EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

Incredible album which I would have tagged as a five-star masterpiece if it wasn't for one track. The album starts off with "The Barbarian", a dark and brooding piece of instrumental rock that kicks off the disc with gusto. Track two, "Take A Pebble" to me is their "Moonchild". A song that starts off very nicely with Greg Lake's beautiful voice and acoustic guitar but drifts into nothingness before returning to the beginning. Being the longest track on the album, it's just streched out for no reason, (did we really need to hear hand clapping?). Ahh, but the next track, "Knife-Edge" is classic ELP. Heavy organ and bass and singing from Greg from the netherworld. It rocks! A perfect prog song to blast from your car speakers with the windows down. How about that synthesizer bridge two minutes in. Awesome! A bonafide classic 5 minute prog song. "The Three Fates" is a showcase for Keith starting with the organ in part one, then the piano (I enjoy his piano work more than his organ), then the band joins in for part three. "Tank" is an excellent instrumental which showcases Palmer's drum playing. Very nice. Finally, the hit "Lucky Man" which includes, if you ask me, the most famous Moog solo/fade out in rock history. I'm not the biggest ELP fan, but you must admit after listening to this album that it's a fantastic first album with their best still to come. 3.75/4 stars