Triumph "The Sport Of Kings (Japan, Polystar Co., Ltd., PSCW-5331)"

The Sport of Kings is the eighth studio album by the Canadian hard rock band Triumph, released in 1986. It was recorded at the band's home studio of Metalworks Studios from May to August 1986. A song from the album, "Somebody's Out There", was the band's biggest hit, reaching number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 over a 15-week stay in the charts and hitting number 84 in the Canadian pop charts.

This is the second-to-last studio album with the band's guitarist and co-lead vocalist Rik Emmett, and it clearly represents the difficulties the band was experiencing at the time. Mike Levine played no keyboards on the album; three outside keyboard players were hired to create the keyboard sounds of the album, although Rik Emmett experiments with two high-end sampler systems, the Synclavier 9600 Workstation and the Fairlight CMI Series III, according to Keyboard magazine's July 1986 issue. Emmett sings lead vocals on six of the album's ten songs; four songs were sung by Gil Moore, and one track was sung as a duet by the two vocalists. The recording of The Sport of Kings was marred by tension between Triumph and their label MCA. Emmett has since expressed his dislike for much of the album. Adding to the tension was Emmett's request that the recording be done at Estudio L2K in Majorca, Spain. Only three of album's songs have ever been performed live by Triumph, and one track was performed live by Emmett during his first three solo tours.

Track listing

1. "Tears in the Rain" Rik Emmett, Mike Levine, Gil Moore Gil Moore 3:55
2. "Somebody's Out There" Emmett, Levine, Moore Rik Emmett 4:04
3. "What Rules My Heart" Emmett, Levine, Moore, James Brian Maloney, James Richard Huff Moore 3:52
4. "If Only" Emmett, Levine, Moore Emmett 4:00
5. "Hooked on You" Emmett, Levine, Moore Emmett & Moore 3:22
6. "Take a Stand" Emmett, Levine, Moore, Rick Santers Emmett 4:33
7. "Just One Night" Tony Fanucchi, Eric Martin, Neal Schon Moore 3:40
8. "Embrujo" (instrumental) Emmett, Levine, Moore 1:29
9. "Play with the Fire" Emmett, Levine, Moore Emmett 5:18
10. "Don't Love Anybody Else but Me" Glenn Miller, Ed Roynesdal Emmett 3:55
11. "In the Middle of the Night" Emmett, Levine, Moore Emmett 4:34

Mike Clink – producer, engineer

Noel Golden, Dave Runstedler, Toby Wright, Allen Abrahamson, Ernie Torno – assistant engineers

Bob Ludwig – mastering

Thom Trumbo – executive producer

Tommy Steele – design

Adamoff – cover art concept

Brett Zilahi – remastering on 2005 re–issue

Yoshiro Kuzumaki – mastering