When was the last time you heard Tarkus?

ExittheLemming wrote: smartpatrol wrote: About, I don't know, a year. Haven't been into ELP for a while. Erm...ain't your avatar a bit ironic methinks?

Less than a month ago, I think, but reading this thread makes me wanna listen to it again, so it probably won't be long 'til next time.

There's some good stuff on side 2. Not to keen on the lyrics of Hymn, but musically it's great and Bitches Crystal and A Time And A Place  are very good too. Jeremy Bender is wonderful as well. I could miss Are You Ready Eddie but I don't mind it.
ELP was an enormously versatile band.

It's probably been a year. It's still in rotation, but the rotation is deep.

I've always liked 'A Time And A Place' but the rest of side 2...blah.

Gerinski wrote: Sorry mate, but your first ever listen to Tarkus and the only thing that comes to your mind is asking when was the last time we heard it??!  I don't know what to make of that I hope you will tell us what did you think of it.   Tarkus was one of the very first prog songs / albums I got into as a child, my older family playing it a lot when I did not even know what masturbation was, and it has remained one of my favourite songs ever. So after all these years (I'm 45 now) it's quite "hardwired" in my brain and I do not feel the need to play it much anymore even if I still love it as much as back then. The studio version I didn't listen to for surely over a year, maybe even 2 years, the last time I listened to it was from the Live At Nassau Colisseum album, maybe around 3 months ago.

I said in my original post that I was enjoying it.  (and it wasn't the only thing that came to mind, I don't have to post every thought I have, eh?)  I certainly did enjoy it, and have listened twice more to it since then - it's better than anything on Brain Salad Surgery in my opinion. I know what you mean about 'hardwired' - I'm nearly 50, and feel the same about Dark Side Of The Moon which I first heard way back then.

infandous wrote: You know, I'm always stunned when prog fans suggest that "bombastic" and "pretentious" are somehow negative in music.  Prog is nothing, if not bombastic and pretentious.  I mean really, that was the whole point!!!  To move rock music beyond the blues framework it was born out of. Frankly, I've always loved ELP for those traits.  I don't listen to them regularly anymore (did plenty of that in the 90's), but I still pull out an album or two ever couple years and marvel at how excellent it all still sounds.  Tarkus was always my favorite, and I love the "B" side.......though not as much as the title suite, to be sure.

Wassup Skippy????

Your 1st paragraph is spot on, IMHO.  There is a syndrome when a musician is SO over the top brilliant and then the band becomes very big, people just find fault for fault's sake or to take a shot at "the giant".  I am not sayin Laz did that,  (I think he just got his words all jumbled for a wee bit...)

As far as side 2 of Tarkus, for all the side 2 naysayers here, a closer review might prove helpful.

1. Jeremy Bender -  People accuse Keith of being "bombastic"(pretentious) but when he lightens it up with a nice little ragtime ditty on Jeremy Bender, people criticize that as being trivial. fact is most of Keith's hero musicians were old ragtime piano players, so JB is about as "Keith Emerson" as you can get!

2. Bitches Crystal -  A pure rocker showcasing Greg Lake's awesome tenor and his vocal forcefullness.  Wicked piano all throughout the song.  ELP is a keyboard band, some of the best piano playing is found right here in this song.

3. The Only Way (Hymn) - ELP trying to mix classical (Bach) with modern early 70's pop culture. Independence from
the old ways.  Any keyboard player can only drool over how Keith masters the pipe organ and then the piano. Greg is able to keep up vocally to the piano which is no small feat.  The words are about religious independence so
traditional conservatives will probably be put off by this...   Very nice off meter groove/jam to end out the piece.

4. A Time and a Place - A straightforward rocker which may perhaps be one of the most powerful vocal exhibitions ever.  Greg Lake goes from clarion clear rich tenor to full rage shouting while keeping a singing voice. Future generations have prided themselves with their generation's screamers or "rough" vocal stylings.  Well go no further than this song to see how it is done with aplomb.  Oh, bad ass-fat moog synth and polyphonic horns all over this
keyboard rich rock-attack.

end of album

Yes... Are You Ready Eddie...  That was made up last minute after recording Tarkus when the engineer told the band they still needed a few more minutes to round out the two sides, but ELP had no more material to record.  So it was a spur of the moment throw in which happens to have some truly unreal rock piano bangin/playin. Named after the engineer: Eddie Offord.

Cheers!

DM

 

bb1319 wrote: You're not missing much, unless you're a die hard ELP fanatic, in which case maybe it is possible to like the B side. I mean, I could spare you the whole side and tell you to just listen to "Are You Ready, Eddie?", which is about the biggest b*****dization of Chuck Berry-style rock 'n roll I have ever heard.

Alright then. I'll think about it and get listening to it when the 3 disc comes out.

Snow Dog wrote: Side 2

Thank you for your input and help SnowDog.

I hope I'll enjoy Side 2.

Edited by FromAbove - June 11 2012 at 18:01

FromAbove wrote:   bb1319 wrote: Maybe 3 months ago, and I hardly ever listen to the B side. I've heard the B side maybe three times total and thought it was utter garbage.   I still haven't heard anything from the second side except for Infinite Space (Conclusion), and I still can't remember it. Maybe I should even dare to listen to that Side 2.

You're not missing much, unless you're a die hard ELP fanatic, in which case maybe it is possible to like the B side. I mean, I could spare you the whole side and tell you to just listen to "Are You Ready, Eddie?", which is about the biggest b*****dization of Chuck Berry-style rock 'n roll I have ever heard.

Snow Dog wrote: I really like side 2. But then, I am what one calls an "ELP fan".