EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

Its very hard now to appreciate just how powerfully different this record was at release. Following after the Nice's last records was always going to be a difficult feat for any band, but ELP managed to compleatly over shadow the early-prog Nice and defined a whole musical movement with the record. Not the first prog rock LP by any means but certainly one of the first hugely successful prog releases. " The Barbarian" starts the whole show and demonstrates the great power of ELP's music. "Take A Pebble" is a pretty good song and we are treated to some great Piano playing, this track is firmly in the Jazz tradition and could perhaps have been produced by the Nice, However the Nice never had a lead vocalist that could really match the rest of the skills on offer, so getting Lake (who most certainly can sing) was a great move. If anything the track now seems a little on the long side but remains a choice cut. "Knife-Edge" is a real ELP rocker and features some typical Lake apocalyptic Lyrics, maybe a little like Peter Seinfeld's but infinitely more focused and less pretentious. "The Three Fates" is divided in three parts Clotho features a real church organ and maybe this experiment doesnt quite come off although as with all Emerson, keyboard work it is very hard to fault in technical terms. Lachesis is a nice contrast and is my favorite section of this track "Atropos" is a tripled piano and makes the whole work unperformable live as a result. In all the three fates is not the strongest cut on the record and makes uncomfortable listening. "Tank" is an excellent track despite being little more than a drum solo, Palmer is of course a true master of his instrument and even if few other drummers could pull off such a track Carl Palmer certainly can, were the band come back in remains a shining example of ELP at its thundering best. "Lucky Man" is a typical Lake song and is by one of his better efforts. It features some nice use of the Moog synthesizer. On reflection side two is somewhat weaker than side one but this still remains an excellent debut release and forms parts of the classic period of ELP for many many people they could do no wrong. Some people claim that ELP's music has no emotion but I don't feel that is incorrect. The Music is full of references to urban life and the very real fears of people at the start of the 70's. The apolitical lyrics (of lake ) fit perfectly with this very powerful music. The Nice had been a great if flawed band, the biggest problem being the lack of a vocalist of the same high standard as the rest of the band. Greg Lake's voice alone would have improved matters. The inclusion of one of the most (if not the most) talented drummers of a generation ensured that ELP on paper at least should have been something very special this LP demonstrates that indeed ELP were a super group in every sense, producing stunning music that has never been surpassed for pure power. This record has a few flaws but is a must have for anyone interested in Progressive rock music.