The Prog Rock Album Club

Anteater · 03-04-2014, 11:03 AM

Album title: Brain Salad Surgery
Artiste: Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Nationality: British
Year: 1973
Subgenre: Keyboard Proggg
Player(s): Keith Emerson (Keyboards, Knives), Greg Lake (Guitars, Vocals) Carl Palmer (Drums)
Familiarity: High.
Favourite track(s): Karn Evil 9
Why? It's a bonafide classic even if its about 25 minutes too long.

Least favourite track(s): None
Why? ELP are almost as good as Saturday Night Live with some Mary Jane and a couple of beers.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? These guys were pretty instrumental to my initial fascination with prog, so I don't think I ever had any real preconceptions going into them.
Factoids you'd like to share? These guys used to tour around with giant trucks with the letters of the band (ELP) facing the sky so you could see them by helicopter as they made the rounds.
End impression: Fun but perhaps a bit much. Special time and place sort of album.
Comments: Can't really add to what's already been said to death about ELP by prog lovers and haters alike, but I can say that they were fairly interesting in some respects. As pretentious as they were, they put on great shows and have a distinctive sound in the same way Genesis and Yes stood out from the crowd, so I give credit where credit is due. And sure, they were part of the reason why mainstream listeners turned against prog/art rock and the like in the mid-70's onwards, but it takes a certain brazen and "progressive" way of thinking to achieve the level of pomposity you get on songs like Karn Evil 9. That being said, I like these guys best in small doses: with the exception of their debut, they've never really done any records that were reallllly strong from start to finish...and that's come back to bite them as far as musical reevaluations go 40+ years after the fact.

Rating: 3.0