Triumvirat's 1972 debut Mediterranean Tales was a strong precursor of things to come for this German progressive rock band who were heavily inspired by The Nice and ELP. While perhaps not as polished as later efforts, this first effort is a keyboard lover's dream, with Jurgen Fritz' Hammond, Moog, electric piano, various synths and grand piano out in full force throughout.
The band manages to blow their load right off the bat with the near 17-minute epic "Across the Waters", a true delight for all who love the bombastic nature of Keith Emerson and ELP. While the vocal sections leave a bit to be desired, the rock meets Mozart arrangements are truly breathtaking. "Eleven Kids" is a more laid back bluesy number with Fritz and his Hammond organ providing center stage. The bands kicks in a neat instrumental, "E Minor 5/9 Minor", which includes some freaky, fuzzed out keyboard sounds before blasting off into almost Pink Floyd space rock territory. Here Fritz gets a real nasty Vincent Crane/Jon Lord grittyness to his Hammond that really rocks the house. The last regular album track is "Broken Mirror", a majestic number with melodic grand piano and lead organ, that eventually turns into an almost Traffic-inspired blues/jazz romp. Too bad some poor vocals ruin an otherwise groovy tune. The bonus tracks include two short edits of tunes already mentioned, plus "Ride in the Night" and "Sing Me a Song", both from 1973. Niether tune is much to speak of, containing cool keyboards but not much else to speak of as they are more vocal oriented.
In summary, the remaster job on this album is very good, with improved sound clarity, nice photos, lyrics, and band history. It's obvious that the band had not yet found their sound yet, as besides Fritz the rest of the band seems to be sleeping through their parts, and they had yet to find a dedicated singer. Still, for virtuoso prog keyboards, it's a worthwhile addition to any collection.
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