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Emerson Lake & Palmer - Tarkus CD (album) cover

TARKUS

Emerson Lake & Palmer

 

Symphonic Prog

4.06 | 2074 ratings

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OpethGuitarist
Prog Reviewer
3 stars As others have said, it's half an album.

Tarkus is a suite that represents some of the best ELP material, for 20 minutes anyways. The second half of this album is completely and utterly useless unless you're in a laughing mood. The well known themes combined with ELP's idiosyncrasies on the 2nd half may have been intriguing at the time, but are impossible to take seriously now. On the other hand, Tarkus is a wonderful little piece and quite possibly the best of all of ELP's material.

Greg Lake's vocal work really stands out here, and I believe it's what really makes this track even better than the intriguing instrumental interplay. The production makes the keys/hammonds have a distinct flavor, a sort of vintage quality to the music that's perhaps unreproduceable. I find Tarkus much better than Karn Evil 9, which I found more aimless (and not really cohesive as a suite to begin with).

If some elements of the debut had been incorporated into the B-side of this record, it is very possible it would be looked at as one of the defining pieces of the genre. Unfortunately, the 2nd half is marred with inexcusable rubbish. Good to have for one track and to see the genius the band did possess, as Tarkus is a hell of a song.

OpethGuitarist | 3/5 |

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