TRILOGY

Emerson Lake and Palmer's third studio album, Trilogy, is, in my opinion, one of their two greatest albums, and the one that is the most overlooked. It features some of their best individual pieces, and is a pleasure to listen to.

Side one starts with The Endless Enigma. The song is both delicate and bombastic, moving from one to the other almost at will. To me, this is one of the best pieces the group ever did.

Next we have the Lake opus From the Begininng, which features superb acoustic guitar work and a great vocal by Lake. This is followed by the honky tonk The Sheriff, something Emerson likes to add to the albums. This side of the LP ends with what should have been a great opender for side two, the Aaron Copland composition Hoedown, from his Rodeo ballet.

Side two opens with the title track, which is a strong piece of prog and another of my favorite cuts from this album, followed by this albums comedy song - Living Sin. The album closes with Abaddon's Bolero, which, like Ravel's Bolero, has a central theme which is repeated over and over, building to a crescendo which closes the album.

This album is near perfect without any duds whatsoever. Why it doesn't get as much loves as the inconsistant Tarkus or the other ELP masterpiece Brain Salad Surgery, I don't know. This album will surely enhance any progressive rock lovers catalog.