion Pete Way had to step in to separate them.

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Urban Hat€monger ?

To be fair though you look at Michael Schenker and you think to yourself, well he probably deserved it anyway.
I agree Pete Way was a total badass, I hope some day his re-appraisal will come and he'll be up there with people like Keith Moon, Ozzy, Iggy & other nutcases. If anyone deserves an autobiography it's him.

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