REVIEW: Triumph – “Spellbound” (1984 special promo 12″)

TRIUMPH – “Spellbound” (1984 MCA 12″ radio promo disc)

1984’s Thunder Seven was a big one in Canada, with “Spellbound” and “Follow Your Heart” both hitting the top 100 singles chart.  Triumph singles rarely offered up much in the way of non-album material, but the odd curiosity could be found.  This Triumph single for “Spellbound” was acquired by a friend, from Jerry’s Records in Pittsburgh back in 2013.

On the A-side, the standard 5:12 single version of “Spellbound” without edits.  You can really hear why this was a hit in 1984.  Triumph had learned to marry keyboard and guitar riffs for a bigger radio-ready sound.  With Gil Moore on lead vocals, “Spellbound” had huge chorus.  The track was also made into a cool video.

The B-side was specially designed for radio airplay.  Each track on Thunder Seven is given a brief special intro by the three band members.  You could look at this as an interview disc.  It’s nine minutes in length and not without value.  By listening we learn that “Spellbound”, for example, changed much from conception to release.  It was once titled “White Lies” before it was rewritten.  “Time Canon” was made up of 18 parts over 66 tracks.  Amazing stuff.  Their Canadian accents are adorable.

An excellent purchase for Triumph fans who have it all and need a little more.

4/5 stars

48 comments

  1. Cool stuff and never know this existed. Spellbound is a great track especially that lead in riff to the guitar solo. Holy friggin heck! Spellbound/Follow Your Heart still get a fair amount of airplay on local crap radio.

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  3. Nice Mike! You know I love the promos. And Triumph at that makes it even better. I have about 7 coming over the next 2 months and the month of March will be dedicated to all my Cult Promos.

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  4. Awesome. I love Triumph and Jerry’s Records in Pittsburgh is the best record store I’ve ever been to.
    I went in looking for Mel Brown stuff and found some. Also some Dio stuff and came out with some, including a US 12″ single and a Japanese 12″ single.

    The only issue with your whole post is the mention of a “Canadian accent”. As if their is such a thing.
    Canadians do not have an accent. Everyone else in the world not from Canada have accents. We do not.

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    2. My first concert was Triumph playing for this album (Thunder 7) tour at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Honeymoon Suite opened.

      As Mike said, Much Music (and fm radio) played this almost non stop in 1985.

      The concerts in the 80’s were huge, loud and tons of pyro. I miss those days.

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      1. Yeah, I didn’t have Much Music in ’85. I had Video Hits Top 10 on the CBC, lol

        My parents did listen to a Top 40 radio station in Sudbury, CHNO. It must have not been a Top 40 hit or maybe I just don’t remember it.

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        1. Top 40 was lighter stuff. Not that Triumph were real heavy. Corey Hart, Glass Tiger, Platinum Blonde, Bryan Adams and Gino Vanelli ruled those airwaves.

          I listened to Q107 then. They actually played good music in 1985.

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        3. Growing up in Sudbury we had Top 40, easy listening, country, and two CBC stations (english and french). We eventually got a rock station in the ’90s but the heaviest stuff they would play is Van Hagar.

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        4. My parents refused to pay for Much.
          I watched it sometimes at a buddy’s house.

          Radio was always a staple for me though.

          Even if we would have had it, that was before the days of hooking the tv to stereo receiver, so listening through a tinny tv speaker would not have been the best.

          I sort of remember a CBC show, I believe it was Friday Night Videos with Terry David Mulligan. It wasn’t bad.

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        6. Good Rockin’ Tonite is familiar, but maybe because the name is so generic.

          I remember the first video show we got was called The Great Record Collection? On WUTV. Pre-Much, I believe.

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        7. There was one video they played on the Great Record Collection. One was a trio, and it had a crashing helicopter. Another was a solo artist with black and white makeup. I’ll never know who they were.

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        8. I just looked it up and I remember that show! I taped it a few times with Stu Jefferies hosting. I didn’t tape it often though because out VCR was wonky and could only handle one show at a time. At that time Letterman was always given first priority.

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        4. I admire both teams – they have two of my favourite non-Penguin players (Bergeron & Backstrom). And I imagine if they played for Pittsburgh, I’d be a big fan of Oshie / Wilson / Marchand, but they don’t make it easy to cheer for them when they’re the opponents!

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    2. Myself, my brothers and some friends used to go to Pittsburgh when the Leafs played there.
      Basically it was cheaper to pay for gas, hotel and tickets (we could get about 5-10 rows off the ice which was impossible in Toronto) for less money than it cost for just tickets in Toronto.
      The last time we went we met Don Cherry and Ron Mclean in a variety store after the game. We were all looking for beer but there was none to be found.
      We got some photos and went on our separate ways.

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        3. Awesome. The closest I ever got to fame was a 2 second shot on TSN. Motoring ’95.

          A trip to San Jose with her dad. Watching the Leafs in the playoffs, being on National TV AND meeting Don Cherry. How awesome is that?

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        6. Motor Week is a USA based show.

          Motoring(insert year) is Canadian. Shown on TSN (The Sports Network).

          I was looking sharp in my trusted purple suit that was all the rage in the 90’s. So pretty much anti-Grunge.

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      2. That’s ridiculous (though not surprising, I suppose!) that it’s less expensive to see the leafs that way. And if you saw them in Pitt in the last 30 years, you would have been seeing at least one of Lemieux/Jagr/Crosby/Malkin at any given time!

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        1. Sort of like when I went to see my parents in Florida and we would see the Leafs play Tampa.
          Around $80 US per seat for 3 rows off the ice from a scalper.
          Those seats would be probably over $500 each in Toronto. Who knows? Maybe $1000.

          I’ve seen Crosby and Malkin in Pittsburgh a few times.
          I saw Lemieux and Jagr, but not as the home team.
          I did also see Lemieux play in 2004 World Cup in Montreal, and I met Ron Mclean after the game as well.
          Fun times. I wasn’t on tv though. ;)

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        2. And from what I recall, those sold-out platinum seats would also be empty for large portions of the game too!
          I enjoyed that World Cup tournament – Canada was pretty dominant throughout. I remember being happy to see Kris Draper score a key goal in the semis, always nice to see the penalty killers/selke trophy candidates do well!

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        3. It drives me nuts when play starts in the 2nd or 3rd period in Toronto and all the Platinum seats are empty. Rich jerks more interested in making business deals than enjoying the privilege of watching the game.

          That World Cup game was part of my family vacation to the east coast. I drove right past you. Unfortunately it was the only hockey we had for a while since the NHL season got canceled.

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