I first heard the track Hold On on the radio and was instantly mesmerized. Triumph was a Canadian import in the NorthWest at the time. Another Canadian trio with a Geddy Lee like vocalist and a progressive style. But with a melodic slant. It was one of those times when you heard one track and you were at the record store as soon as you could get there. I brought the LP home and opened it up. It was a single album, but the first pressing folded open into an actual game that could be played. Though I played it a couple of times, I don't remember it being to fun. I now know that bassist Mike Levine altered the game so that it could never be won. I lost my first edition Just A Game album in a flood, so I no longer have the game. However, the music lives on...
Let's take it for spin.
((Side 1))
Movin' On Opens with a live audience, and freakin' cowbell!!! Its clearly a studio track but the drum pounding intro and strong riff layered with a nice slide guitar grabs your attention real fast.
Lay It On The Line Probably the best known track on this album. A real nice opening, layered with a bluesy feel. Rik Emmett nails this tune lyrically, the guitars are crisp and the drums snap perfectly.
Young Enough To Cry May take more than one listen to warm up to this track, but the second listen should get you going pretty good. Just a real cool straight ahead blues track. Emmett kills it from start to finish. Great solo starting around 2:50.
American Girls Nice distortion and an in your face driving beat. Gil Moore thunders through this nicely. Do I have to keep mentioning Emmetts work? Probably the least "produced" track on the LP, so it has a simple an authentic feel to it.
((Side 2))
Just A Game The Intro fades into very cool acoustic backdrop with a clean slide guitar. The lyrics have a moral and a warning of sorts. "What you do choose, now, what do you believe, now, Who are you gonna trust?"
Fantasy Serenade This is an acoustic interlude. The guitar used is a classical acoustic. It has a Minstrel type of feel (if that makes any senses, its just what comes to my mind), but technically its very impressive. Definitely worth 1:41 seconds of your time. Especially the last 30.
Hold On If your on this site you know this track. It nearly made the American Top 40, although I don't think it hung around long since the American listening public doesnt get it most of the time. (my opinion only). Is personal in the way you absorb the lyrics. I love this track because it belongs to me. Know what I mean?
Suitcase Blues OK.. this is actually a pretty good track, but its a throwback to the 40's blues style and it stays true to it all the way through. For me, Ive heard this album thousands of times so its part of the fabric of the album and must be heard when listening to it.
Best Tracks... Movin On Lay It On The Line Just A Game Hold On
Coverart: A. If you look closely the symbols on it actually contain a depiction for each song on the album. Playing this album and looking through the symbols, liner notes, and the game was part of the listening experience, so it gets a solid A in my book. We need bands to think about their album art again, in this digital age, this aspect of packaging is totally lost.
Hidden Treasure... Got to be the title track, Just A Game. Lyrically very cool, the guitars are perfect and its just a stunning track from beginning to end.
Nah, it's not really me. Maybe I would have liked it back in '79, but not now. There's some good guitar on the album, I'll give you that, but not really any good songs.
The start of "Just a Game" reminded me of the end of "Take me away (Together as one)" from Paul Stanley's first solo-album.
Permalink Reply by Jon on October 31, 2010 at 12:30pm
It's ok. I'm not a huge Triumph fan, used to have a bunch of their albums which are now all gone, only picked up "Thunder Seven" and "Allied Forces" on disc and also have a two disc anthology which is more than enough for me.
Permalink Reply by Dave on November 29, 2010 at 6:12pm
This is the only album by Triumph that I really liked. All the others were just ok, but I always thought this one was killer...loved the slow blues of Young Enough To Cry, and Movin' On & Lay It On The Line are worth it just for those two songs. Saw a lot of bands back in the day, but never got to see Triumph. Tried some of their other stuff, but couldn't get into it. Even today, this is the only one of theirs that I have on cd.