TARKUS

Tarkus is my favourite album by ELP. This is an essential piece of music for any decent prog compilation that so very nearly achieves the five star rating. This album is let down by "Are You Ready Eddy", although this is just a mess around track, I find it quite disturbing even if it was the early seventies and could probably have been left off. A very bad closer to such a good album.

"Tarkus" is one of the best epics I have heard alongside "Echoes" and "Supper's Ready". This piece has a very warm and uplifting intro which really pulls me in. This suite is a fantastic journey of great keyboard and bass sections. It doesn't get overblown or dragged down by extensive solo sections, which was my main complaint of the debut album. There are some very emotional vocal, guitar and keyboard parts on this track. This is probably the best ELP work I have heard and this track is a masterpiece.

"Jeremy Bender" is a nice piano tune with some great vocal work. It's very happy but compared to the incredible epic that it follows it definetly does not seem as good. "Bitches Crystal" and the other tunes before "Are You Ready Eddy" have the same fate although they are really good pieces of work. These are only short pieces so it is nice that they have been included.

Overall, this is an excellent piece of prog rock. ELP get an amazing sound from just a three piece band. The production is flawless. It can be a stretch to listen to but not really much more than any other major prog pieces. It took longer to click with ELP then when i listen to bands like King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Yes. Greg Lake is definetly the strongest member on this album but it is a great group effort. Just misses out on a 5 star rating because of the last track and perhaps if the shorter tracks had been placed before the epic 20 minute opener they would have seemed more impressive. Still this is very close to being a masterpiece and is essential for any good prog collection, don't listen to the doubters like I did.