TARKUS

Tarkus lies in the bastion of the great moments in early 1970s British progressive rock. As an ELP fan, my review of this album could be viewed as somewhat biased, but I am a fan because of my enjoyment of the band's music. I enjoy the band because I enjoy the album so in that sense I can be as objective as anyone else.

"Tarkus" is an experimentation with classical sonata form in rock music. After the opening implosion of the 10/8 rhythm, we hear the first theme in the Moog synthesizer. This opening acts as an expostion. The 10/8 rhythm and theme will return at the end for the recapitulation called Aquatarkus. In between we have several sections, in the tradiion of Mahler, that act to develop the drama of the piece. The The narrative of "Tarkus" is an anti-war story that speaks to the tragedy and senselessness of war, which is an easy subject to feel sympathy with. Written at the height of the Viet nam War, it was quite timely. The strong point of the piece is the intricate interplay of the keyboards and the drums. Here Palmer is still working with his five piece, Buddy Rich styled set, but with the use of a phase shift and other studio effects, he obtains some interesting sounds. Emerson's use of the moog here is interesting. He creates unique and intersting sounds, enough so to make the piece wholly enjoyable. The weakness or strength of the album is that the themes act as caricatures, rather than strongly developed herioc fanfares. The is often a satirical element to early ELP and this is a classic example. The problem of ELP lies in Greg Lake's inablity to write a good chorus. There are none in Tarkus, as opposed to Yes' Tales or Close to the Edge, which also use sonata form and have some good choruses. In ELP, the function of the chorus is left to the keyboard, as in "I Believe in Father Christmas, " which works because Emerson plays the Prokofiev theme on Moog for a chorus.

Side Two highlights some interesting songs, but is mostly filler. "Jeremy Bender" is a fun song that satirizes the drag identified in Bowie, Lou Reed and NY Dolls. After Tarkus, the subsequent ELP albums would include a barrelhouse blues piece that was comical in nature: The Sheriff, Benny the Bouncer or Barrelhouse Shakedown Blues; these are a reminder that as serious as the band was about their music, it was always about humor and fun. "Bitche's Crystal" is a fun piece in a jazz waltz time that is one of the highlights of the band. As for the rest of the album, yes, there is filler; but filler that quotes Bach.