TRILOGY

Even though Brain Salad Surgey is often remebered as the ultimate ELP album,the roots of the latter are undeniably found in it's predecessor,Trilogy.Personally,i consider it the most CONSISTENT album by the band,and probably their best effort to date. All the elements that make Emerson,Lake and Pakmer what it is are here:the overdose of synthesizers in every song; the Greg Lake ballad;the funny easy listening track; and a progressive rock masterpiece,that eventually becomes an anthem in the genre.Here,however,is where everything came together. The album starts off with the song that is arguably the most beautiful piece they ever wrote: the eleven minute suite The Endless Enigma. While Genesis was a somewhat exotic prog rock band,and Yes would eventually appeal to a more melodic direction,the lack of guitars in ELP's sound gave them a dark,heavy quality that is reflected in all of their brightest compositions:Tarkus,Karn Evil 9,Toccata.... The Endless Enigma is one of the few exceptions to this iconic sounding(others include Take a Pebble and Jerusalem):structured in two parts,divided by a piano mid-session,the beauty of this song is hard to put in words.Maybe it's brightest quality are the echoes of classic compositions that can be heard in every note. It is,above all,a perfect opener. The Lake ballad found here is also arguably his finest:the dark sounding From the Beginning,wich closes with a moog synth solo.What makes this song so great is that it doesn't sound as up-beated as Lucky Man or Still..You Turn Me On.It have this slow tempo beat that is actually quite fitable to the album. The two instrumental tracks,Hoedown and Abbadon's Bolero,are true gems.The first is an adaptation to the classic piece Rodeo by Aaron Copland,driven by Keith Emerson and followed by Carl Palmer,in a song that would become a favorite in the live show.The latter features the classic influence that the band,particulary Emerson, was so proud of,in a ten-minute jam with growing tension that closes the album. There is,of course,the title track.This one stands side by side with The Endless Enigma,but if the opening piece features an unusual ELP,Trilogy(the song)is the band in it's essence:an everlasting madness of drums,synths,keyboards and bass guitar, crowned by the most beautiful voice in progressive rock.This song is worth the album alone,there is hardly anything else to be said about it. Over the course of seven songs, this album is overshadowed only by Close To The Edge.Otherwise,it could be rightfully remebered as the best prog rock album in '72,above Jethro Tull's Thick As a Brick,Genesis' Foxtrot and Wishbone Ash's Argus. That,of course,in my humble opinion.