Triptych (The Tea Party album)

Triptych
Studio album by The Tea Party
Released June 8, 1999
Recorded October 10, 1998 – March 3, 1999, at Alkemical Studios, Montreal, Studio Morin Heights, Morin-Heights, Quebec, and Metalworks Studios, Mississauga, ON
Genre Melodic rock, Progressive rock, Alternative rock
Length 51:25
Label EMI Music Canada
Producer Jeff Martin
The Tea Party chronology

Transmission
(1997)
Triptych
(1999)
Live at the Enmore Theatre
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic link
Rock Hard (de) 9/10[1]

Triptych (1999) is The Tea Party's fifth album. It has the trio blending the major influences found on their previous albums: the earthy rock of Splendor Solis, the world music inspired arrangements of The Edges of Twilight, and the industrial edge of Transmission.

Triptych showed a band with a new confidence in songwriting. After the gloom of Transmission, which relied heavily on sampling and electronica, for Triptych the band wrote with both melody and content, while using electronica subtlety.[2] This is evidenced by the Juno Award nominated single "Heaven Coming Down", the band's first number one single in Canada. The album itself received a Juno nomination for "Best Rock Album", before achieving double platinum sales in Canada.

Reception

In 2005, Triptych was ranked number 435 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[3]

Track listing

  1. "Touch" – 3:57
  2. "Underground" – 3:41
  3. "Great Big Lie" – 3:50
  4. "Heaven Coming Down" – 4:01
  5. "The Halcyon Days" – 5:57
  6. "The Messenger" (Daniel Lanois) – 3:32
  7. "Samsara " – 3:56
  8. "A Slight Attack" – 3:15
  9. "Taking Me Away" – 5:02
  10. "These Living Arms" – 5:03
  11. "Chimera" – 4:29
  12. "Gone" – 3:35
  13. [Untitled] – 1:02

The unlisted 13th track is the sound of a clock chiming.

Singles

Special Tour Edition 2000

In June 2000, the EMI labels in Europe released Triptych Special Tour Edition 2000, which included a bonus disc of eight unreleased songs.

Special Tour Edition 2000 bonus disc track listing

  1. "Psychopomp" (live)
  2. "The River" (live)
  3. "Save Me" (live)
  4. "Lifeline"
  5. "A Woman Like You" (Bert Jansch)
  6. "Temptation" (Rhys Fulber remix)
  7. "Sister Awake" (live)
  8. "Waiting for a Sign"

Personnel

String quartet

References

  1. Schleutermann, Marcus. "Rock Hard". issue 149. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
  2. Triptych at AllMusic
  3. [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 34. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.

External links