Prog rock was very nearly a dirty word when I was younger in the early 1980's. After the explosion of punk and new wave, paving the way for '80's pop, almost every major progressive rock band either changed their style or completely died off. ELP was one of those that burned out before the end of the 1970's, becoming fodder for critics who thought they were just pretentious and self-aggrandizing by releasing LP-side long pieces for each member, using full orchestras on tour and expanding solos to the point of near mind-numbing length.
However, for all that is said about their later output and their showy stage show and tours, their early output is unquestionably excellent. I mean, they sold more than 40 million records, so had bad can they really be? They really were the standard of prog rock for a while -mixing classical and jazz with rock, a supergroup of sorts as all the members came from established groups at the time: Keith Emerson - The Nice, Greg Lake - King Crimson and Carl Palmer - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
This is their first record, released on Cotillion Records, an Atlantic subsidiary and was pretty successful, with the single 'Lucky Man' (a folksy, acoustic ballad) being the commercial standout. 'Knife Edge' is probably the track I listen to most on this record, a great driving riff, punctuated by great organ pieces and low timber vocal work.
You do get a bit of everything with this record and it's a great debut by an excellent group, from the super-fuzzy beginning of the album's opener, 'The Barbarian' to the successful 'Lucky Man.' Grab your best headphones and give it a spin. It's an easy album to find and like a lot of prog rock, it should be cheap enough to get your self this record and an ice coffee for under $5.
No comments:
Post a Comment