For one of my class assignments this week I had to write an essay on a film, television show, album, piece of art or a piece of literature. Anyone that knows me knows that I would write it on an album. I decided that I would also post the essay here for me readers to see.
Rock & Roll Machine by Triumph
When somebody says to think of a three man
Canadian band, most people think of Rush.
I don’t. I think of Triumph. I am now going to tell you about how I
started listening to them and the album that started it all.
In 1978 I was a freshman at the community
college in my hometown. The only choices
that we had for radio stations were top-40, country and big band and talk. My oldest brother still lived at home and
worked a night job at a bank and part-time at a stereo/record store. At times he would bring home an album from
the record store and would expose me to groups that they wouldn’t play on the
local stations. One day he brought home
an album by a new Canadian band named Triumph.
The name of the album is Rock & Roll Machine. It was released in 1978 on RCA Records.
I was blown away as soon as my brother
dropped the needle on this album. Three
guys play the instruments – guitars, bas, keyboards, drums and percussion. Two of them switch off singing lead vocals
and they have a clean, crisp sound. Rik
Emmett, the guitar player, switches back and forth between acoustic and
electric guitars throughout songs without a glitch.
All but one of the songs were written by
members of the band. The one song that
the play a cover of is the Joe Walsh song “Rocky Mountain Way” and they do an
excellent job on it. The songs they
wrote are all good, pretty much hard rocking songs except for “Blinding Light
Show/Moonchild.”
“Blinding Light Show/Moonchild” starts and
ends off rocking, but in the middle Rik Emmett shows some of his guitar skills
by playing an extended acoustic guitar solo.
The song lasts for a short eight minutes and forty three seconds.
The final track on the album is the title
track is pure all out rock. Even with
that you can hear a clean crisp sound of all of the instruments and lyrics throughout
the song.
If you like late seventies and early
eighties rock, I would say that this album is a definite must listen. You won’t be disappointed.
