Trollheart

Album title: Brain salad surgery
Artiste: Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Nationality: British
Year: 1973
Subgenre: None; pure Progressive Rock
Player(s): Keith Emerson (Keyboards), Greg Lake (Guitars, Vocals) Carl Palmer (Drums)
Familiarity: I know then and I hate them.
Favourite track(s): Still ... you turn me on
Why? Suppose I have to pick at least one, and I don't quite hate it.
Least favourite track(s): Everything else, though I would have to pick out “Benny the bouncer” for sheer crappiness. Slightly worse than everything else here.
Why? See my comments for explanation
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? Thought it would be overbearing, pretentious, a total wankfest. I was not disappointed.
Artwork: The only good thing about the album. Hell, it's HR Giger! Looks like IQ copied this a bit for “Dark matter”?
Factoids you'd like to share? No. I'm too depressed. Why was this band ever allowed to exist?
End impression: Exactly as I expected. At least I managed to stay awake this time --- third time lucky!
Comments: I tried to approach this with an open mind, I really did. But three tracks in I remembered why every time I see or hear of these guys I want to punch their smug faces in. It's not quite that it's a case of style over substance, because the talent is definitely there, but for me ELP have always typified the idea of showmanship before serious musicianship. I mean, who else fought with their keyboard, kicked the crap out of it, stuck bloody great KNIVES into it? Mark Kelly? Tony Banks? Rick Wakeman? I think not.

But personal annoyance aside, I tried to listen to the album but twice fell asleep. The opener I thought was weak and limp, “Tocatta” sounded like neither Bach nor Sky to me, and after that it just went seriously downhill. If anyone has inherited, to me, the crown passed over from Emerson, Lake and Palmer of, for want of another word, music wankery, it's Dream Theater. I just hate showy keyboard solos and complicated passages just for the sake of being there. I find little real melody you can follow in the few ELP albums I've ever heard: I've certainly never had the urge to hum any of their tunes. Just does nothing for me. If one band encompassed the overblown, arrogant, up-their-own-arses idea that got progressive rock such hatred towards the end of the seventies and into the next decades, step forward messrs Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Between you you did more to plunge the final dagger into the dying body of seventies prog rock than all the punk bands in London put together. And then you ****ed off and made more money. Shameful. Also, what's with that end bit? Excerpts from the album you just endured, sorry listened to? How ****ing super-pretentious is that???

Rating: 2.5 (And that's only because I realise it's not for me but is regarded as a classic by those with, shall we say, tastes other than mine?)

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Unknown Soldier

I've always hugely disliked ELP but I always remembered that this along with their debut as being their best album. I hadn't heard this album in years and after just a few songs thought I was listening to a different album by them and was shocked at how poor it now came across.

Full review up a bit later.

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Metal Wars

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Album title: Brain salad surgery
Artiste: Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Nationality: British
Year: 1973
Subgenre: None; pure Progressive Rock
Player(s): Keith Emerson (Keyboards), Greg Lake (Guitars, Vocals) Carl Palmer (Drums)
Familiarity: I know their whole discography unfortunately.
Favourite track(s): Karn Evil 9
Why? It's one of the great prog epics, even though I prefer Tarkus when it comes to ELP. It's an engrossing 20 odd minute epic that really showcases the abilities of Keith Emerson.
Least favourite track(s): “Benny the Bouncer” and "Jerusalem"
Why? Prog bands around this time were known for inserting humour now and again into their recordings and quite often they had a light throwaway song that usually came before some epic stuff. ELP have that in "Benny the Bouncer" the problem is that it's absolute ****. "Jerusalem" firstly I hate the hymn and the song displays from the word go just how pretentious the band are.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? I knew the band were overblown and pretentious, and now will add very dated as well.
Factoids you'd like to share? One of the biggest selling prog bands of all time, which meant that millions of listeners must've really dug the band, which is amazing as they're hardly an accessible prog band.
End impression: Really couldn't sit through the album again, but could listen to Karn Evil 9, but then that's a contradiction by me as the song takes up most of the album!
Comments: I knew what was coming and it was nowhere as good as I remembered it, despite the fact I don't really like the band. The problem with ELP is quite simple. You put three of the best prog musicians of their generation together in one band and each one is an individual whose goal it seems to be to outdo the other two. What you end up with is a musical menagerie that reeks of prog excess, without ever really concentrating on what really matters and that is the songs. Personally I like each individual but not together as a band, as Greg Lake was good in King Crimson. Overall the album is an overblown epic that doesn't have the songs on its a-side. But in that great battle of the musicians Keith Emerson certainly takes it.

Rating: 3.5 and that's thanks to Karn Evil 9

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Just in case my current luck runs true to form, and given that today is the last day officially for reviews of ELP's album, I'm spinning again in case I miss out the deadline for the next album.

And the number is

214!

Which gives us ... let's see ... Oh no! I PROMISE this was purely coincidence! Really!
I'm as surprised as you are!


Sounds that can't be made --- Marillion

Well, there it is. Reviews by this time next week pls guys, and in the meantime anyone who hasn't suffered --- sorry, listened to BSS please extract the digit.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Anteater

Album title: Brain Salad Surgery
Artiste: Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Nationality: British
Year: 1973
Subgenre: Keyboard Proggg
Player(s): Keith Emerson (Keyboards, Knives), Greg Lake (Guitars, Vocals) Carl Palmer (Drums)
Familiarity: High.
Favourite track(s): Karn Evil 9
Why? It's a bonafide classic even if its about 25 minutes too long.
Least favourite track(s): None
Why? ELP are almost as good as Saturday Night Live with some Mary Jane and a couple of beers.
Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad? These guys were pretty instrumental to my initial fascination with prog, so I don't think I ever had any real preconceptions going into them.
Factoids you'd like to share? These guys used to tour around with giant trucks with the letters of the band (ELP) facing the sky so you could see them by helicopter as they made the rounds.
End impression: Fun but perhaps a bit much. Special time and place sort of album.
Comments: Can't really add to what's already been said to death about ELP by prog lovers and haters alike, but I can say that they were fairly interesting in some respects. As pretentious as they were, they put on great shows and have a distinctive sound in the same way Genesis and Yes stood out from the crowd, so I give credit where credit is due. And sure, they were part of the reason why mainstream listeners turned against prog/art rock and the like in the mid-70's onwards, but it takes a certain brazen and "progressive" way of thinking to achieve the level of pomposity you get on songs like Karn Evil 9. That being said, I like these guys best in small doses: with the exception of their debut, they've never really done any records that were reallllly strong from start to finish...and that's come back to bite them as far as musical reevaluations go 40+ years after the fact.

Rating: 3.0

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Unknown Soldier

Anteater has said nice things about ELP, but he still gave them a lower mark than me Maybe one of us is over or under generous when it comes to marking.

But I strongly agree with one thing that hast been said by Anteater, ELP definitely had a distinctive sound that made them stand out whether you liked them or not.

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Metal Wars

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Neapolitan

Album title: Brain Salad Surgery
Artiste: Emerson, Lake and Palmer aka ELP
Band Origin: England
Recorded: n/a (I couldn't find the actual studio they recorded in, but wiki says for this album they practiced in an old cinema.)
Year: 1973
Genre Progressive Rock
Band Members:
Keith Emerson keyboards:
Greg Lake: Bass, Electric and Acoustic Guitar
Carl Palmer: drums, percussion, and early synthesized percussions
with:
Peter Sinfield, he was an early member of King Crimson and helped write the lyrics for some of the songs.

Familiarity of the Band: I am somewhat familiar with the band, mostly their early recordings.

Familiarity of the Album In HS I borrowed the album from a friend of mine who was also a big Prog fan. I only played it a few times and haven't heard it in a while. Unless I am mistaking, I think Paul played some tracks in plug not too long ago.

Favourite track(s): Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression
Why?
I am mostly familiar with the song.

Least favourite track(s): n/a
Why?
I like everything, some more than others but not one track I really hated.

Any preconceptions prior to listening, whether good or bad?
I haven't hear this particular album in a while. I didn't know what to expect.

Artwork: The cover is done by H. R. Giger, who is known to combine both organic and mechanical elements in his artwork .

Factoids you'd like to share?
Peter Sinfield who help write lyrics was a member of early King Crimson.
H. R. Giger who did the cover also did work for the sci-fi space thriller Alien.
The ring-modulator, which was used for the computer voice on the 3rd Impression, was the same fx also employed for the computer-like voice for those mutants aliens in bin-like tanks with toilet plungers, the Darleks, from the UK series Doctor Who.

Initial impression: I had to rely on an youtube to listen to the album, I thought it (well what was uploaded on youtube) came in kinda abruptly but soon enough I felt I was off to a good start. The opening track was good, and Toccata made a strong second track.

End impression:
I really enjoyed the album. I wish I could write a longer better review.

Comments: I love ELP. I know they're not suited for every one. My brother (who is a drummer) says he hates Carl Palmer (esp. during the Asia era) because he feels he's too rudimentary. But I rather enjoy his style. His style (especially on early ELP albums this one) is a throwback to Jazz drummers where drum roles both essential for a good drummer, and quintessential for a drummer during a extended drum solo. Most modern drummers has drifted away from the Jazz techniques both in Heavy Metal and Alt Rock etc. So what Carl is doing is some great stuff but might be lost.

Carl Palmer ranked 41 in March 2014 issue of Modern Drummers: 50 Greatest Drummers of All Time! In the article they actually recommend Karn Evil 9. I'm glad he made the list, but then imo you can't take much stock on how they rate drummers, they have Carter Beauford at 47... no way, whether or not you like Dave Matthews, he should be ranked much much higher.

I felt it was fun to listen to a band playing at such a high caliber of musicianship such as Emerson on keys and Palmer behind the drums. Honestly, in my opinion, virtuosity doesn't always equate to pomposity... no, not all the time and not in this case. I think Palmer and Lake sometimes play more of a supporting role of Emerson, there are gaps where they lay low and lets Emerson go on his organ and synth solos. Which is cool because Carl is equal to Keith on a artistic level but he doesn't compete his him, he just plays his part and also supports the other two musicians. I think they work well together, they not competing with each other and don't step on each other toes or are off doing their own thing. A great album by a great band.


Rating: 4.5

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Trollheart

Based on current reviews and including only "Selling England by the pound" as it's on the list and we've already reviewed it to death, here are the current standings. I've added each score and divided the total by the number of members who reviewed each album in order to get an average. SEBTP got generally great reviews (even from me) with the lowest being 8.5/10, so I've translated all of them to 5.0s on our current scale.

In descending order then, so far:

Ian Anderson --- Divinities: Twelve dances with God ---- 3.0
Emerson, Lake and Palmer --- Brain salad surgery --- 3.38
Genesis --- Seconds out --- 4.0
Genesis --- Selling England by the pound --- 5.0

So SEBTP is still in top place. So far...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Unknown Soldier

Most normal people would put this the other way around

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Normal's overrated...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018