Triumph – Greatest Hits Remixed (TML Entertainment) *****

I don’t care; I’m giving this one full marks. I know, it’s easy to rate a “greatest hits” very highly but this one goes that extra mile. Being a fan, I would have added more songs but this is a “hits” collection and they stay pretty close to that designation. The best part of this collections that it has been remixed and not just remastered. The difference is that they took the original masters and played with the levels and gave the track a very crisp sound. The songs just pop out of the speakers and sound better than the remastered versions I bought a few years ago. Rich Chycki deserves a lot of credit for remixing this bag of classic tunes and making them sound new again. As I’ve said, this is a hits package so there really isn’t anything from their first self titled album or their last studio release with Phil X called Edge Of Excess. The songs are not in any chronological order which shows that throughout their career, Triumph was very consistent and they were always able to pull out a great track no matter what album it was on. The only song that I find odd is the last one; a cover of Nazareth’s “Love Hurts”. In fact Nazareth were not the originators but they are the ones who made it famous. The version here is a “Triumph-ized” version that even though is good; I don’t ever recall it being a hit. That one is just an odd choice for me but it’s nice that they added something to this collection that a lot of us fans might not have.

To make this set even better, it is coupled with a greatest hits DVD. There are only a couple of duplicates from previous releases (“Allied Forces” is from the US Festival DVD and “Magic Power” is from the Live DVD) but because they didn’t make videos for all of their hits songs, their inclusion is really necessary. It is great to finally have good copies of their older videos like “Lay It On The Line” and “Hold On” (mine are worn out VHS copies that I taped off of MTV – back when they played videos). They also included “Never Say Never” along with “Child Of The City” and “Love Hurts” which I have never seen. And here I thought I was a Triumph fan. To round off this collection, we get footage of Triumph receiving a Juno Award and being inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame. After seeing those two pieces, you realize just what an impact these three Canadian dudes had on rock music back in the late 70’s and 80’s.

Some people may disagree with me and not think this set deserves the full five stars but I for one will stand by this rating. Sure, I could have picked a set that would have spanned 2 CDs and would have included my favorite cuts but that is not what this is all about. This is a Greatest Hits package and that is exactly what they have given you. It’s their hits sounding like they never have before. Plus, they added the visuals for those of you who want to slip on your spandex and dance around the living room to your favorite Triumph videos. Yep, five stars it is!

Greg Olma