One of my favorite songs is Triumph's anthemic "Magic Power."
It's about the power of music and how a song can take you an a glorious ride during those few minutes you hear it.
I used to put my cassette of Triumph's "Allied Forces" into my stereo and listen to the song on my headphones as I drifted off to sleep.
There was something about the combination of the melodic acoustic-guitar opening and the jet-fueled chorus performed by guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett, bassist Mike Levine and drummer Gil Moore that captivated me.
Now I can hear the song in a full, remixed glory. In fact, I can hear remixes of Triumph's most popular songs, thanks to their inclusion in "Triumph Greatest Hits Remixed," which was released in the United States in May.
The set features both a CD and DVD. The CD's 14 tracks include "Magic Power" and the other music-loving anthem "Hold On."
There's "Fight the Good Fight," "Never Surrender," "Lay It on the Line," "Somebody's Out There" and "Follow Your Heart."
It also includes the rare track "Love Hurts," which was recorded with vocalist Phil X after Emmett's angry departure in 1988.
The DVD features all of the aforementioned hits except for "Fight the Good Fight."
Anyway, I was able to catch up with Levine by phone at his home in Toronto, the band's headquarters, to talk about the release, the 2007 reunion and the DVD's omission of "Fight the Good Fight."
We laughed a lot, but the one thing Levine loved most about the whole "Greatest Hits" and reunion was the fact that the three musicians are friends "once again."
The "Greatest Hits" saga started about 1989 when the band was ending its relationship with MCA Records.
"There was a clause in the contract that said the record company would be able to release a greatest hits (album), " Levine said.
The original greatest hits had little band input as far as packaging, although Levine was able to choose the songs.
When the songs rights returned to the band, Levine and Moore began thinking of upping the ante with new packaging and adding a DVD.
"We got serious three years ago," he said. "We came up with a CD and DVD and nice booklet and spent the farm on it, like we do with all of our stuff."
As for the content, the band polled the fans in Europe and North America.
"We let them pick what they wanted," Levine said with a laugh. "It was better than having us pick."
As for "Fight the Good Fight" being left off the DVD, Levine said he didn't know how that happened.
"I missed it," he said. "I was away when the final configurations were being done, and I was only looking for quality. Our distributor called and said 'Where's "Fight the Good Fight?" '
"Oops," he said, laughing again.
Still, after all the years playing in bars, hockey arenas, major festivals and experiencing a major break up, the band was able to get back together for a few reunion shows after being inducted into the Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
"It was great," Levine said. "As nervous as we all were, we had a ton of fun. We all thought, 'Hey, even if we don't play, at least we're all friends again.' "
And Levine promised the band would play in Salt Lake City when a reunion tour is planned.
e-mail: scott@desnews.com