TARKUS

Just did the review of the BSS release and referred there to this album. I compared the two epics for instance and concluded that the title track of this album suited me much better than Karn Evil as a whole. Well, in fact the difference in appreciation is not really black and white. Karn Evil also had good moments same as this Tarkus is far from perfect to me. But I agree this is a milestone in prog history. And the magnum opus for the band as well. This is a very versatile epic both in melodic aspect as in tempo shifts and alternation between vocal and instrumental passages. It all secures that this epic is far from boring. All things considered it scores about 4 stars in my book.

The short songs on the other side of the vinyl are a different matter though. Less experimental, so more mainstream than those on BSS but not much better I have to say. Some ragtime piano on Jeremy Bender, again piano on Bitches Crystal as main feature, the nice hymn tune The Only Way (my favourite of the short ones), Infinite Space proves that this album is mainly about Keith Emerson. I wonder when Mr. Lake steps up to take his turn (!?) , A Time and Place is a bit heavier than the others but the vocals are at least debatable, Are you Ready, Eddy ? is a short rock 'n roll track in Jerry Lee Lewis style. On average these short tracks score about 2,5* for me. So this can only result in a 3 star outcome for Tarkus (3,25).