BRAIN SALAD SURGERY/ EXCERPT FROM BRAIN SALAD SURGERY

If you were lucky enough in 1973 to grab hold of this 7 inch flexi disc that came with the magazine NME (New Musical Express) in the November 10, 1973 issue you were able to get a taste of the soon to be released "Brain Salad Surgery". This album ended up being one of ELP's definitive masterpieces... who knew? The track here 'Brain Salad Surgery' is quite dull really with one of Lake's worse strained vocal performances, and it didn't end up on the album ironically, but it was easy to get later in any case as it was the B side to the single 'Fanfare For The Common Man' which I own too along with zillions of others.

The real drawcard of this was the excised downsized version of the tracks that would make up "Brain Salad Surgery"; 'First Impression', 'Second Impression' introduced us to the huge magnum opus 'Karn Evil 9'; 'Still... you Turn Me On' was a minute of that huge hit single for the band; 'Toccata' was a taster of the terrific Hammond heavy instrumental; 'Jerusalem' gave us some of the opening track; 'Third Impression' continued KE9; 'Benny The Bouncer' was a better version of the album track - it was shorter; 'First Impression' was another excerpt from the best part of KE9 and finally the medley ended with yet more of 'Benny The Bouncer' for some dang fool reason. In any case prog fans delighted in this teaser and it is rare these days to produce these types of teasers, it is more likely a few chosen songs will end on an EP such as the one introducing songs on Pain of Salvation's latest album "Road Salt One".

However this rubbery piece of flex that makes a whipping noise if you warble it was a must back in the day, and is a true collectors item. They were difficult to play and I had to weigh my disc down with 20 cent pieces to stop it slipping on the turnstyle. The actual material on it, both 'Brain Salad Surgery' and the medley have ended up on the remastered "Brain Salad Surgery" CD now so is no longer rare, however the flexi disc is incredibly rare as most deteriorated or warped or were thrown out or got lost, so if you see this curio grab it without hesitation.

It will work for you, it works for me

Not to be confused with the full length album of the same name, this is a single that was given away for free together with a music magazine back in 1973 to promote the album Brain Salad Surgery.

The a-side is the track Brain Salad Surgery, which was never included on the album Brain Salad Surgery. And it is not hard to understand why, as it is clearly not up to par with the exceptional quality of the masterpiece album. Nonetheless, this non-album track fits well together with the material on Brain Salad Surgery, and it has appropriately been included among the bonus tracks on later CD re-issues of the album together with other leftover recordings from the time such as the instrumental When The Apple Blossoms Bloom In The Windmills Of Your Mind I'll Be Your Valentine (originally released as a single b-side). Both of these were also included on the Works Vol. 2 album.

The b-side of this single is an oddity; Excerpts from Brain Salad Surgery is what the title implies. This strange collage of snippets from various songs off the album has also been added as a bonus track on CD versions of the Brain Salad Surgery album, but once you have the full album there is little interest in this album trailer.

The original free flexi-disc single is now a rare collector's item, but the material on it is no longer rare.