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Emerson Lake & Palmer - Emerson Lake & Palmer CD (album) cover

EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

Emerson Lake & Palmer

 

Symphonic Prog

4.24 | 2360 ratings

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Epignosis
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars The trio of Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, and Carl Palmer, who created a few of the greatest progressive rock masterpieces imaginable, begin their adventure together weakly and rather disjointedly. It is hard for me to imagine the celebration of this album next to the reactions of horror that typically accompany Works Volume 1, particularly since what they seem to be here are three outstanding musicians who are completely apprehensive about working together. This album is a hodgepodge of classical and jazz piano music, singer-songwriter ballads, crunchy organ, and daring instrumentals.

"The Barbarian" With a distorted introduction and some grating organ, along with wild snare-slapping and dynamic bass playing, the first one-and-a-half minutes of this piece is an excellent idea of what the band will sound like on forthcoming releases. What follows that, however, is a sudden piano interlude. It takes getting used to in the overall context of the piece, but it demonstrates Emerson's ability well. After this, there is more in the vein of what came before. It is one of the band's best instrumental tracks, and certainly the best instrumental on this album.

"Take a Pebble" The opening to this one features alternating harmonious and discordant chords that makes one think of an autoharp played with only the benefit of a strumming hand. Overall, this is less like progressive rock and more like directionless meandering. The folk section that comes in later is apropos of nothing. Six-and-a-half minutes in, there is beautiful piano playing, some of Emerson's best, but again, it just seems capricious in context. Later, the band enters to make what sounded like classical piano jazzy. Lake's vocals bookend this unnecessarily long track, but just as the keyboard work up until this point has finely exhibited Emerson's ability, his singing displays what he will sound like during his finer moments with the group.

"Knife Edge" The second of three vocal tracks, this song takes what was great about the first track and what was great about the second track, namely Emerson's organ and Lake's vocals, respectively, and blends them to produce a highly enjoyable listen. The song repeats themes without becoming repetitive, paving the way for further organ work. After the middle section (an ELP highlight in and of itself), Lake returns with more energized vocals. It's unfortunate the song fizzles out in the manner it does.

"The Three Fates (Clotho/Lachesis/Atropos)" This is the point in the album where ELP begin to seem less like a ensemble, and more like a threesome of solo artists sharing studio time. Emerson has already shown how amazing he is at what he does, so why the need for an extended three-part instrumental exclusively featuring church organ, piano, and then more piano with some unwarranted drumming? While it's certainly understandable that ELP (and many artists in the early seventies) were not consciously trying to write progressive rock (the way many modern symphonic acts seem to be doing), Emerson's solo act is no more progressive rock than any classical or jazz pianist playing alone is.

"Tank" Finally Palmer gets a real opportunity to show his stuff, with a drum solo both to open the song and two minutes in. The dual clavinets and piano are all over the place for the most part during the time before this, which is sad really, because the bass line is truly one of Lake's best. It is not until Palmer's solo is finished that Emerson finally breaks out the Moog, using it both as a solo instrument and to beef up the rhythm section.

"Lucky Man" Almost an afterthought, it was this song that was largely responsible for taking ELP to the airwaves. Its chords are played on a twelve-string guitar and Lake sensitively sings the words. The improvised synthesizer solo at the end sounds out of place and can be annoying in parts. Overall, it's a good song, but nothing at all compared to what would come.

Epignosis | 2/5 |

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