ELP's Masterpiece Speaks of A New Clear Dawn ~~"Brain Salad Surgery"

Brain Salad Surgery

Sanctuary
Sales Rank: 1236

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 ELP's Masterpiece Speaks of A New Clear Dawn, 2005-07-18

This 1973 ELP album with the original painting by H. R. Giger is one of the great covers of all time and if you really pay attention to the details in the artwork you can figure out what "Brain Salad Surgery" means in British slang terms. For me this is the best album by the Progressive (nee Classical) Rock Power Trio. The synthesizer-saturated sound that dominated "Tarkus" has been toned down considerably to great effect, which you can tell immediately with the opening organ chords of Keith Emerson's organ on "Jerusalem," the best-known Anglican hymn. "Toccata," an adaptation of the 4th Movement of Ginastera's 1st Piano Concerto features an impressive percussion movement from Carl Palmer. "Still...You Turn Me On" is Greg Lake's best composition since "Lucky Man," and you can only wish his work had not always been so overshadowed by Emerson's pyrotechnics on the keyboard. "Benny the Bouncer" is another one of those annoying little honky tonk ditties that ELP was so enamored of for some reason that passeth understanding.

The highlight of the album is the "Karn Evil 9" Suite, which seems to me to be a nice synthesis of what the group had gone for in earlier albums with the "Tarkus" Suite and "The Endless Enigma," although more like the latter of that particular pair in terms of employing the forms of classical composition. The First Impression offered the line that came to sum up the group's performance, "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends," although you find yourself wishing they had used computer magic to get rid of the fade out/fade in that we had to endure on vinyl when we flipped sides of the record. The Second Impression is arguably their finest instrumental track while the Third Impression brings the album full circle, offering a hymn for the new clear dawn. To make this album perfect all you have to do is program your CD player to skip the fourth track. Enjoy.

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