BRAIN SALAD SURGERY

These guys, for sure, liked to mess around. Their incarnation of Prog Rock exists within a sometimes sloppy crazy-pop. While Toccata and Benny the Bouncer are both borderline unlistenable (for different reasons; Benny is just awful whereas Toccata is very inaccessible,) Karn Evil 9 (the entire suite) makes up for any loss of ground on this CD. It is pure prog bliss. From the opening notes of Emerson's keys, it is known that the song is going to be really amazing. Other songs, such as the very radio friendly Jerusalem and Still You Turn Me On... are alright. Greg Lake could have used a second opinion on his lyrics, however, as they are very much lacking. In "Still You Turn Me On..." he says "Every day a little sadder, a little madder, someone get me a ladder." What does that mean? Its terrible. All things considered, this is probably the most "fun" that prog gets.