I was having a conversation with someone today about creating original music, and the theme of thinking outside the box was a very insistent point I wanted to make. I am a musician who's been in several bands of all kinds over the years, ( cover bands, tribute bands, original bands, etc...), and I've also been to hundreds of rock concerts starting from the early seventies, so I feel I have a good sense of the world of rock music. When I think back over the years and all the music I've experienced I would have to say that Emerson Lake & Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery period was the most original and unique. From the fabulous cover design by H.R.Giger (best known for his work on the Alien movie sagas) every aspect of that package was truly ground breaking. I was lucky enough to see them play a few times on that tour and the music came across live even more impacting than on record. I would like to take a moment to revisit that record and in doing that I hope that it may inspire those not familiure with that record to go check it out and see if it can open some doors to thinking outside of the box.
The record opens with a traditional hymn called "Jerusalem". A very classy melodic rendition of the song written by Hubert Parry and William Blake which features the worlds first polyphonic synthesizer, the Moog Apollo. Keyboardist Keith Emerson had a very close working relationship with synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog and ELP would have many instruments on their records that were specifically designed for them to use. Vocalist Greg Lake's singing is a real standout on this track, and showed him in a truly gifted light as a singer.
The second track is an instrumental piece adapted from Alberto Ginastera's 1st Piano Concerto (4th Movement) called "Toccata". Don't let the words Piano Concerto mislead you into thinking it a boring stuffy chamber piece. This was as an adventurous and off the hook piece as has ever been performed, highlighted by a very over the top drum movement by Carl Palmer that featured the worlds first synthesized percussion system also provided by the Moog company, along with tubular bells, and timpani drums. If the Martians ever attack the planet this would be the perfect sound track for it.
On the next track "Still....You Turn Me On" Greg Lake shows why his acoustic ballads are some of ELP's most memorable music. No-one spins a poetic love song like Greg. This song has a very surreal, sensual flow and the production is almost hypnotic.
"Benny The Bouncer" is a very cool honky-tonk type song about a bar bouncer that meets his match and ends up the bouncer at Saint Peter's gates. The honky-tonk, ragtime style of playing comes across really fresh on the Moog Apollo, and you can hear the sounds of a bar room brawl during the middle section that gives the piece a very fun, rowdy feel. No-one plays that ragtime style like Keith Emerson.
Emerson Lake & Palmer's most adventurous, dynamic piece had to be without a doubt the epic "Karn Evil 9". The piece was broken into three pieces "1st Impression", "2nd Impression" and "3rd Impression". Because of the length of the pieces "1st Impression" was split into two pieces on the record. This song is where the notable line "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends" originated. This song is like a futuristic "Road Warrior' type of theme that conjures very wild imagery of a world gone very wrong. ELP's bombastic playing comes to a very technical hight as they splash through some very well written instrumental passages intermingled with Greg Lake's stellar vocal passages. Greg had help on the lyrics from Pete Sinfield who was a big help in the lyric writting for Lake's previous band King Crimson. This is an amazing piece of music that one should take the time to just sit down a listen to without any interuptions.
The "2nd Impression" is a very adventurous instrumental that features Keith and Carl's ability to lock in and play like a well oiled synchronized metal machine. The piece takes us through all sorts of musical styles, hills and valleys, some of which are jazz, calypso, and classical.
"3rd Impression" is one of my personal favorites, because of the way the lyrics and the music paint the picture of man's pursuit of computer technology being the end of man. It's almost like the story from the Terminator movies with a twist of Star Trek gone astray. This piece has very cool sci-fi imagery, a talking computer, and ends with a computer running amuck in stereo (or quad live).
I hope after reading this you'll take the time to lock yourself away, put "Brain Salad Surgery" on your best sound system and give it a good listening with an open mind and eager imagination. Every time I listen to it I hear something that I missed the first few thousand times through. No-one makes records like this anymore, and that is a shame. After listening to this record if you take nothing else from it please let it be a lesson in thinking out of the box when writing ORIGINAL MUSIC.