Search - Emerson Lake & Palmer :: Brain Salad Surgery

ELP's Best

Jimmy Page | Marietta, GA USA | 02/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The gold... the gem... there are no words to describe this masterpiece!



But I'm going to try.



We start off with "Jerusalem." This is an original arrangement of a traditional widely-known Anglican hymn. It is very powerful and exciting, yet it soothes the soul at the same time.



Next, we get into Toccata. This is an incredible instrumental with one of the best rythm sections in music, proving Carl Palmer is one of, if not, the best percussionists of all time.



Then, we have Still... You Turn Me On, another one of Greg Lake's ballads. Greg Lake always wrote incredible acoustic ballads, but this most definitely falls as his best.



Next comes Benny the Bouncer. This is a very wierd track, but I've always been a sucker for wierd songs, so I love this one.



And now, the masterpiece. My second favorite ELP song and my third favorite song, Karn Evil 9 is... This monolithic composition is one of the most incredible, most daring pieces of music in Rock history. It flows through insrumentals and sung stories, and includes the classic line "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends." This alone is worth anything at all.



Emerson, Lake, and Palmer were genius's of their time and still are today, and this album is a testament to that fact."

ELP's masterpiece still sounds great 35 years on and their D

Terrence J. Reardon | Lake Worth (a west Palm Beach suburb), FL | 03/07/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Emerson Lake and Palmer's foruth studio album Brain Salad Surgery was released in December of 1973 in conjunction with another US tour taking place.

By 1973, Emerson Lake and Palmer rivaled The Rolling Stones, The Who and Led Zeppelin as concert attraction and (like Zeppelin) the critics hated ELP (as well as contemporaries Genesis, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd). Keyboard maestor Keith Emerson, bass player/singer/guitarist Greg Lake and drummer Carl Palmer recorded Brain Salad Surgery at Advision Studios with future Rolling Stones engineer Chris Kimsey and Geoff Young. Would this mean ELP have their music change for better or worse, read and find out as I did when I got the CD in November, 1996).

The opening track "Jerusalem" which is the classic English church hymn that Parry and Blake wrote and ELP made their own. It was to be released as as single but the BBC complained. Next is the band's excellent take of Alberto Ginastera's "Toccata" is an example of the greatest honor a musical arrangement can get: the admiration of the composer. The legendary Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) once said "Keith Emerson has beautifully caught the mood of my piece". It's possible to understand better the original version of Ginastera's fourth movement of the first piano concerto after hearing BSS. Also, Carl palmer's percussion and innovative electronic percussion solo was years ahead of its time. Next was the rejected first single from the album which was the Lake penned ballad "Still.... You Turn Me On" which is another classic Lake ballad in the vein of "Lucky Man" and "From the Beginning". Then we have the hilarious "Benny the Bouncer" which tells the tale of a bouncer who thinks he is a big shot before he gets his just desserts.

The rest of the album is the 29 plus minute epic "Karn Evil 9" (the name comes for carnival). The first part of the First Impression of "Karn Evil 9" is a long tense increasing in its first part, violent Hammond and synthesizer sounds, syncopated rhythms and a very wise impressing appearance of new motifs almost without notice - a skilful dealing with larger forms, culminating in a plain and somehow lighter guitar solo which ends the first part of the First Impression.

On the vinyl, one had to turn to Side Two to hear the First Impression's second part via fade out on the end of Side 1 and fade in at the beginning of Side 2. The original Atlantic CD Remastering engineer Joseph Palmaccio removes the fade out and joins the second section of the First Impression. In this is ELP's most famous US FM rock radio staple with the immortal lines "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends" and "come and see the show" and excellent guitar work from Lake. The Second Impression has the band doing a jazz fusion induced jam with some synth effects to sound like Carribean steel drums. The Third Impression is the most melodic part of the piece and has very provocating lyrics (with Greg Lake's ex-King Crimson bandmate Pete Sinfield helping on lyrical contribution) and technology decry with lyrics like "load your program I am Yourself" pre-dating computer programs that now dominate one's lives. Also the ending is one of the wildest endings to a rock album ever.

Brain Salad Surgery became ELP's fifth US Top 20 album reaching #11 but sales wise is ELP's biggest seller and the album one should start interest in ELP with (I did in 1996 and didn't look back).

There are a few remasters out. The first was by Victory which Rhino released in 1996 with a 3-D cover and interview track with ELP and Sinfield. Now there's the remaster that Shout Factory is alright but I do like the fact it's repackaged like the original vinyl LP. Then Sanctuary released two remasters with different bonus tracks.

Highly recommended!"