Grant's Guitar Corner
My album pick for this month is Triumph "Just A Game", RCA records 1979 vinyl.
The other Canadian power trio (other than Rush of course), was Triumph. Featuring Mike Levine on bass/ keyboards, Gil Moore drums and vocals, and Rik Emmett on guitar and vocals, they made quite a sound for 3 guys.
I tend to forget how big an influence Rik Emmett was in my early guitar education. The greatest thing about his playing is his diversity. How many mainstream rock albums have rock, pop, blues, classical and jazz? Not many I can think of. He excelled at all. Straight up rock on "American Girls", great blues on "Young Enough to Cry", "Fantasy Serenade", a classical interlude, and the jazzy "Suitcase Blues".
Rik played a hollow body Framus Ackerman (like Jan Ackerman of Focus, another great guitarist). You'd think it would just feed back, but it somehow gave him a tight focused sound, you can hear the pick attack despite distortion. A clean rock sound if you will. His solos are perfectly composed works that really stand out, like my one of all time favorites "Lay it on the Line".
The sound is good, not quite Hi-Fi, but better than the average late 70's rock. The composition and layering really shines, as well as the vocals. Gil sings on a few with a good voice, but Rik's voice is as good as his guitar playing. He's not too falsetto like Geddy Lee, but just right. So if you made the mistake of writing off Triumph as just another mainstream stadium pop rock band, think again and check this album out. If you get an early pressing, it even has a board game in the foldout!