EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

Emerson, Lake & Palmer were progressive rock's first 'super group', and their first album historically is a must have for prog rock fans. Musically, its merit is a bit more dubious. This album is enjoyable, but really just sets the table for ELP's much better works over the next three years. EMERSON LAKE & PALMER is mostly instrumental, and showcases Keith Emerson's brilliant keyboards playing. This is very much a heavy Organ and Drums affair, even flirting with hard rock, but Greg Lake manages to add enough soft touches to save this from being solely a Hammond Organ album. The album was an instant success, hitting number #4 in the UK and #18 in America (quite a feat, riding on the successful single Lucky Man).

The album opens with an ominous tone, with "The Barbarian". This song features mainly the distorted (fuzzbox) organ of Emerson with some good drumming and excellent Bass lines from Lake. This piece is an (initially uncredited) adaptation of a composition by Romanian composer Bartok, and is an ambitious opening for the group. It is a very good dark instrumental in which each member shines and they really lay out their vision for the band. The next track is somewhat weaker. "Take a Pebble" starts off with rippling piano chords by Emerson and delicate percussion setting a soft but surreal mood. Greg Lake's voice enters the track, with typical pretentious ELP lyrical nonsense. It sounds good though. After the vocals we get some more piano, which is very good, but after this the piece deteriorates rapidly. This is ELP's first real 'Suite', and they have not yet mastered transitions between sections, so this piece comes of as rather disjointed, awkward and clumsy. It alternates between jazz piano from Emerson, too bizarre acoustic guitar and hand clapping. This goes on for a bit, and the music just kind of wonders with no real direction (reminiscent of KC another reviewer pointed out). It eventually closes out with the initial vocal melody full of typical ELP bombast. This is a very weak track in need of serious editing, and was utilized much better in the form of a medley with other more acoustic ballads. Luckily the next track an ELP classic, "Knife Edge", which adapts Janacek's Sinfonietta for Orchestra, Opus 60. This piece is similar to "The Barbarian", but is much more successful, featuring great vocals and decent lyrics from Lake. The piece even has a Fugue for piano in the middle, a real highlight. The repetition of the organ melody is excellent, coming directly after Lake's vocals. The next track is the worst, in my opinion, on the album. "three Fates" is really nothing more than a pure showcase for Emerson on piano and church organ. This piece technically is excellent but is completely devoid of emotion, and comes off as a rather good demonstration of talent, but not compositional skill. It plods along, but never picks up steam. The album closes strongly with two excellent tracks. "Tank" serves as Carl Palmer's showcases, and features on of the few drum solos on a studio album that works, and does not come off as overly indulgent. This is also the first real appearance of Keith Emerson's famed Moog work, which would have a much more prominent role in later albums. It sounds a bit dated now, but must have been spectacular in 1970. The album ends with the Lake ballad, "Lucky Man", a song Greg Lake wrote when he was 12. The song was included as filler, and surprisingly became ELP's first hit. It received decent airplay in the US. It is similar to much of Lake's other acoustic work, and features an excellent Moog solo by Emerson, taken in one take. The lyrics are some of the best Lake has written, telling the story of a warrior who lives an excellent life, and then dies. The story comes off as rather silly here, but is excecuted quite well, and makes a fitting end to the album.

While ELP's 1970 debut is weaker than some of their other material, it is an incredibly brave, progressive and successful debut album, showcasing the collective talents of each member, who really were the cream of the crop. This album is highly recommended for historical significance to prog. It is also recommended to those who want the grit and talent of ELP without dealing with an abundance of synthesizers and pretension. 4 STARS.