Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus

 

Tarkus was the second album from Emerson, Lake and Palmer and reached number one in the UK in 1971 to re-inforce their status as global superstars. I'm not sure when I acquired the LP, but it was probably in 1975 or 1976, and certainly before punk rock hit the music scene in 1977.

I remember thinking it was an OK album, quite liking the vocal parts of "Tarkus", even though I couldn't remember them now. I also liked the jolly "Jeremy Bender" and the solemn "The Only Way ( Hymn )" but I thought "Are You Ready, Eddie ? was rubbish. I vaguely remembered "Bitches Crystal". 

The album was notable for the absence of any Greg Lake folk songs or excessive drum solos from Carl Palmer, and there was hardly any guitar at all. Generally though, this would be like listening to most of the album for the first time.

The title track occupies Side One, a magnum opus of nearly 21 minutes in 7 sections, four of which are instrumental, and from the cover, Tarkus is depicted as half tank, half giant armadillo. The pictures on the inside sleeve tell the story of a creature that defeats some others, before falling victim to the half man, half lion Manticore.

The trademark ELP urgent organ, bass and, drums are present on "Eruption", with the music being suitable for a film clip where someone is running away. A gong sounds halfway through before it segues into the slow, tender "Stone Of Years", the first section with vocals. 

The short "Iconocast" is next, all frantic drumming and screeching keyboards, followed by "Mass", which has the first electric guitar part of the track and more vocals from Greg Lake. There are mazy keyboards and heavy drumming before the vocals return to conclude the song. Its a very listenable track with the lyric "the weaver in the web that he made" repeated at the end of each verse.

The instrumental "Manticore" again has a beat as if someone is running, leading into "Battlefield", the final section with a vocal. Its another section that is easy on the ear, with quite a nice keyboard motif and short Pink Floyd style guitar break from their Meddle/Obscured By Clouds era, which came after Tarkus was released.

The side closes with the upbeat military marching rhythms of "Aquatarkus", although the keyboard outro is increasingly annoying, before finishing with a reprise of "Eruption".

Side Two opens with "Jeremy Bender", a jolly tune with ragtime piano, hand claps but not the greatest vocal. Despite being labelled ragtime by most critics, the piano reminds me more of western bar/saloon playing, and The Tom Robinson Band's "Law And Order" now comes to mind.

"Bitches Crystal" was a disappointment, being mostly a tuneless mess, apart from little piano pieces before the final vocal screams.

"The Only Way ( Hymn )" is initially dominated by a church organ and its heavy lyrics, which try to be meaningful but now sound trite. The jaunty piano intersection seems a lit out of place but lessens the serious tone. Its perhaps the best tune on the album but probably should have been titled "Anti-Hymn", given the anti-god lyrics.

"Infinite Space ( Conclusion )" is a forgettable jazzy piano instrumental and "A Time And A Place" is just one of several moments that made me think of Spinal Tap.

The closer "Are You Ready, Eddie ?" is a rehash of the rock n'roll standard "The Girl Can't Help It" and is awful. Apparently recorded in one-take, there's plenty of bum notes. ELP were trying to show they can have fun, but they really shouldn't have bothered.

In summary, there were some good parts on the album, especially the vocal sections of "Tarkus", but overall it hasn't aged well.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Tarkus
         Eruption
         Stones of Years
         Iconoclast
         Mass
         Manticore
         Battlefield
         Aquatarkus

Side Two :

1. Jeremy Bender
2. Bitches Crystal
3. The Only Way ( Hymn )
4. Infinite Space ( Conclusion )
5. A Time And A Place
6. Are You Ready, Eddy ?

Released 1971
UK Chart Position : 1

Singles :

None

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Emerson, Lake & Palmer

 

Emerson, Lake & Palmer were considered to be one of the first "super-groups", being formed by ex-The Nice keyboard player Keith Emerson, King Crimson singer and bassist Greg Lake, and ex-Atomic Rooster drummer Carl Palmer. They were seen to be in the vanguard of the Progressive Rock movement.

My introduction to Emerson, Lake and Palmer was via a friend who lent me his copy of "Pictures At An Exhibition" to listen to, and as I liked it I bought my own copy. 

A couple of years later I heard "Lucky Man" on the radio, found it came from ELP's first album so I decided to buy that. Frankly though, the LP was a bit of a disappointment. Whilst I didn't particularly dislike anything on it at the time, there also wasn't anything that I thought was special. After a few plays, I wasn't too interested in hearing it again.

I knew ELP had a reputation for plundering the classics but my knowledge at the time was such that I had little idea what they had been plundering here, apart for the label on the disc giving the writing credit for Barbarian to Bartok and Knife-Edge to Janacek !

Looking at the track listing again, "Lucky Man" is the only one I can remember, so it would be interesting to listen again to see what, if anything, comes back, and whether the album has improved with age. After all it is now 53 years old.....

Side One opens with "The Barbarian" which I now know is an arrangement of Hungarian composer Bela Bartok's Allegro Barbarian, a piece written for the piano. I also took the opportunity to listen to one of the performances of the original on YouTube.

The first section might be labelled classic ELP with bombastic organ, bass and drums before leading into what is a fairly faithful reproduction of Bartok's original with just a hint of jazz piano flourishes and supporting drum and gong, before a reprise of the initial arrangement. On my first listen I was thinking what was the point, but on a second hearing I decided I quite liked it.

It wouldn't be a progressive rock album without a track over 10 minutes long, and "Take A Pebble" ticks that box, weighing in at 12 minutes 32 seconds. Beginning with a slow intro of keyboard, bass and percussion before Lake's enters singing a gentle ballad and sounding a lot like Justin Haywood from The Moody Blues. The track moves on to a lively piano break repeating the vocal harmony before fading into soft acoustic guitar and water like percussion effects which reminded me of parts of "Close To The Edge" by Yes. The acoustic guitar leads into a hoe-down rhythm and hand-claps. Another jazz piano interlude follows, which frankly goes on a bit too long before the vocals return to bring the song to its conclusion. I had totally forgotten the track, but overall I liked it, although I felt it could have done with a little editing.

"Knife-Edge" is apparently based on a movement from Czech composer Leos Janacek's orchestral piece "Sinfonietta" with a middle section from Johann Sebastian Bach's "French Suite No 1 in D minor". Another song I had completely forgotten and it was like listening to for the first time and I didn't recall any of it. It starts with just the bass and vocal before the drums and organ join in. You tend to either love or hate Emerson's organ playing and here it eventually falls into the annoying category, especially as the outro goes on way too long. For some reason I kept thinking is sounded like Ian Gillan era Deep Purple ! If the excesses had been curbed, this could have been a decent 3 minute single rather.

It also wouldn't be a progressive rock album without a track with its title split into several parts and the instrumental "The Three Fates" which opens side two fulfills that criteria, with three sections named after the Three Fates from Greek Mythology.

The first par"Clotho", is notable for its pipe organ, which could feature in a gothic horror movie. "Lachesis" is a baroque/jazz piano piece whilst "Atropos" is manic jazz piano and drums.  There didn't appear to be any involvement from Greg Lake on this track, maybe he was on a cigarette break or stuck in the toilet when they were recording this ? Whilst primarily being a vehicle to demonstrate what a fantastic keyboard player Keith Emerson is, it comes across as showing off, and quite frankly I couldn't wait for it to end.

"Tank" includes a drum solo, something that seemed to be mandatory for live performances for many bands in the 1970s, so it's hardly surprising that a super-group drummer includes one on their first album. It could have been worse, and the track is slightly redeemed by the toe-tapping outro, although again this goes on far too long.

The acoustic guitar ballad "Lucky Man" closes the album, and feels a little out of place with most of what has gone before. The electric guitar solo is enjoyable, but the Moog solo tacked onto the end was probably not necessary but maybe it was felt that Emerson had to be involved on every track one way or the other.

In summary, the album is good in parts, and if the over indulgent excess had been curbed it could have been so much better. In most cases when I have replayed an album, I remember the song once it starts. Here though, I was unable to recall anything apart from "Lucky Man" so it was like hearing it for the first time, and for "The Three Fates" and "Tank", the last time !

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. The Barbarian
2. Take A Pebble
3. Knife-Edge

Side Two :

1. The Three Fates
    1)     Clotho
    2)     Lachesis
    3)    Atropos
2. Tank
3. Lucky Man

Released 1970
UK Chart Position : 4

Singles :

None