EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

This is almost a required album to have. The instrumentals are rich, deep, complex and plentiful. What more do you want from a prog album? The Barbarian has some awesome drumming on it accompanied by very good music. You can almost feel the horses of the Mongols strafeing by you as you dodge their merciless blades. Well named song and proof from the start they are able to effectively paint a picture with music. "The Three Muses" is an excellent composition and shows off the keyboard playing skills this group has. Particularly, "Atropos" the piano trio. It is one of the heaviest piano songs I have heard, being very masculine and jagged. Lucky Man was always one of my favorite songs on the radio. The term 'lucky man' is first used in the song as a statement of envy but later as the 'lucky man' is called to war and is killed the statement, 'lucky man', morphs to sarcasam. You will find as you listen to their albums that in a few ways they are kind of morose. Which in my opinion is delightful and refreshing. Screw "Peace dude" how about saying "People are dying for a pointless cause, fell happy now?" it's a little more direct and snags upon the ugly truth of conflict a little better in my opinion. This is a great song on a great album. I would have given it 4.5 stars.