TRILOGY

Trilogy is probably the most consistent ELP release , since there are no weak tracks in the album.Probably this is their less bombastic release dureing their golden era , whatever that means. The fact is Trilogy pushed ELP into the highest realms of the progressive rock scene , with legendary sold out concerts in the US , Europe and even Japan. I laugh when they call ELP's music cold since to drive japanese people mad like it happened in Osaka , your music must be highly emotional.

The odd thing is , this album is somewhat forgotten because of it's place between two of the most known records of the genre. Moreover , lot of the songs here weren't performed on live shows one case is the title track , the other ones are both the opener and closer.

The Endless Enigma looks like a prequel to Jerusalem to me. For a group that has been critizised for being bombastic and loud , this tune shows all the opposite. The Fugue played by Keith , which is less that 2 minutes long , it still good enough to be among his best compositions. Lake's singing is as strong as ever fitting well with the grandeour this piece has.

The second song of the album is the almost obligatory ballad by lake , From the Beggining.There is not much to say about it since it was one of the biggest hit singles ELP had. In my opinion From the beggining is , with the exception of The Sage , the best of this kind of numbers by Greg Lake.Same thing goes for The Sheriff , out of the ragtime pieces this one is the less jokey of them all with the exception of the gunfire at the ending. One of the reasons this album was so popular was that it was more accessible , proof of that is the classical remake Hoedown which is very well known and ELP's version is just under the 4 minute mark. This version is a lot more slower than the Welcome Back one.

Now we get to the title track. Trilogy is the best number the album offers us , it starts out really calm with some classical piano by Keith and then it transforms into a synthfest! Once again BOMBASTIC is the word. Carl Palmer does a great job behind the kit to keep up with Emo's fingers. It's a pity that this song was hardly played live and the reason behind that is that Keith overdubbed many layers of keyboards which were impossible to play by one keyboardist.

Living Sin , is a hard rock number much like Knife Edge or A time and a Place. It has some weird vocals at the beggining that were supposed to sound evil , but I can't help but smile every time I heard them. When Lake turns once again to normal mode his voice sounds similar to Lennon's! Also this song features a great middle section by Carl & Keith.

The closer is one of ELP's most exprimental works. Abbadon's Bolero has Keith putting layer after layer of synthetizers (Some may spot a Mellotron) to cheate a piece that builds up minute after minute accompanied by military style drumming.

Suming up , Trilogy may be a good point of entry to those who are unfamiliar to ELP and keyboard dominated prog. It still shows the bombastic side but leaves place to more gentle numbers.