TARKUS

Wham, bam, thank you ma'am! The 'ejaculatio praecox' syndrome, that afflicts this second album from our heroes ELP, is due - of course - mainly to hurry: the fame and fortune the 1st album gave them had to be capitalized as soon as possible! Actually, ELP wrote the great 'Tarkus' suite (20:38 on Side One) while on tour, and the rest of the album was put together in a few days: the infamous 'Are You Ready Eddy' (a studio joke to engineer Eddie Offord), the average rock of 'A Time And A Place' and 'Bitches Crystal', the boring 'Infinite Space' and the silly 'Jeremy Bender' - only Greg Lake's 'Only Way' saves Side Two from the total shame. The whole tracks are given life only by Keith Emerson's monstrous keyboard skill, and the masterpiece 'Tarkus' itself would have been a better song without its long bluesy part (not progressive at all). But ELP are ELP, and in these halcyon days they could sing the entire phone book and remain incredible!