TRILOGY

I have a problem with Emerson, Lake and Palmer albums. They all seem to have the same structure. There's always the Greg Lake single (in this case, "From the Beginning"), the Keith Emerson keyboard showoff track ("Abaddon's Bolero"), the "joke track" ("The Sherrif") and the crazy epic track ("Trilogy"). That being said, all their albums up to Brain Salad Surgery are brilliant. This album is probably one of their more ear-pleasing works. "The Sherrif", even though it's the joke track, is well written and well sung. "Abaddon's Bolero" is a great album ender due to it's slow buildup. "From the Beginning" is an alright single from Greg Lake, however his singles after "Lucky Man" don't really measure up. "Trilogy" is just damn brilliant and amazing. The first time I heard this song my jaw stayed open after the third minute and didn't close until the end of the song. A great album, but I find that ELP stuck to a formula too much.