TARKUS

Emerson Lake and Palmer's second album Tarkus reveals somethings that point to the future sounds of ELP, while also causing one to shake one's head. There are a great number of ups and downs on this album.

Side one of this album is ELP's magnum opus - Tarkus. The story is strange, to say the least. It is the story of the Tarkus's birth and life and it's trials and tribulations along the way. The Tarkus faces three enemies (including a manticore, which would soon be ELP's own label) and its actions are all "depicted" in the music, ranging from Eruption (where the Tarkus is born in a volcano's lava), all the way through Aquatarkus (where the tarkus is swept away by a raging river after its last encounter). The story, while strange, is conveyed vividly by the music, marginally by the lyrics (except Battlefield which is excellent), and lastly by the inner artwork of the album. This side long extraveganza is ELP at their best.

Yet that's more than I can say abouth side two. Side two is a mish mash or parts - some comedy (Are You Ready Eddy?), come classical (The Only Way), and others that are hard to place (Jeremy Bender, A Time and a Place, Bitches Crystal, Infinite Space). Side two is too short and too scattered, the compostitions seeming to take a back seat to the musicianship.

Tarkus is a tale of two sides, one excellent, one less than. A solid three star prog album.