BRAIN SALAD SURGERY

Man of steel pray and kneel, with fever's blazing torch, thrust in the face of the night. Draws a blade of compassion, kissed by countless kings, whose jewelled trumpet words blind his sight. As if ELP wasn't stacked with enough talent, Peter Sinfield (who was just let go from King Crimson by Robert Fripp) comes on board to contribute his wonderful lyrics to the epic of the album.

Another guest lyricist, although not aware or even alive to to consent was William Blake, who's poetry is used as the words to Hubert Parry's English patriotic hymn Jerusalem. ELP's cover of this was meant to to be a single in England but unfortunately, the BBC intervened and banned it from the airwaves. Despite how the BBC feels, ELP's version is very nice,as it is lead by Lake's beatiful, yet powerful voice.

Toccata is a reworking of an Alberto Ginastera piano concerto. As the famous story goes, Ginastera heard it and loved it so much, he told Keith he captured the essence of his music and made sure they were cleared to use it, as his estate was apparently prepared to take legal action against it. The song itself is awesome. It has a great atmosphere and makes excellent use of electronics. Keith isn't the only one to use synthesizers as Carl used innovative percussion synths.

It kind of seems that by Brain Salad Surgery ELP had developed a sort of checklist of songs. The Lake ballad of the album, Still You Turn Me On, has kind of silly lyrics but Lake's voice is more than enough to overlook that. Benny the Bouncer is their third Western/Ragtime piece, being preceded by Jeremy Bender and The Sheriff. This one definitely seems to be more light- hearted and a joke of sorts. I used to hate it and saw it as a weakness but now see that it is a bit of humor and have changed my mind about it.

The big track is the epic, Karn Evil 9. At 29'37, this is their second go around for a monster track. The first attempt, Tarkus was very successful, both in terms of reception by fans/critics and artistry. As they did in Takus, ELP went for an in-depth theme, writing about the now-trite idea (not their fault) of a war between man and machine. It is longer and structured differently than Tarkus. Where Tarkus is one tight compostion that revolves around the same ideas, Karn Evil 9 is made up of three movements, none of which have to do with each other, musically. The first impression is the most well-known and in theme is where the carnival twist is brought out, describing an evil show in a futuristic world that displays ugly, horrid things (Left behind the bars, rows of Bishops' heads in jars and a bomb inside a car. Spectacular! Spectacular!). The second impression is an instrumental that features Keith's virtuoso piano playing (don't forget Palmer's playing either). It shows a cool use of the moog, to create steel drum sounds. The third impression is the battle between computers and humans. The story is open to interpretation as it is unclear what side is victorious. The lyrics of Sinfield are thought provoking and unique. It all comes to an end with a robotic sound jumping pithes, while getting louder and more rapid, possibly revealing the closing in and new reign of the computers.

Overall, Brain Salad Surgery is a very complete album. The music, lyrics and themes all seem to lock in and make for one of ELP's strongest and most popular albums. This is a masterpiece of progressive rock, being both innovative and as artistically satisfying as it is technically satisfying. The efforts of all three musicians (with the addition of the words of Sinfield) have never worked together more than on this album. 5 Stars.