EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

This debut album shows you a very human side of ELP, but it also shows where they were apt to go wrong. The human side is prevalent in the 12-minute-plus 'Take a Pebble'. This tune has simple lyrics and an attractive melody, but it's especially notable for its piano improvisations. Emerson may not be in the same league as Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett or other virtuosi, but he is fun to listen to, and interplay with the other members of the trio is running smoothly. I can think of no other prog pianists who could pull off this sort of thing in the early seventies - certainly not Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks or John Evan. (Perhaps the pianist from Renaissance? I don't know that band very well...)

"ELP going wrong" emerges in 'Lucky Man', which would have been a lovely ballad had it been sung by someone with true FEELING in his voice (love that moog solo though), and also in 'Knife Edge', which is ruined by Lake's clever-clever lyrics. But 'Knife Edge' also proves Emerson was prog's unmatched Hammond organ hero. I didn't discover ELP until 1975, but back in 1970 this album must have raised great hopes for the future.

Rating: two stars and a half.