TRILOGY

Trilogy was ELP's third album, and a much improved effort over the preceding Tarkus album. One of the most obvious ongoing issues I have with ELP albums is the amount of half-baked ideas, and even downright silly ones, just thrown together to fill up the space on an album. Typically these kinds of songs end up in some band member's closet, only to see the light of day as a CD remaster bonus track or inside a box set designed for the die-hard fan. ELP actually puts these on their studio albums instead of waiting around for their collective brains to do something amazing. Fortunately, Trilogy shows much less of that, although it is still present with songs like The Sheriff, Living Sin, and even Hoedown which seems out of place (although it is a live favorite of fans).

Another improvement in the ELP sound is Emerson's use of many new synthesizers (earlier ELP was more organ- and piano-dominant), adding much more depth. The Endless Enigma suite (first three tracks of the album) is one of ELP's better compositions. Probably the most interesting track is the closer, Abaddon's Bolero, which builds layer upon layer eventually building up to a wall-of-sound ending. Most likely inspired by Ravel's famous Bolero. Another track worth mentioning is Greg Lake's From the Beginning, which is mostly an acoustic guitar piece with layers of electric guitar and closing with a synthesizer solo, somewhat following the formula used on Lucky Man. It got some radio play, enough to give it a brief stint on the US Top 40.

Much better than the Tarkus album as a whole (though not as adventurous as the Tarkus epic) and slightly better than their debut album. A nice starting point for newbies to the band and an excellent acquisition for fans of symphonic prog. Four stars.