Is there really no thread for this band? I looked and couldn't find one, so here I am.
I first heard Triumph via a couple videos in the early days of MTV. I know World of Fantasy was one, and I'm pretty sure there was another, but I'm not sure. Initially, I didn't like them, but they pretty quickly grew into one of my favorite bands. Allied Forced through Thunder Seven are a big part of what I consider to be the best period in rock/metal history (roughly, 1980-85).
The band was formed in the Toronto, Ontario, Canada area in the early/mid-70s as a four-piece blues band, featuring drummer/vocalist Gil Moore and bassist Mike Levine. After recording a single, the other two members left, and guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett joined. Emmett added both his soaring voice and progressive and classical influences.
Triumph/Rock and Roll Machine - If I understand things correctly, they initially released two albums only in Canada (Triumph and Rock 'n' Roll Machine), and those two albums were combined (under the latter album's name) for an international version. They had some success with a cover of Joe Walsh's Rocky Mountain Way, but the standout tracks are Blinding Light Show/Moonchild and Rock and Roll Machine (they apparently couldn't decide if they wanted to use "and" or "'n'", so both appear depending on what you're looking at. Blinding Light Show, sung by Emmett, has some prog elements, some blistering metal riffs, and an acoustic guitar solo by Rik Emmett. R&R Machine is an up tempo rock/metal song, sung by Moore, and which features an electric guitar solo (without accompaniment) by Emmett. R&R Machine became a concert staple for the band.
Just a Game - They followed those with 1979's Just a Game, which features hit singles (relatively speaking) Lay It on the Line and Hold On (both sung by Emmett). By this time, the band's Janus-like nature was clearly in place. Moore sang the more bluesy numbers with traditional rock & roll party lyrics, while Emmett handled the more progressive numbers, with lyrics that were often focused on hope and other uplifting topics. The band also regularly included a solo acoustic guitar piece by Emmett. Outside of the two singles, Just a Game is a bit of a step down from the international version of R&R Machine.
Progressions of Power - In all these years, I've never gotten around to buying 1980's Progressions of Power. The single, I Live for the Weekend, had some chart success, but none of the songs from this album are well known.
Allied Forces - 1981's Allied Forces was a breakthrough for the band. The album begins with an up-tempo, bluesy (but not too much) rocker called Fool for Your Love, sung by Moore. It was followed by the well known Magic Power, sung by Emmett. An "instrumental" called Air Raid followed, but it's really just some sound effects that serve as the lead-in to the album's title track, a high-speed rocker based on an ascending riff in E minor, and sung by Moore. Side 1 closes with another up-tempo blues-based rocker -- but this time sung by Emmett -- called Hot Time (In This City Tonight). Hot Time will peel the paint off your walls. Side 2 opens with what is probably the band's best known song, Fight the Good Fight, sung by Emmett and performed on a double-neck Gibson SG 6/12 string guitar (the same guitar famously used by Jimmy Page and Alex Lifeson). Moore and Emmett trade lead vocals on the next song, Ordinary Man. A classical guitar piece, Petite Etude, and a straight-ahead rocker called Say Goodbye (sung by Emmett) close out the album. Allied Forces is killer from beginning to end, with not a single note missed.
Never Surrender - Next up was 1982's Never Surrender, which kept the Allied Forces style ball rolling. The album opens with a semi-political track sung by Moore called Too Much Thinking. This track features some blistering guitar by Emmett that makes heavy use of the Crybaby Wah pedal. The album's best known single, World of Fantasy (featuring vocals by Emmett). The song is very much a successor to Fight the Good Fight with low-key verses and a high energy chorus. This album's acoustic piece, A Minor Prelude, follows and leads into the album's most metal track, All the Way, sung by Emmett. Side 1 closes with a bluesy lament about a soldier's life called Battle Cry. Side 2 is a sort of concept piece, but it's not titled. The side opens with Overture (Processional), which begins with a stage manger giving directions as if a play is beginning. We then get a short instrumental full of grand, ascending riffs. The album's title track, sung by Emmett, follows. It is an epic number with lyrics about keeping your dreams alive. Next up is a Gil Moore signature blues rocker called When the Lights Go Down. The third of the main songs is Writing on the Wall, sung by Emmett, and featuring his signature positive outlook lyrics. A bluesy instrumental called Epilogue (Resolution) closes out the album.
Thunder Seven - After the typical (for the time) intense touring, the band took a year off and came back with the very polished Thunder Seven. Side 1 features the album's two singles, Gil Moore's Spellbound and Rik Emmett's Follow Your Heart. The other two songs, both featuring vocals by Emmett, are the contemplative Rock Out Roll On and the high energy blues rocker Cool Down. As with Never Surrender, side two was loosely conceptual. Time Goes By is one of my favorite Triumph songs of all time. It's more of an Emmett song, but perfectly blends both Emmett's and Moore's vocals in a way that the band had never done before that point. The acoustic Midsummer's Daydream follow, along with a someone bizarre 91 second piece called Time Canon (one "n"). Time Canon features nothing but massively layered vocals (presumably by all three band members) focused on time and its endless march. Killing Time is a bit of a bluesy number that, like Time Goes By, features well-blended and traded-off vocals by Emmett and Moore. The excellence continues with the Emmett number Stranger in a Strange land, and the album closes with a bluesy instrumental called Little Boy Blues.
Stages - In 1985, Triumph released a live album called Stages. I haven't listened to it in forever, but I remember it not being great because the live sound of the 3-piece band seemed very thin, which I thought was odd for a band that was well-known for its live performances.
The Sport of Kings - The wheels started to fall off the Triumph bus with 1986's The Sport of Kings. In a word, the album is quite wimpy, but the album is not without high points. According to Wikipedia, while Mike Levine is credited with keyboards (he had always been the band's accent keyboard player), the band actually brought in multiple outside keyboard players. The album also heavily features outside writers. The high points of the album are the Emmett-sung numbers Somebody's Out There, Take a Stand and Play with the Fire (along with Emmett's acoustic piece, a Spanish guitar bonanza called Embrujo). Somebody's Out There and Tears in the Rain were the album's singles, and Play with the Fire is a very metal, Spanish number.
The Sport of Kings is the only Triumph show I got to see, and they brought a backing musician for the first time (guitarist/keyboardist Rick Santers). This actually filled out their live sound, and this is one of my most memorable concerts.
Surveillance - The band returned with Emmett's last album, 1987's Surveillance. The cover art evoked Never Surrender, and the music seemed to be a conscious effort to return the form of that album. Several guest musicians (mostly backing vocalists) appear, and most notably, Steve Morse, who contributed a solo on what is probably the album's best song, Headed for Nowhere," and some acoustic work on All the King's Horses. Unfortunately, while Surveillance is more of a rocker than its predecessor, the tensions that would lead to Emmett's departure from the band were evident, and it wasn't a particularly memorable album.
Following the tour for Surveillance, Emmett left the band. They released one album in 1992 with someone I've never heard of otherwise. I've never heard it because, for me, Triumph without Rik Emmett isn't Triumph.
Emmett has had a moderate solo career. Moore owns Canada's biggest recording studio, Metalworks Studios, outside Toronto. I have no idea what Mike Levine has been doing. The band re-formed for some festival appearances in 2008 and a "superfan" performance at Metalworks Studios. There has been low-level buzz about a reunion, but it doesn't seem likely. Banger Films is supposedly going to release a documentary about the band sometime in 2021.
What are your thoughts about this band?
***Edited to add album title headers***