I think out of all of Triumph’s discography, ‘Allied Forces’ would just be marginally ahead of the rest. Not by much mind you, but this one has been closer to me than many of the others.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Triumph
ALBUM: Allied Forces
LABEL: RCA/Attic
SERIAL: AFL1-3902, LAT-1122
YEAR: 1981
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada
LINEUP: Rik Emmett – vocals, guitars * Gil Moore – vocals, drums * Mike Levine – bass, keyboards
TRACK LISTING: 01 Fool For Your Love * 02 Magic Power * 03 Air Raid * 04 Allied Forces * 05 Hot Time (In This City Tonight) * 06 Fight The Good Fight * 07 Ordinary Man * 08 Petite Etude * 09 Say Goodbye
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
I think out of all of Triumph’s discography, ‘Allied Forces’ would just be marginally ahead of the rest. Not by much mind you, but this one has been closer to me than many of the others, though ‘Never Surrender’ and ‘Surveillance’ are cool too and rank quite high. At this point in their career, the band had released a handful of impressive albums, and got better with each one.
‘Progressions Of Power’ their prior release from 1980 was full of powerful moments, and saw them finally move away from comparisons with that other notable power-trio from Canada, the wonderful Rush. If anything though, comparisons with Led Zeppelin were more appropriate, and for a couple of tracks on ‘Aliied Forces’, this view is reinforced.
The Songs
Leading the way is ‘Fool For Your Love’, a heavy handed workout, followed up by one of their best known tracks ‘Magic Power’, perhaps also their most commercial? The title track ‘Allied Forces’ is next, blasted with all the fury and precision of a Norman Schwarzkopf army assault.
‘Hot Time (In This City Tonight)’ literally lives up to it’s name, a full-on blues workout Chuck Berry would be pleased to hear. ‘Fight The Good Fight’ is one of my all-time favourite Triumph songs, a near epic at 6.20. Then to top it off, it’s followed by another pearler in ‘Ordinary Man’ which is an epic at 7.04. Both are long-winded Zeppelin-oriented pieces, with ebb/flow dynamics, and killer solos!
‘Say Goodbye’ is another commercial track, with a strong chorus to finish up the album. Apart from a few short musical interludes (‘Air Raid’ and ‘Petite Etude’), ‘Allied Forces’ represents all that is classic about the hard rock scene from this era.
In Summary
The band continued on course with another five albums during the 80’s period, though this particular line-up, being relatively stable all through the years, ended its tenure in 1988 after the release of ‘Surveillance’ with Rik Emmett’s departure to go solo. All those later albums are worth checking out, but don’t forget about the earlier ones too, namely ‘Progressions Of Power’ and ‘Just A Game’.
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