We're down to 5 songs. 1 more must go. Vote your next weakest link. Discussion question: Where do you rate/rank Brain Salad Surgery within the ELP catalog (as much as you have of it)? Jerusalem (Round 3) Toccata (Round 2) Benny the Bouncer (Round 1)
KE9-3 is on the outs. I absolutely love their first album, ELP. It remains my favorite. Next would be Pictures. I wore that album out. Then Trilogy & BSS tied.
BSS is their best album for me Jerusalem is its best part, sad to see it go. Toccata is its 2nd beat part, sad that parted even earlier. Jerusalem was a song we sang at the opening and closing assembly at my school every year from grade 1 to grade 12. I had long ago comitted all the lyrics to memory, but never had the slightest idea what it was about. I loved discovering it in a bombastic synth driven arrangement as the opening of an ELP album, and then hearing it as the "title" song of the film Chariots of Fire. Around age 21 I was on a solo trip in Glastonbury England, where I took a small hike up to the Glastonbury Tor, which I had heard of as a place of spiritual power conducive to meditation and connecting with higher powers - due to the convergence of ley lines there - not that I really believed whole heartedly in that, but I was interested enough to check it out and see if I felt anything. Can't say I necessarily did, but it was an impressive sight with beautiful views. And a long walk solo in nature is as close as I ever got to a meditative space at that time. On the walk down - with nobody around me for at least 100 yards - I was taken by the green hills and pastures and started singing Jerusalem loudly, probably 10x in a row, as I walked. My walk took me back into town where I toured another major sight there - a tour of the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. Reading signs on that tour, I learned for the first time of a Christian level of spiritual significance of the Glastonbury Tor, with there being legends of it being the resting place of King Arthur, of the Holy Grail being buried beneath the Tor, and of Joseph of Arimathea having taken Jesus there as a child. I then learned that William Blake had composed the poem Jerusalem speculating on the veracity of that legend. This gave me for the first time a fuller understanding of the lyric. And having felt moved to sing that song loudly and repeatedly in that place stands out in my life as a sign I was given by God, though I am by heritage of the same faith as Jesus and not a believer in him as an aspect of God (any more than I believe that to be true of every one of us), that there is something more beyond what we perceive with our senses. "And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen? And did the countenance divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among those dark Satanic Mills? Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of desire! Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold! Bring me my chariot of fire! I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant Land."
I think it’s their masterpiece. It’s arguably their strongest set of songs and Emerson as at the peak of his futuristic keyboard wizard powers. IMO “Karn Evil 9” is their most compelling piece of music and the shorter songs are some of their most impressive.
Still you turn me on cmon prog heads we can’t break up one of the great epics! missed posting yesterday sadly got into them too late to see true ELP but I got to see Emerson and lake, Greg lake on his final tour, carl palmer a few times and hopefully again and does 3.2 count… Pretty sure just karn evil 9 part 1 still you turn me on played at these shows. BSS is the best for me for sure.
Voted 2nd Impression. It's easily their best album for me. Karn Evil 9 is the best thing they ever did.
Still... DQ: BSS is surely the masterpiece; Peter Sinfield deserves a shoutout here. But 'fave' status for me is a tie between this and Tarkus. .
Brain Salad Surgery is their 2nd best just on the strength of Karn Evil 9, because the first two tracks on the aBlum are terrible. Their best album is Trilogy.
Reluctantly voting for still you turn me on at this juncture. I have BSS as a close second behind Tarkus and just a smidge ahead of Trilogy and the Debut.
Sad to see "Still…" going, but Karn Evil 9 is such a package, it's really hard to split it up for me, so tomorrow will be hard indeed… As for ranking BSS, it's at or near the top for me. ELP like Crimson and maybe Marillion, defined themselves from the get go: those debut albums, unlike, say, Yes, Genesis, or Tull, very clearly laid out what they wanted to accomplish, and for the most part nailed it. Probably the experiences in Crimson and The Nice helped with that, they really seemed to form not just "a" band to play in a band, but formed *this* band to play *this* kind of music. So the debut is pretty darned strong! But in terms of what I play, I'd go with Pictures at an Exhibition, then Trilogy, and then most of BSS; I skip "Jerusalem" and "Benny" whenever possible, but I do love the rest. The first side of Tarkus is great, the second maybe less so. The debut is, as I say, pretty great. The less said about Works I and II probably the better…
Can’t believe Jerusalem is gone. That is the high point for me as well. Especially the majestic trumpet like lines on the (then) new moog Apollo
Excellent! I am an Episcopalian and Jerusalem is in our hymnal. I don’t sing much in church, but when a song like Morning Has Broken, How Great Thou Art, or Jerusalem is played I belt it out at the top of my lungs. Our organist, who is a great guy by the way, will sometimes slip Fanfare for the Common Man in as a postlude. When he plays that or Jerusalem, I always make it a point to thank him for playing those Emerson, Lake & Palmer songs lol.
+1. Pirates is an ELP classic. Was never dropped from the set list until Keith struggled with his hands. The fans always wanted to hear it from my experience!
Side 4, which if I recall is really the only E, L, *and* P part of the album, yes indeed. The rest, well, I guess it's more successful than the 4 Kiss albums, but still…
I don’t nearly have a full ELP collection……I like prog, but it’s not in my top listening. I only have this, the greatest hits album, the debut, and Pictures at an Exhibition. I guess I’ll say this, then Pictures, then the debut. (I don’t put greatest hits albums in album rankings).
