TRILOGY

Well, it still amazes me to think of how popular this trio was in the first half of the 70´s producing such complex and intricate mix of classical and jazz music. And it´s easy to see why they were an easy target for rock critics, though. Their sound has very little of what we could call ´rock´, much less rock ´n roll. Philosophies apart, Emerson Lake & Palmer did give an important contribution to rock music in general and to prog in particular. I myself was never a big fan. I remember I had more respect for them than love. And Trilogy was the sole album I ever had at the period from the band.

It´s very heavy, difficult to digest music most of the time. Not that it´s not good, but certainly difficult. The only two moments that are easier to get into are the acoustic From The Beginning (one of their best simple songs) and the brilliant arrangement they did for Aaron Copeland´s Hoedown, which, by the way, became a kind of trademark for ELP. Great moog solo and ELP never sounded so tight. I´ve been always a big fan of Lake´s beautiful voice and he was a better bass player than I realized back then, but even Carl Palmer´s stunning drum technique pales if compared to Emerson´s ego. The guy is simply all over the place (except for From The Beginning). That´s ok if you´re a fan of classical piano pieces. And the band´s music benefits a lot from the CD technology: there are lots of details I´ve never realized when I had it on vinyl.

So today I can´t really say that I became a fan. Most of the time I feel that both Lake and Palmer are only backing musicians to mr. Emerson´s showcase of his skills and musical knowledge. Often melodies and a more balanced arrangement are put aside just for him to show how capable he is to play that difficult piano or synth passage. And still, they were also too good to be ignored. And with at least two classics on the tracklist, I could not rate Trilogy with less than 3 stars. Since after I got the CD it showed me they were even better than I thought at the time, I´ll have to consider that. 3,75 would be the final score for this one. Very good CD from a very important band, but not really all that savoury for my taste.