TRILOGY

This is ELP's finest album in my opinion. I believe that it is far better than Brain Salad Surgery and even their first album. It showcases all three musicians and highlights their talents, making it the peak of their career.

The first song, The Endless Enigma (Part 1), starts off almost spacey until a strong repeting piano note carries it into an organ groove with heavy drums and bass. It then goes into a softer melody part where Lake's vocals come in eventually going back to a another softer melody. This goes back and forth for most of the song and creates interesting constrast.

Fugue, is a mostly a solo piano piece accompanied by bass, which sounds like a Bach composition at times. Nice interlude that breaks up the first and second parts of The Endless Enigma.

The Endless Enigma (Part 2), features some nice percussion sounds including bells as well as a triumphant synth sound and distorted organ. The melody is very epic with intense vocals from Lake.

From The Beginning, starts off almost exactly like Roundabout! Afterwards however it bears no resemblance and continues with a rhythmic guitar throughout. Nice lyrics and vocals with a suprising guitar track near the end that almost doesn't sound like ELP but more bluesy. Finally, the piece ends off with some great synth that plays overtop the original guitar part. It seems as though so far they have tried to break up the powerful electronic songs with softer, acoustic in between. (Fugue between The Endless Enigma Part 1 and Part 2, and From The Beginning between the Endless Enigma Part 2 and The Sheriff)

The Sheriff, probably the weakest track, but on an album where everything else is amazing this simply means that it doesn't stand up to some of the stronger songs! The quirky honky tonk piano at the end wraps this piece up nicely.

Hoedown, at first I though this was just another western sounding song like its predecessor, The Sheriff, but this is actually a great track. The intro, with the synth sound that seems to slide up, is great and really accompanies the organ that takes over well. Soon it turns into an almost funky groove with amazing drum work which continues throughout most of the song. Then there is almost a military sounding section until it eventually returns to the original groove. The intro synth comes back and there is a great organ part that sounds almost like something a banjo would play. Near the end there, the organ goes away but there is a heavy sounding synth jam with strong drumming and bass. However, soon the organ returns and accompanies the synth in playing the original melody until the end.

Trilogy, possibly the greatest ELP song ever written. To me, this piece really sums up what progressive rock is all about, with an equal balance of classical influence and synthesizer driven rock. The song starts off with a haunting violin sound until a pleasant grand piano takes over along with Lake's vocals which contatin lots of reverb. As well, probably one of his greatest vocal tracks which helps to carry the first section of the song with the piano, adding a very emotional touch with the romantic lyrics. Great classical piano composition by Emerson which almost makes it seem like the song would never go in the electronic direction that it does later on. The piano part gets darker but returns to a happy refrain which is very misleading because this joyful melody soon leads to a complete explosion of sound from all three members. The first time I heard this song, I was in the car and when this synth part played I was just amazed. It was like nothing Yes had ever done and I hadn't really listened to too much prog before this. This suprise and new experience is probably what started my love affair with this song. I have even tried to learn this piece it is so good. The synth work in this has to be Emerson's greatest with some crazy time signatures along the way. The song changes to a different melody with more organ and a very complicated arrangement. Great drumming from Carl Palmer, as he utilizes many different percussion sounds. Soon, a very well rounded moog sound comes overtop with an amazing organ and drum groove. The vocals are still great in this section and are really just more positive than the depressing sounding ones at the beginning. The final surprise is the blues ending that puts a great finish to a great song. Just amazing.

Living Sin, I didn't really have a good listen to this at first but it's a nice heavy rock track with great drumming,organ and edgy vocals. Not one their more popular songs but a nice song to check out.

Abaddon's Bolero, again another track I had kind of just missed at first. But when I listened to it all the way through for the first time I thought, this is really inspiring! There is some fantastic military drumming which really creates the solemn mood and the synth is what creates the insipiring melody. It's really suprising how a track that stays on the same theme for 8 minutes can be so effective! It starts off quietly with soft drums and high pitched synth and just builds up to a climax over time. As it builds up the bass gets heavier as well as the drums and keyboards and even marching band instruments such as tuba and a whistle are used. The final climax to this piece is well worth the wait, this climax being the high synth that comes in overtop the main theme and gives me shivers everytime I listen to it.

Overall, this album starts off intense and dramatic with The Endless Enigma (part 1) and ends the same with Abaddon's Bolero. An album like this that is amazing from start to finish truly deserves 5 stars. A Masterpiece in progressive rock.