Ranking Emerson, Lake & Palmer Albums

Yeah, I know. No one needed this any more than they needed my list of Top 10 Kate Bush songs. But here it is anyway. A few thoughts first.

I think of art rock—as opposed to the larger category of prog rock—as a fusion of styles. It is rock and classical, with a touch of jazz and folk. Nowhere is that more evident than with ELP. Yes and Genesis blended the styles together. ELP did not. They just whipped them down and said, “lets go.” They’d cover symphonic pieces, sometimes as driving rock tunes, but sometimes as straight classical music. They’d pause one form to start another before drifting into a third. Lake would sing a folky ballad and then Emerson would play a concerto. And then why not a jazz tune? Your expectations were of little importance, which is how it ought to be.

The name, Emerson, Lake & Palmer was fitting as this was never a group, but three separate artists. They didn’t play WITH each other, but AT each other. I kept waiting for them to kill each other. And the power of their music came from that competition. Each made the others stronger.

How you feel about art/prog rock is a little like how you feel about Dr Malcolm from Jurassic Park. Me, I hate that dude.

“…but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

I just wanted someone to say, “Malcolm, shut up.” Well, standard music critics, mainstream radio fans, and punk rockers were Malcolm, whining, “You musicians are skillful and talented enough to do all that stuff that I don’t understand, but you haven’t considered if you should.” Musically, the response from Genesis and Yes was, “Come on guys, we’re doing are own thing.” But ELP’s response was “Fuck off. We do want we want.” Every album (well, the first six) were clear, loud statements. There’s no shyness in ELP. They are giving the finger to the music establishment and wanted to make sure everyone knews it. Sometimes subtly is nice. Sometimes its dull. ELP had no conception of subtly.

The most self-assured of art rock bands died from trying to do too much. They reached the end of an artistic road, so set off with something new. But that something new didn’t go well with their perfectionism and touring. Emerson insisted they take an orchestra along and they all needed truck-loads of equipment if they were going to recreate their latest studio album. Even with 70,000 attendees, you can’t make money that way and everyone got pissed off. And that was that. They got back together from time to time over the years, but the edge was gone.

So starting with #12:

 

#12 Love Beach (1977) 

What…the…hell!
Who are these BeeGees wannabes and what is this mainstream late ‘70s crap?
OK, I don’t know that Love Beach is actually worse musically than the next three on this list, but it is one of the great disappointments in rock history. Under financial pressure and internal stress, ELP was basically over, but contracts had to be fulfilled, so they gathered at Emerson’s beach house and…fulfilled their contract. There’s no art rock here. There’s nothing progressive. Every song shouts, “We don’t care.” Canario isn’t bad, but then it’s a classical cover. The rest needs to be forgotten. This isn’t an album; it’s a tomb stone.

 

#11 To The Power of Three (1988) 

Palmer had been unavailable for one planned reunion; this time it was Lake, so Emerson and Palmer joined with Robert Berry, who’d I never heard of before and hope to never hear from again. Not having Berry write would have helped, but Palmer and Emerson aren’t firing on all cylinders either. If this was a joke band, a satire of ‘90s power-ballad, pop bands, then it would have some value. Hmmm. Maybe… I mean, that makes more sense then Emerson and Palmer doing this on purpose.

 

#10 In the Hot Seat (1994) 

It’s Black Moon (see #8), part two and the end of the unnecessary reunion. Emerson’s injuries were worse which is death to a band that relied so much on keyboards. Think of this as the songs that weren’t quite good enough to get on Black Moon and move along.

 

#9 Black Moon (1992) 

What if the members of Foreigner were better musicians? Then you’d have Black Moon, the reunion album from three musicians past their prime. Lake’s voice is deeper and both Palmer and Emerson had injured wrists, and none of them seem to have anything artistically to say. Still, here and there the old talent is visible though a tunnel, such as with Emerson’s instrumental Changing States, but on the whole this is a bland, mainstream album. I love that they stuck in a classical cover again—this time of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. But then there is also Farewell To Arms, a sappy work that would sound more natural coming from Toby Keith. Outside of that song, nothing is terrible, but not much is good.

 

#8 Works Volume 2 (1977) 

Odds and ends albums were relatively rare in ’77 though everyone seems to have them now. It’s a cheap way for the record company to make a few dimes from a band’s scraps. So an unrelated collection of singles and songs not good enough to originally make the cut—not the recipe for a great album. There clearly was a good reason why Brain Salad Surgery didn’t make it onto the album of the same name. That said, these are still songs from ELP’s finest recording sessions, which may make them weak compared to what they’d already released, but pretty good compared to most of what was on the radio. Looking back, the slimmed down version of Greg Lake’s solo, over-orchestrated I Believe in Father Christmas is the standout.

 

#7 Emerson, Lake & Powell (1986) 

Carl Palmer had joined Yes guitarist Steve Howe, Buggles keyboardist Geoff Downes (I know he was technically in Yes, but I try to ignore that) and King Crimson bassist John Wetton in their experimental project to see if they could hide all traces of their artistic ability, code named Asia. It was a success. That left him unavailable when Emerson and Lake wanted to reform ELP in ’85, so they pulled in mid-level drummer Cozy Powell. The single LP with this lineup was…fine. The drumming is simple and neither Emerson nor Lake had any compositions to rival their earlier pieces to offer up, but there’s no huge mistakes either. It is ELP Lite, with a ‘80s swagger, and really, no one needs an ‘80s swagger. It isn’t nearly as disastrous as what was happening to Yes and Genesis at the time, so, that’s something.

 

#6 Pictures At An Exhibition (1971) 

God, I love that this exists. Why shouldn’t “rock” musicians play classical pieces? Great music is great music. But I love it in concept a bit more than in actuality. I’m a big fan of Mussorgsky’s composition, but when I want to hear it, I go to my symphonic version. Emerson’s organ is powerful. A full orchestra is more powerful.

 

#5 Tarkus (1971) 

Ah, now we’re talking. ELP’s second album solidified their position as the kings of rock/classical fusion. The first half is the 20 min title track and is everything you expect from the group. You can get lost in its layers. The second side’s more diverse selections can’t quite hold up, though the Emerson/Palmer instrumental “Infinite Space” comes close. I skip the ‘50s sounding Are You Ready Eddy as it doesn’t belong, but the rest is gold.

 

#4 Trilogy (1972) 

The third studio ELP album (Pictures is technically live, but I ranked it as it was all new material) fits beautify with the two that came before it and I could use the same words to review all three: Powerful, lush, complicated, brilliant. The cover song this time is Copland’s Hoedown, which sounds even better electronic than it does with an orchestra. I suppose The Endless Enigma and From the Beginning are the crown jewels, but Trilogy is such a balanced album that I hate to point to any part.

 

#3 Works Volume 1 (1977) 

After the climax that was Brain Salad Surgery, ELP needed to do something different. The idea for the album was brilliant. ELP is really three extremely skilled artists, so give each a side to do his own thing, and let them come together on the last. Mainstream rock critics tend to be particularly nasty about Works Vol 1. Their unstated reason: much of it isn’t rock, which is a damn silly reason to attack some beautiful music.

Emerson’s is the strongest solo side and it is art rock only in the sense that it is art and he’s a rock musician. His Piano Concerto No 1 is pure classical music and lovely. It’s not shocking that people who don’t like classical music don’t like this. I love it. Lake, with an old King Crimson buddy, penned a group of brief, romantic numbers to no one’s surprise. 25 minutes of Lake’s ballads is a lot of ballads but Lend Your Love To Me Tonight—his finest solo work—makes it all worthwhile. Palmer’s side is the weakest but he makes some nice choices with a bit of Bach and Prokofiev and a re-do of ELP’s Tank. I’m guessing it wasn’t the drummer’s idea that they each get a side. There are a couple duds, but that’s the joy of Works—since it is really four mini-albums, there’s no problem skipping a “side.” The ELP side consists of their take on Fanfare for the Common Man (with Copeland’s blessing) and Pirates, another work more symphonic than rock and feels like watching a movie.

 

#2 Emerson Lake & Palmer (1970) 

Both an album and an announcement: ELP is here and you’ve never heard anything like us before. And it’s true. A bit heavier than their other works, these songs grind like metal. Metalica has nothing on these guys. I don’t like focusing on any one song (though AM radio took Lucky Man, a song that illustrates how ELP worked: it’s a nice, depressing, folk song until Lake stops and Emerson goes nuts with the organ and it’s just what the song needed). It all fits together into a dense, atmospheric wonder. This is rock. This is art.

 

#1 Brain Salad Surgery (1973) 

Not a change in type, but the climax to what had come before, Brain Salad Surgery is like the rest, but better. The album starts with ELPs respectful version of Jerusalem and then slips into Toccata, a classical cover, and I’m hooked. Even the one not really funny song, Benny the Bouncer, works in context. It all leads up to Karn Evil 9, a song which explains why the art rock movement was necessary: No one would have (or has) done anything like this in the standard rock world. It’s a thirty minute science fiction epic that starts two-thirds of the way though side one of the old vinyl LP and it is as strange as it is beautiful.