FIVE BRIDGES SUITE

I see a lot of four and three-star ratings for this album. I can see why, because while this album might not be a hard one to get to, some don't see the enjoyable factor in this one. Just a few days ago, I bought the original record of this album and was very pleasantly suprised. The orchestra linked with the rock trio with Keith Emerson's piano (and organ for that matter) sounds quite natural and smooth. It is hard to place it on a map between jazz and classical music territory. This album has a very jazzy aproach to classical not only in the sense of phrasing and timing overall, but in a flavor of improvisation. This is something I really like, so I really enjoyed the album and the time of listening to it in my armchair went by very quickly. The music was not too heavy on my thoughts and it did not spark a whole lot of thoughts, too. This album and band's work laid foundation for what would be known as and develop to symphonic prog. Concerto For Group and Orchestra by Deep Purple was recorded at more or less the same time as this and this is a much better album, in my opninion, being a lot smoother and naturally flowing.

This is surely not an album for everybody, in the sense that not everybody will get a great pleasure out of it, but by reading reviews which other members have posted, I do not see a lot of strongly negative voice against this album. For some people, this album is lacking, while I really like it and feel like it very well deserves four solid stars.