BRAIN SALAD SURGERY

In late 1973, ELP put out their greatest achievement. This may not be their best album, but this was their peak in terms of creativity and commercial success. This is either my second or third favourite ELP album.

Jerusalem: The opener which is take on the English Anthem by Hubert Parry and William Blake. It has the opener, bombast, and thematic quality an Anthem should have. It is a great proclamation of England, even though the BBC banned it as a single.

Toccata: A song with an interesting history. This is an Adaptation of Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera's 1st piano Concerto, 4th movement. The composer's estate did not want the song on the album. In a fit of desperation, Emerson flew to Alberto and the played the song to his face and he loved it. On the lyric sheet, it contains the quote from Ginastera "Keith Emerson has beautifully caught the mood of my piece". It is a fantastic song with great Synth, Bass and Drum jamming, a trademark of ELP, and contains the first known electric drum solo by Carl Palmer. One of my favourites on this album.

Still...You Turn Me On: Greg Lake's ballad for the album. This became a trademark of ELP and this song is on exception to how good Greg was on the acoustic guitar. This song is one of the more defining moments of Lake's career, along with Lucky Man, and became a successful single in America.

Benny the Bouncer: The Sheriff has made a comeback! Haha, just kidding, this is another ragtime piece from Keith and is still pretty good, despite being the black sheep on the album.

Karn Evil 9: The showcase center piece of the album and, quite possibly, ELP's career. I do not believe that they did anything more bombastic, epic, crazy, excellent, or any other kind of synonym after this. This is the crowning achievement of the band, in my humble opinion. It occupies not just Side 2, as most other bands would do, it spills onto Side 1 as well. Even in its almost half-hour time frame, it does not overstay its welcome, crazy right? The 1st Impression is ultimately catchy with the organ/synth dueling Emerson does the whole song, Greg at his best musically and vocally and Carl just pummeling out the drums. The 2nd and 3rd are just as good and is the show stealer of the album, almost eclipsing the other tracks.

Overall, This is a must-have for ELP fans and Prog fans. Regardless of if you like it or not, you cannot deny the power, and premise this album had on ELP and music scene of the time. 5 Stars. Highlights: Jerusalem, Toccata, Still...You Turn Me On, and Karn Evil 9