Emerson Lake & Palmer - EMERSON LAKE & PALMER***

The Barbarian/Take A Pebble/Knife-Edge/The Three Fates: Clotho-Lachesis-Atropos/Tank/Lucky Man

Self titled debut album from Emerson Lake and Palmer the group that would give progressive music a bad name through their pomposity and excessive self indulgence. (US:18 UK:4)

"Generally, when people talk about prog, the perceived faults of the genre and the whole era, ELP are inevitably mentioned in the same breath. And not without reason, since as the 70s wore on, ELP began to embody the self indulgent excess and loss of perspective which plagued progressive rock. And it's also true that of the big prog bands, ELP are my least favourite, I don't like their boring displays of their virtuosity, I find a lot of their songs seriously lacking in both good ideas and solid songwriting."

"Last of the big British prog bands to emerge at the turn of the decade, Emerson, Lake & Palmer would come to embody the extremes of the genre, a qualified supergroup with inarguable musical muscle filtered through a classical fixation, but often seemingly blind to any standards of excess. Emerson, Lake & Palmer the album is split between moments where the band's brutal power and cold, finelyhoned virtuosity come together in effective, tightly constructed tracks, and areas where tedium and pointless displays of skill send the album drifting into snoozeland."

"The album starts with some rocked-out classics in the form of The Barbarian, with a down and dirty performance that proves that ELP can get heavy when they want to. Other highlights include Take A Pebble, in which the group prove that they can bring jazz into their formula as well as classical music. The closing Lucky Man binds a moog solo to a folk-rock number with surprising success."

"I guess part of the reason I can't quite extend my rating is that the album feels directionless. Musically, the group are very diverse, but the consequence is that the tracks don't seem to flow together very well, and it's hard to say what the band's identity or sound at this point really is - or even if it does have an identity at all beyond being a vehicle for the three named talents to strut their stuff."

"Emerson Lake and Palmer were the first progressive rock supergroup and the combination of their utterly fantastic talents made for an enormously powerful and amazing debut album. The Barbarian is a smashing, bashing romp. Take A Pebble is wondrous. Tank is punishingly powerful. And Lucky Man combines beauty and power like few songs have ever been able to."