TARKUS

Quite a few people say that this album can be divided into two parts: the excellent suite "Tarkus", and the rest of the album being mediocre filler tracks. Let me just say that the "Tarkus" suite in itself is a masterpiece, and if that were the entire album, I would give it five stars. However, while I agree that the second half is weaker than Tarkus, I wouldn't go so far as to call it filler. While none of the songs are masterpieces, none of them are completely bad either. The standouts on this side are The Only Way (Hymn)/Infinite Space (Conclusion) and A Time and A Place. Jeremy Bender, Are You Ready Eddy?, and Bitches Crystal are all weaker, piano driven tracks with a pseudo-ragtime feel. Again, not bad, but in light of the fact that they follow a piece as magnificent as Tarkus, it's really impossible for any song to appear to be a masterpiece.