 | Emerson, Lake and Palmer (1970)Genres: progressive rock, symphonic rock, pomp rock |
review by thomas
The debut album by media superstars E.L.P., claimed to be one of the first so called supergroups. Keith Emerson (ex The Nice) on piano, organ, grand piano, Moog and synthesizers, Greg Lake (ex The Gods, King Crimson) on bass, vocals and guitars and Carl Palmer (ex Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster) on percussion made one of their first public appearances at the Isle of Wight festival '70. At the Royal Festival Hall (Royal Albert Hall?) the same year the group recorded "The Three Fates: a) Clotho; b) Lachesis; c) Atropos" which in fact was an eight-minute solo piece by Emerson. It points to the future: Emerson in the limelight doing pointless piano solos lasting an hour or two. "Tank" featured, besides some really good keyboard work, an in-the-studio-standard-drum-solo by Palmer, a well known trick if you are in need of some extra minutes to make it over the thirty minutes barrier, just ask the Italians!
Side A - consisting of "The Barbarian", "Take a Pebble" and "Knife-Edge" - are actually quite good with some tasteful organ work from Emerson and good bass and guitar work from Lake. Then we also have the hit-single "Lucky Man" present on the album, a song which reportably introduced many a people to the synthesizer. The song is otherwise a kind of folkish and acoustic affair, but not something you remember with great affection. Should they have managed to stay focused throughout the record and not rushed things (here I think of side B) it could have been a real good album. Sadly, it's not.
Apparently both the group and the record company were so eager to capitalize on the attention created by the media that the quality of the music produced was overlooked.
 | Tarkus (1971)Genres: progressive rock, pomp rock |
review by daniel
Keith Emerson, the keyboard wizard of ELP, has endured more ridicule than most people. He is really a sitting duck for those who dislike progressive rock. I must admit that I often find him quite silly myself. Sometimes when I hear him play I can see visions of him playing with his teeth, like an Yngwie Malmsteen, or dressed up like Bach in an 18th century suit, whig and all. He does not deserve that I am sure. Needless to say Emerson is a good keyboard player, he is not only dexterious, he also has a style of his own on both moog and hammond (sometimes it sounds as if he uses his hammond as a percussion instrument). It is however worth pointing out that ELP stands for Emerson, Lake and Palmer, not Emerson, Emerson and Emerson. Palmer is a good drummer with a nice drum sound and Lake is a great singer and bass player (which is more apparent on King Crimson’s debut album than here).
ELP has two sides, the pompous (and somewhat wanky) side that comes to the fore in the longer pieces and a poppier side present in the shorter pieces. I suspect that Emerson is responsible for the former side, while Lake is responsible for the latter. After getting aquinted with the poppier side of ELP I must say I prefer the pompous side. The problem is that ELP can sound embarrassingly cheesy when they try to rock or sound catchy. The side long epic “Tarkus” is consequently the best track of the album. It is ELP at their wankiest and best. Emerson plays furiously at a variety of keyboards and sometimes it gets to much, but more often it works. Both lyrics and music have a military theme which seem to fit all members of the band very well. A fine piece of music that alone makes the album decent enough.
review by thomas
The 20-minute long title track offers music of top quality. Emerson’s use of the moog and other keyboards was never to be matched and Palmer’s drumming reached a new and ultimate level as well, not to mention Lake’s fantastic singing and bass playing, plus some guitar parts that sound really exciting, biting and fresh – even to this day. This piece of music is really Emerson, Lake and Palmer not just Emerson. Lyrically (lyrics by Lake) the suite shows strong influences from Lake’s former Crimson band-mate Peter Sinfield. And the military theme is strong in both music and words as the other reviewer (Daniel) has noticed.
After such a discharge on side A the B-side with its six short tracks seems rather poor and “Jeremy Bender” and the Eddy Offord tribute “Are You Ready Eddy?” are throwaways; but here is also a couple of decent songs like “Bitches Crystal”, which combines jazz influences with themes similar to the title track’s, and “The Only Way (Hymn)”. The highlight on this side is without a doubt “A Time and a Place” which also shows similarities with the title track.
This is the one Emerson, Lake and Palmer album I would recommend to all because of the amazing title track.
