Tritonus - Between The Universes (1976) Tritonus (1975) [2LP in 1CD, 1998]

TRITONUS was an early project initiated by Peter K. Seiler, a German art-student who continues to make music today and is a well-regarded new-age/ambient/classical composer and performer. Seiler's intent was to create a 'classical rock' band in the tradition of EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, complete with heavy keyboards and Lake-inspired English vocals. This band deserves a place in the Archives for their two distinctly different but undeniably progressive studio releases, particularly the highly symphonic and ambitious "Between the Universes".



"Tritonus" (BASF 1975)
On this debut-album you'll get typical and long 70's progressive rock pieces like "Escape and No Way Out" and "Far in the Sky". Tons of Hammond, spacey moogs and some mellotron. "Sunday Waltz" is on the other hand a nice acoustic track. Overall, this is not the strongest or most original album you'll hear, and is probably best left for completists and progressive rock collectors.



"Between The Universes" (BASF 1976)
Their second and final album was a bit more original than the first one, but is it much better? This one sounds more symphonic, spacey and grandiose. The keyboard-arrangements sounds quite good on the album, and there's still a slight Emerson-influence here. The band had also added some choir-arrangements on the title-track and "The Day Works". The last mentioned track is the second part of the three-part suite "Suburban Day Suite" which takes up the whole second side of the album. The title-track has a very cosmic, almost religious spacey symphonic progressive rock sound to it, and the band managed to make a sound of their own here. "Mars Detection" is a VERY spacey instrumental based in a lot of electronics. Very hypnotic and German sounding. "Suburban Day Suite" is atmospheric and symphonic with some decent melodies and themes through all of the three parts. Despite these qualities, the music was stilled marred by some amateurish tendencies, but it's still a better record than the debut.





Track Listing

Between The Universes
01. Between The Universes (9:58)
02. Mars Detection (8:11)
03. Suburban Day Suite: The Day Awakes (7:56)
04. Suburban Day Suite: The Day Works (5:53)
05. Suburban Day Suite: The Day Rests (3:59)

Tritonus
06. Escape And No Way Out (10:44)
07. Sunday Waltz (4:43)
08. Lady Madonna (2:24)
09. Far In The Sky (9:03)
10. Gliding (7:08)
11. Lady Turk (5:06)
12. The Trojan Horse Race (Bonus track) (3:40)

The Band

• Peter K. Seiler - Hammond organ, Moog synthetizer, e-piano, Mellotron, Celesta, Church organ
• Ronald J.D. Brand - bass, vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, vocals
• Bernhard Schuh - drums
• Geff Harrison - vocal on "Between The Universes"

Notes

Tracks 1-5 originally released as the LP "Between The Universes" (BASF 20 22946-7) in 1976
Tracks 6-11 originally released as the LP "Tritonus" (BASF 17 22384-1) in 1975
Track 12 originally released as a 7" single A-side (Acanta AC 13078) in 1976



Many thanks to the original uploader: flogger77