TRILOGY

For a reason I still ignore, I passed over this album at the time of release. I bought "Pictures..." and "Brain Salad..." but not "Trilogy". So, did I miss something at that time (prehistory, actually) ?

I must say that after a long and improvised intro, the opening track really lifts off and displays a very "Tarkus" oriented song. Powerful and bombastic as ELP could be, but at the same time Keith plays the sweetest piano you can imagine (almost classical in fact). The short "Fugue" could not be better to consolidate this feeling. A showcase for Keith only.

The second part of "The Endless Enigma" is again very symphonic and full of grandeur. Lake sounding very nice as usual. There will be several weak songs on this album as well. The first one being "From The Beginning" : a dull acoustic number (Lake's showcase).

"The Sheriff" is a jazzy song, featuring this incredible organ sound which is always a marvel to my ears. Still, the track can hardly be considered as an ELP classic. The saloon part at the end being somewhat useless. "Hoedown" has also a Country & Western flavour, but this type of music has never been to my liking. No change even when ELP adopts it.

"Trilogy" starts with a nice vocal part from Gregg with a very subtle piano from Keith. The song really starts after three minutes and finaly offers the type of ELP music I prefer. But the vocal part is quite hectic from this moment onwards. I would say that this track as a whole is not that great.

But when it is compared to "Living Sin" it is almost a masterpiece. "Living Sin" is the weakest number of the album. It could have sit on the B-side of "Tarkus" if you see what I mean.

It is not the final track "Abaddon's Bolero" that will convince me either. It was quite a deception when I discovered "Trilogy" a few years ago.

The answer to my question at the start of this review, is without doubt : NO, I didn't miss anything. IMO, it the weakest ELP album so far (more to come, unfortunately). I can hardly understand that this album is praised so much, but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, three stars.