EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

Being a huge ELP fan I've always wondered why some poeple say it's the best ELP's album. I'm not saying this debut is a bad release but far from expectations. The first time I heard this record I was familiar with Trilogy, Brain Salad Surgery and Tarkus. And I'm finding those three releases much better than this album. First of all I don't think band's style was crystalized in 1970. So here we have one long and sensless piece Take A Pebble. It's just boring to me. Not enough energetic. Fortunatelly on next albums band decided to rock some more. Barbarian and Tank don't move me at all either. Album sounds pretty lame to my ears but I don't have remastered version so maybe now it's much better. Knife-Edge it's the best track on this album to me. It's a bit hard rockish song with addition of classical music. That section in the middle is simply awesome. Lucky Man is the most famous track of this debut and it's not bad really. Everyone should know this. It's some lighter part for those who prefer that softer side of ELP. Three Fates seems to be kind of loose improvisation. I guess it was the time Emerson wanted to show all his skills. Yeah I can understand that. And I'm thankful that later he worked more on his compositions. This album is a piece of music played by very tallented guys. Not necessary having ideas for songs. But playing like they were knowing what they were doing. It doesn't deserve more than 3 stars.