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Emerson Lake & Palmer - Emerson Lake & Palmer CD (album) cover

EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

Emerson Lake & Palmer

 

Symphonic Prog

4.24 | 2360 ratings

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ssmarcus
3 stars A classical keyboardist, a folk-rock vocalist, and a jazz fusion drummer walk into a bar... Whether or not you fancy this to be a setup for a joke or an interesting premise for a musical project says a lot about your taste in music and whether Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's eponymous debut record has anything to offer you.

In 2020, fusion projects of this sort are a dime a dozen. But in 1970, there was genuine novelty in the makeup of this super group. With their debut record, ELP successfully captures their varied influences, abilities, and all- around eclecticism. Most importantly, the record demonstrated that such a musical endeavor could eschew gimmicks and make interesting music.

The album's flaw is that it still manages to feel like a proof-of-concept demo or EP rather than a cohesive record. Each band member is given "their moment" to shine but their powers are not quite threaded together. This is most strongly felt in the final three tracks of the record, "Lucky Man" especially. Sure, the vocal harmonies in the chorus of that song are goosebump inducing, but sorrowfully out of place on the record.

ssmarcus | 3/5 |

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