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The Sport of Kings
The Sport of Kings
Studio album by Triumph
Released	August 1986
Recorded	May–August 1986
Studio	Metalworks and Phase One Studios, Toronto, Canada; One on One, Los Angeles
Genre	Hard rock
Length	42:47
Label	MCA
Producer	Mike Clink, Thom Trumbo
Triumph chronology

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Kerrang!	^[2]

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^[3] and hitting number 84 in the Canadian pop charts.

History

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 this 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

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
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

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
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

Personnel

Band members

Rik Emmett – lead and rhythm guitars, lead and backing vocals, Fairlight CMI, Synclavier programming
Gil Moore – drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals
Mike Levine – bass guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals

Additional musicians

Lou Pomanti, Michael Boddicker, Scott Humphrey – synthesizer, synthesizer programming, keyboards
Johnny Rutledge, David Blamires, Neil Donell – backing vocals

Production

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
Harry Witz – engineer, sound advisor