TARKUS

3.5 stars really!! Too bad that there are all those throw-away numbers on the second side because if there weren't this could have achieved the fourth star no problem. This could've been a major classic, IMO and the public , of course , thinks very highly of this one . The sidelong suite title track gets 4.5 stars by itself and is a textbook case of progressive suite. Edward Macan makes a good analysis in his book Rocking the Classics . But the rest is really just a filler. I never owned the cd version as I still have the vinyl but simply never listen to side 2 . Bender is the first of many tracks written in Ragtime piano. And Eddy is a dumb rocker done as if to prove that they could rock. And I already said in other reviews what I thought of reworking the classic so the Bach number does irritate me.

Stiil the title track alone is worth the price of the album. On with the next album , Are You Ready Eddy?