EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

Not much can be said about this album that hasn't already on the site. One of the really strong debut albums in prog, especially for earlier-era prog. Some of it I could do without- the lengthy "Three Fates", along with overplayed "Lucky Man". The latter of which really just doesn't fit on this record. Seems like a single tacked on for sales reasons. "The Three Fates" doesn't do much for me, primarily because I"m not a big fan of extended key pieces, but to top it off it is incredibly harsh and shrill sounding, and forces me to turn down the volume on every listen. With the weak spots out of the way, there is a lot of good and great material to speak on. The record gets off to an ambitious start with "the Barbarian" an absolutely colossal sounding track. To me this sounds like some "proto-doom metal" and it really kicks ass to start an album. "Take a Pebble" brings the intensity down a notch, but doesn't sacrifice quality. This track adds a lot of texture and sets a ton for what turns out to be quite an eclectic album. "Knife-Edge" is another heavier, doomy track that closes out the perfect First Side of the record. This song features some of my favorite vocal work from Lake. I've always loved his basic and subtle rhyming, it just fits the song. Side 2 features "Tank", another intense song showcasing the skills of Carl Palmer, one of my favorite prog drummers. There are some really adventurous moments on this song and it all sounds great on the early Cotillion pressings. Anyways, yup, a really great start for the ELP guys back in 1970/71, but in only a number of months, they would outdo their debut effort.

Rating: 8.5/10