BRAIN SALAD SURGERY

Brain Salad Surgery ? 1974 (3/5) 10 ? Best Song: Still You Turn Me On? This was originally the centerpiece of the band's legacy. Me, I can see that, I can also see that sometimes abusing drugs is a socially acceptable activity. This is the centerpiece of just exactly why Emerson, Lake, and Palmer are one star artists and Jethro Tull are four star artists. Have you heard 'Toccata' recently? It sounds like a fucking precursor to the goddamn Star Wars space battles, only replace all the instruments with warped celestial robot synths that sap the spirit out of everything they touch...just like the dark side! This is sprawling excess of the most poisonous variety. That is, when they're forcing complexity and classicism down your throat. When they're doing soft- scale grading lover pop, like with 'Still You Turn me On', then you can sit back and enjoy the tasteful nature of Gregory Pond's vocals. I haven't said he's me second or third favorite prog rock vocalist for nothing. Know what sucks, though? 'Benny the Bouncer'. Oh god, what were these fuckers thinking? They were thinking 'as long as we slap a big sidelong epic finale to the thing, nobody will give a good god damn what we put in the middle. That's where Benny the Bouncer comes from, and gosh is it rotten hogshit of a ragtime tune. That epic, though?Karn Evil 9 (did they really do eight more? If so, I want out of this picture, mac) is something else. It's a half-hour of music, and no it ain't no Thick as a Brick. It ain't even no Passion Play. For one, these guys like to jam out, but they also like forgetting their melody lunchboxes at home. Hey, at least it's better than 2112. Tee hee.