EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

I will never understand how this absolute masterpiece and cornerstone of prog rock is far below top 50 here on PA (at the time of writing it is located on possition 83!), while I consider it one of the ultimate prog records of all time by some of the founding fathers and masters of the genre. Absolute must. Emerson's work here immediately places him on top of my prog keyboard wizards list. His piano/organ/synth play is extremely skillful, imaginative, sometimes touchingly beautiful, sometimes solemn and grandiose and yet pasionate and furious where it needs to be. Lake's voice sounds as beautiful as ever, his bass punches and guitar ornaments add to the richness of the soundpalette and provide very tasteful details. Compositions are very strong. Some are tight and smart rocking punches ("Barbarian") some are minisuites containing several parts ("Take a pebble", "Three fates"). There is no weak point here. Thankfuly there are no dubiously funny and forced honky-tonk songs on this album yet. So the overall sound is very cohesive and Emerson-dominated. Only the last song - the famous ballad "Lucky man" brings a bit different mood to reduce the intensity of previous tracks. It's often overlooked how smart the drumming is in this one. May it serve as a friendly reminder of the quality of Palmer's craft