The official ELP disscussion thread

I think TARKUS or TRILOGY  should be there as well

Its because prog fans like pretentious and bombastic...but not THAT pretentious and bombastic.

There are already more than enough BSS reviews, I don't think we need new ones. Who will read them?

febus wrote: Already turning into a anti ELP bashing thread..bye

Come on! It wasn't that rough
I love many of ELP's compositions, but calling all of them masterpieces wouldn't feel right.
The self-titled debut is flawless, with Tarkus a definitely weaker CD for me (even the Tarkus suite haven't entirely convinced me). Trliogy feels really consistent, but lacks some of the excitement and hunger of the debut while BSS have the masterly Karn Evil 9, Toccata, Jerusalem and the nice Still...You Turn Me On.

They represent some of the best of prog, but it's not strange if people are reserved towards songs like Are You Ready Eddy and Benny The Bouncer. I also think the classical reamakes make people a little negative, detracting from the originality of ELP.

Being (as I see it) one of the "purest" forms of classic prog and the band I'd instantly take as an example of prog, that's another fact that some people consider good, while others find big, loud, bombastic and overblown.

I like my fair share of ELP's work and couldn't care less if others don't.


Edited by LinusW - September 19 2008 at 11:15

I agree with febus completely.

Anyway, regardless of our Tops here ELP is and will ever be one of the key prog (and rock in general) bands.

Personally I'm not going to repeat what has been said many times and review ELP albums only because of the race to Top-50 or Top-100.

febus wrote:   big, loud, bombastic and overblown.

febus wrote: LinusW wrote: febus wrote: Already turning into a anti ELP bashing thread..bye   Come on! It wasn't that rough I love many of ELP's compositions, but calling all of them masterpieces wouldn't feel right. The self-titled debut is flawless, with Tarkus a definitely weaker CD for me (even the Tarkus suite haven't entirely convinced me). Trliogy feels really consistent, but lacks some of the excitement and hunger of the debut while BSS have the masterly Karn Evil 9, Toccata, Jerusalem and the nice Still...You Turn Me On. They represent some of the best of prog, but it's not strange if people are reserved towards songs like Are You Ready Eddy and Benny The Bouncer. I also think the classical reamakes make people a little negative, detracting from the originality of ELP. Being (as I see it) one of the "purest" forms of classic prog and the band I'd instantly take as an example of prog, that's another fact that some people consider good, while others find big, loud, bombastic and overblown. I like my fair share of ELP's work and couldn't care less if others don't.     Very good points...Mr Linus...............you know , ELP is not even my top 20 favorite bands, but i recognize their extreme importance in the development of prog...When i grew up in the 70s, they were up there in popularity with Pink Floyd, Yes and other Genesis, well more than other bands such as King Crimson . And not have one of their recordings in the top 100 and who knows, maybe the first ELP might be well beyond #100 seems kind of far stretched for me.   Why? because of Benny the bouncer or Are you ready Eddy, 2mn long a piece???/ that destroy the whole LP?/???? are the 100-150 dics PA top discs all that flawless??? none of them has fillers or some silly passages?????/   1Omns of miminalist Moonchild music doesn't seem to put ITCOTCK down???  Are ''More fool me'' and '' i know what i like'' uber-pieces of music???Are all those albums from YES, Gong, Pink Floyd, Vdgg, Genesis, KC, FZ,listed flawless??? are they all full of 40ms of exquisite wonders?   Just seems ELP cannot get a break and their flaws are always more scrutinized and vilified than the others.That's what i notice!!! ad there is no ''Benny the bouncer'' on the first ELP or Pictures at an E. or TRILOGY, yet those albums are not in the top 100. Also funny how even ''Benny'' or ''Eddy'' destroy the flow of the albums as it woud be considered utterly ''funny'' if recorded by another artist.   And to end this post, many people take ELP as a bloated group with no sense of humor and when they do some ''humor'' songs to lighten up, the album is no good....No winning for ELP, it seems!1

That particular song is an uber-piece of music. Absolutely brilliant from Collins, rest of the band is great, Gabriel's vocalolyrics are superb. I think the second side of Tarkus hasn't transferred as well from LP to CD as others have, as the two light pieces are acting as bookends here. I had the advantage of originally hearing the title track out of the album's context, which detached the two sides mentally.

Otherwise...

ELP are a really high-energy and edgy band, I think you need to be somewhat in tune with that for some of their later albums to work. A bit more rough and ready in feel in the studio than I'd say Yes, Genesis or even King Crimson really were, which makes them less all-encompassing. Wouldn't call them pretentious, myself: they did what they wanted to do, and in the process put out a lot of really good music.

ELP first  4 albums    all classics 

crimson87 wrote: febus wrote:   big, loud, bombastic and overblown.     That's the way I like my prog.When you put these 4 words together magic happens.   What the heck is wrong with those people?? Seems they had too much prog metal exposure.     By the way I am listening to Selling England and I thought " Where is the power , the overthetopness that I like so much? ELP made me dislike "Selling England by the pound" I can't believe it!!!

''

crimson87 wrote: Going back to our beloved band , which CD edition of Brain Salad Surgery do you like the most? The newer mini LP one or the on that was released in the mid 90's that has that "hologram" thing (and The making of BSS as a bonus track).I am asking this question because I got the second one and I would like to know if the other is worth it.

I prefer DVD-Audio version with 5.1 surround sound and a bonus track "Lucky Man". Great listening experience IMO. I don't have BSS on CD.