BRAIN SALAD SURGERY

At the height of the shock wave generated by the progressive explosion, one of the representatives who most pushed the limits of the genre, taking it to new dimensions, was Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and probably "Brian Salad Surgery", their fourth album, is the one that most faithfully represents it.

Starting with the controversial cover, excessive to the point of being vetoed and retouched due to the demands of the record label, up to the musical experimentation with all the imaginable instruments, and also the unimaginable ones, that could be used by Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer to add textures and spices to the increasingly ambitious creation of proposals, "Brian Salad Surgery" is the maximum point of sonorous boiling point of the band.

From the adaptations of the powerful hymn "Jerusalem" by British composer Hubert Parry as well as the classic and at times psychedelic "Toccata" by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, through the stealthy ballad "Still... You Turn Me On" and "Benny the Bouncer", the third and final chapter of the tavern rock started in Tarkus with "Jeremy Bender", the fundamental protagonist of the album, the extensive and overwhelming "Karn Evil 9", makes its way.

A fundamental contribution to progressive rock from its most symphonic side, "Karn Evil 9" is a compendium of what three virtuoso musicians working in harmony can generate. The suite in its thirty minutes, unfolds in an ocean of effects and instrumentation, highlighting in the 1st First and 3rd Impression above all, Emerson's moog synthesizers, which include more variants than ever, the hyper active percussion of Carl Palmer, and a Greg Lake much more settled to give the tone in the most vocally demanding parts, besides dispatching with a very successful guitar solo in the 1st Impression. Unknown at the time, "Karn Evil 9" not only closes "Brian Salad Surgery", but also the most splendid cycle of the British trio.

Excellent.

4/4.5 stars