TARKUS

Tarkus is in my opinion the best Emerson, Lake & Palmer, using complex time sigantures and many parts. The title track, Tarkus, is an excellent piece of prog, and an important milestone in music. Eruption starts as a fast 10/8 time signature giving us the feel that Tarkus is a war machine, and is willing to fight anything that stands before it. Stones of Years is where the vocals start. Greg Lake sings about Stones (of Years, I suppose?), using a metaphore, I believe, that Tarkus is deaf, and cannot hear the screams of the people he kills, or whatever he does. The title track is very long, which means I cannot expain the whole song, but the story is of an armadillo-tank which destroys everything in it's path (Eruption, Stones Of Years, Iconoclast, Mass), which then finds a Manticore (Manticore). Tarkus then fights the manticore, and loses, thus resulting in the death of Tarkus, and the end of the title track (Battlefield, Aquatarkus).

Greg Lake's vocals just stun here, singing soft when the music is supposedly loud, and loud when the music is soft. Keith Emerson is the main man on this album, with piano riffs coming out of every corner, and insanity all around him. Carl Palmer's drumming is just plain awesome. Whether it is 10/8, 4/4, or 36/16 (which isn't on the album, btw), Carl Palmer just does it.

Excellent album. It's a great buy if you're new into prog, and want to get harder into Symphonic Prog, or are an old fan of ELP and just never got around to listening to the album.