FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN

I am stunned that nobody has reviewed this single yet. It is in fact a single I cherished in the 70s when "Works 1" was way too expensive for my teenage budget. I knew the single was great and I wanted it. I remember well as a young wide-eyed teen getting this single due to the over saturation of the track as a theme song on many TV shows.

Instantly I loved it for all the reasons we all love ELP; huge Hammond stabs, bombastic trumpet flares, and that crazy pulsating bass synth not to mention crunching drumming signature; it is a masterpiece. It was one of the catchiest tunes on the radio and of course the longer version was hidden among the mediocrity of "Works 1".

Side 2 is Brain Salad Surgery that rarely troubled my stylus but it was OK and I thought it was better than some B sides I had heard in the 70s, throwaways that garnered little attention more than a mere filler. Here then is a bonafide ELP classic single and it should be treated with royalty with 4 stars for collectors to savour.

Fanfare for brain salad

An edited version of Fanfare For The Common Man from the album Works Vol. 1 was released on this single in the same year as the album. The single version is reduced from almost 10 minutes in length to just under three minutes and ends with a rather lame fade-out just before the "noodling" begins. While it could be argued that the original version is a tad too long, this single version is surely too short.

The tune is possibly ELP's biggest "hit" and of course went on to become a live favourite and has been included on countless compilations and live albums over the years. It is however not a personal favourite of mine.

The b-side here is Brain Salad Surgery, a track that originally appeared on a special single given away for free with the magazine New Musical Express in 1973 to promote the then current album of the same name (that does not contain the song). The track appeared here for the first time on a commercial release but would later be included also on Works Vol. 2 and is now widely available as a bonus track on several of the CD reissues of the album Brain Salad Surgery.

The song itself is rather good, but it is a weird choice as a b-side for Fanfare For The Common Man given that the two songs are some four years apart.