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TRIUMPH - Surveillance [Millennium Remastered Series] |
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Posted: 8/25/05Reviewed by: Dirt Category: Hard Rock/Melodic Rock Original Release: 1987 Remastered: 6/7/05 Label URL: www.triumphmusic.com Artist URL: www.triumphmusic.com | |||||||||||||
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Surveillance was a return to form for this Canadian trio. The band's previous outing, The Sport Of Kings, spotlighted a noticeable shift toward the pop side of things, and I don't think the Triumph diehards were incredibly pleased. When you consider the heavier guitar edge of Allied Forces, Never Surrender, and Thunder Seven, the slick approach of The Sport Of Kings made it seem like record company pressures were altering this talented unit. While Sport yielded a successful single in "Somebody's Out There," the over-produced style didn't really suit the band.
Surveillance had many more guitar driven moments, and this was probably a response to the light quality of The Sport Of Kings. For instance, Rik tears up the fretboard on "Headed For Nowhere," and the single/video for "Never Say Never" showed that Triumph was ready to rock again. The record still concentrated on softer moments too though, so the band didn't go full tilt hard rock. Rik Emmett's classical/acoustic/ballad moment came in the form of "All The Kings Horses" and Gil Moore's "All Over Again" is reminiscent of the soft "Just One Night" (from The Sport Of Kings). The pop rock of Rik's "Let The Light (Shine On Me)" and "On and One" and Gil's "Running In The Night" were slick and commercial, but the songs were quality melodic rock. The only poor song on here was the goofy "Rock You Down," which had the worst lyrics of any Triumph song. Plus, Gil sounds like he's pounding boxes instead of drums.
The Bloody Truth: Surveillance is a mix of anthems, commercial songs, and ballads - a recipe that ran through earlier albums. The softer songs seem slicker than earlier ballads though, and fans will probably notice that fact. Overall, Surveillance is a good album, but it just didn't concentrate enough on the hard rock side. Nevertheless, it didn't get the attention that it deserved, probably due to the image conscious period of the time and the fact that it was the follow-up to The Sport Of Kings. Fans didn't really know what they would get on this one so they may have been a bit leery. Listening to this remaster, however, which is crisp as hell, many AOR/melodic rock/80s fans will realize that they missed out on a quality record.
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