ELP epics: which is more lyrically bogus?

Quite a comical inturpritation of the two pieces.

Hows about who gives a f**k they are master pieces?

Zero the hero wrote: Quite a comical inturpritation of the two pieces. Hows about who gives a f**k they are master pieces?

And the crowded chanted in unison:

"are you Karnevil9 in disguise?"

Syzygy wrote: compared to.... 2112,  cosmic nonsense in ELPs epics make perfect sense.

Ever actually listened to 2112 Sausages?

Or did you notice i was lurking in the background?

Reed Lover wrote: Syzygy wrote: compared to.... 2112,  cosmic nonsense in ELPs epics make perfect sense. Ever actually listened to 2112 Sausages? Or did you notice i was lurking in the background?

Let's see - in a dystopian future society, somebody finds an electric guitar behind a fountain, plugs it in and thereby bestows the gift of freedom on the human race - is that a fair summary? Love it to death, btw, but it's a bit hard to take seriously.

Syzygy wrote: Reed Lover wrote: Syzygy wrote: compared to.... 2112,  cosmic nonsense in ELPs epics make perfect sense. Ever actually listened to 2112 Sausages? Or did you notice i was lurking in the background? Let's see - in a dystopian future society, somebody finds an electric guitar behind a fountain, plugs it in and thereby bestows the gift of freedom on the human race - is that a fair summary? Love it to death, btw, but it's a bit hard to take seriously.

Not a fair summary,no.You're just saying that to wind me up and I aint biting

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Let's see - in a dystopian future society, somebody finds an electric guitar behind a fountain, plugs it in and thereby bestows the gift of freedom on the human race - is that a fair summary? Love it to death, btw, but it's a bit hard to take seriously.

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Not a fair summary,no.You're just saying that to wind me up and I aint biting

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Arse. Well, it was worth a go.

ELP bashing time again, is it?

I like both albums a lot, and don’t find the concepts or lyrics difficult to digest (in fact, to the contrary). I agree with Syzygy’s first post: neither ‘Tarkus’ nor ‘Karn Evil 9’ is any more bizarre than a lot of Prog Rock epics (or epic stories, for that matter). By the way, I don’t think Sinfield was involved with the ‘Tarkus’ lyrics.

‘Tarkus’ is supposedly partly allegorical; apparently Lake, who wrote the lyrics, said in an interview shortly after it was released:

"It's about the futility of conflict expressed in (the) context.. of soldiers and war. But it's broader than that. The words are about revolution that's gone, that has happened. Where has it got anybody? Nowhere."

Emerson said in an interview with a magazine:

"William Neal was an art student and he actually popped by Advision Studios when we were recording Tarkus and before we had a name for the music that I'd written. He came by with a set of artwork and I arrived there, took one look at it and thought it was amazing. It fully complimented the music. William had painted this mechanical creature and there were a lot of other extraordinary mythical creatures like the Manticore Lion's head with the Scorpion's tail, all incorporated into mad imaginary, really, and I think we pieced it together. It was almost like the painting was made to fit the music and the music was made to fit the painting, we could see some sort of surreal story line. Although it wasn't really portrayed in the lyrics, it was enough for the imagination to take over. I don't know if you or your readers read Terry Pratchett, but it had something of that element in it, or rather, there's a lot of what Terry Pratchett writes in his works, in Tarkus! But without the humour in it! (laughs!)"

There is quite a good write-up of the ‘Tarkus’ piece, including lyrics, at the following Web site:

http://www.hostultra.com/~tarkus/ELP/elp.php

Sweetnighter wrote: Emerson, Lake, and Palmer: Masterful musicians! Storywriters? Not so sure. Here's my interpreted synopsis of the two epics. Tarkus: Large robotic armadillo drives around and kills things. Born out of some large egg that came from a volcano. Fights other quasi-robotic animals. Major battle with Manticore, a... uh... thing that looks sorta like a tiger... or wolf... or something. Swims away. (See gatefold album for the animated version) Karn Evil 9: Takes place in future. World sucks. Big freakish futuristic carnival features bishop's heads, strippers, grass, Jesus Christ, plus more. (Jazzy interlude). Big computer seeks to destroy humanity. Humanity fights back. Humanity loses. Computer breaks down. End. So thats my understanding of the two great ELP epics. If anybody would like to clarify or add details, feel free to do so.

Did you actually listen to the music or can you only understand by reading the pictures...

BTW... your version of  KE9 sounds like someone at Battlestar Galatica must of been an ELP fan....