BRAIN SALAD SURGERY

In my opinion, there are four progressive albums that you must own before you can even consider a collection of prog music. This album is one one of them. (For the record, the other three are "Close to the Edge" "Dark Side of the Moon" and "In the Court of the Crimson King".

The album is a masterpiece which shows precision in every song. Unlike some of the other long winded epics such as "Echoes", the main track "Karn Evil 9" shows direction in the music, despite almost reaching the 30-minute mark. This epic, divided into three"impressions" (the first divided into two parts), Is to me, a metaphor for civilization's abandonment of the natural world and our anchient roots for more modern high- tech "attractions" portrayed as carnival show. The third impression is basically how our own creation will end up bringing us down. I have a much longer, detailed explanation posted somewhere else online, but's it's not necessary for an album review. This song alone is worth the price of the album.

The second stand out track is the instrumental "Toccata" which also shows precision and and fits well alongside the epic track (although being only 1/4 as long)

"Jerusalem" and "Still...you Turn Me On" are also good songs, but don't hold up as nice as the previously mentioned songs

The only weak song on the album is "Benny the Bouncer" which is essentially filler

A five star rating for "Karn Evil 9" alone