EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

Track 1 ? The Barbarian

A powerful fuzz bass followed by awesome Emerson organ playing kicks us off here. I love the panning effects in my headphones during the intro. Palmer has some wonderful drum fills as well. Then Emerson swaps to piano for a partly honky-tonk, partly classical feature. We return to the organ with seriously fuzzy bass from Lake. Palmer is all over the drums as we near the end.

Track 2 - Take a Pebble

I believe we are strumming piano strings with a pick for part of the sound here. We get Lake's first vocals of the album here. A beautiful piano solo takes over at about 2:30. Lake and Palmer are such a wonderful rhythm section. At roughly 4:30 Lake switches to a quiet acoustic guitar. Then we literally get a hand clapping rhythm as the guitar volume increases and becomes steady. While Lake is best known as a bassist and vocalist, his guitar skills are nothing to sneeze at. The piano takes back over in a 7-8 rhythm. After 8:30 they turn into a Piano-Jazz trio and get swinging. At around 11 minutes in, Palmer takes to using tympani drums overdubbed with his cymbal work. A final vocal verse concludes ELP's first epic.

Track 3 - Knife- Edge

After the band hits with 3 big chords, Lake's bass establishes a riff joined by his vocals and some percussion from Palmer. A big interlude with the whole band (Emerson on organ) happened between the first and second verse. Then another interlude and then a bridge. Odd time signatures abound during the organ feature. The riff and Lake's vocals return in a heavier way, reminiscent of King Crimson, which Lake had just departed. A descending figure and sound effects close out the song.

Track 4 - The Three Fates

This one begins with a dramatic pipe organ then it quiets down to a more playful part before turning ominous again. These two feels alternate, before classical style piano takes over. Emerson actually sounds a bit like Wakeman here. About halfway in, and it's been 100% Emerson so far. The organ returns at about 4:45. Then back to piano and then Palmer joins in and we go into a 7-8 riff. I have not heard Lake as of yet. The piece ends with a literal bang!

Track 5 - Tank

We begin with Palmer playing an intricate drum pattern, later joined by Emerson and Lake on bass & keys. I believe we are in 7-8 again. Palmer has several featured drum fills which alternate with parts with the other 2. Then we get a full-on drum solo. So, it seems that each of the final 3 tracks feature one member of the trio. Cool panning effects before the band joins back in with a bit of a bluesy groove. I believe this is the first synth we hear on the album, as the keys had been primarily organ & piano up until now.

Track - Lucky Man

Ahh, the folky 12-string ballad that may be ELPs best known song. I believe that Lake claims he wrote the song as a youth, and they needed one more track to close the album, so he pulled this out. And of course, we close it out with a big Moog solo from Emerson.

And thus, the world was introduced to ELP.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

A worthy debut and I'd say essential prog. Not my favorite ELP album, but still excellent. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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