Triptych (The Tea Party album)

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Triptych
Studio album by
ReleasedJune 8, 1999
RecordedOctober 10, 1998 – March 3, 1999
StudioAlkemical Studios, Montreal; Le Studio, Morin-Heights, Quebec, and Metalworks Studios, Mississauga
GenreHard rock, progressive rock, alternative rock
Length51:25
LabelEMI Music Canada
ProducerJeff Martin
The Tea Party chronology
Transmission
(1997)
Triptych
(1999)
Live at the Enmore Theatre
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic link
Rock Hard)9/10[1]

Triptych (stylized as TRIPtych) is The Tea Party's fifth album, released in 1999. 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.

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 reached #4 on the Canadian album chart, and received a Juno nomination for "Best Rock Album", before achieving double platinum sales in Canada.

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

Reception[edit]

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

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleLength
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 cover)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 (hidden track)1:02

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

Special Tour Edition 2000 Bonus Disc[edit]

  1. "Psychopomp" (live) – 5:10
  2. "The River" (live) – 5:11
  3. "Save Me" (live) – 8:23
  4. "Lifeline" – 4:37
  5. "A Woman Like You" (Bert Jansch) – 3:46
  6. "Temptation" (Rhys Fulber remix) – 5:50
  7. "Sister Awake" (live) – 5:35
  8. "Waiting for a Sign" – 4:19

Singles[edit]

Personnel[edit]

String quartet[edit]

  • "Gone"
    • Ligia Paquin – viola
    • François Pilon – violin
    • Benoit Loiselle – cello
    • Stéphanie Meyer – cello

Charts[edit]

Chart performance for Triptych
Chart (1999) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[4] 14

References[edit]

  1. ^ Schleutermann, Marcus. "Rock Hard". issue 149 (in German). Rock Hard. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  2. ^ Triptych at AllMusic
  3. ^ Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 34. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
  4. ^ "Australiancharts.com – The Tea Party – Triptych". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 20, 2022.