Brain Salad Surgery
The opening track "Jerusalem" which is the classic English church hymn that Parry and Blake wrote and ELP made their own. It was to be released as as single but the BBC complained. Next is the band's excellent take of Alberto Ginastera's "Toccata" is an example of the greatest honor a musical arrangement can get : the admiration of the composer. The legendary Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) once said and I quote "Keith Emerson has beautifully caught the mood of my piece", end quote. It's possible to understand better the original version of Ginastera's fourth movement of the first piano concerto after hearing BSS. Also, Carl Palmer's percussion and innovative electronic percussion solo was years ahead of its time. Next was the rejected first single from the album which was the Lake penned ballad "Still.... You Turn Me On" which is another classic Lake acoustic ballad in the vein of "Lucky Man" and "From the Beginning". Then we have the hilarious "Benny the Bouncer" which tells the tale of a bouncer who thinks he is a big shot before he gets his just desserts and the lesson learned in this song is "THE BIGGER THEY COME THE HARDER THEY FALL".
The rest of the album is the 29 plus minute epic "Karn Evil 9" (the name comes from the word carnival). The first part of the First Impression of "Karn Evil 9" is a long tense increasing in its first part, violent Hammond and synthesizer sounds, syncopated rhythms and a very wise impressing appearance of new motifs almost without notice - a skilful dealing with larger forms, culminating in a plain and somehow lighter guitar solo which ends the first part of the First Impression.
On the vinyl, one had to turn to Side Two to hear the First Impression's second part via fade out on the end of Side 1 and fade in at the beginning of Side 2. The first Victory Music CD Remastering engineer Joseph Palmaccio removes the fade out and joins the second section of the First Impression. In this is ELP's most famous US FM rock radio staple with the immortal lines "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends" and "come and see the show" and excellent guitar work from Lake. The Second Impression has the band doing a jazz fusion induced jam with some synth effects to sound like Carribean steel drums. The Third Impression is the most melodic part of the piece and has very provocating lyrics (with Greg Lake's ex-King Crimson bandmate Pete Sinfield helping on lyrical contribution) and technology decry with lyrics like "load your program I am Yourself" pre-dating computer programs that now dominate one's lives. Furthermore, Keith does the voice of the computer in one of the first uses of vocoder in rock music. Also the ending is one of the wildest endings to a rock album ever.
Brain Salad Surgery became ELP's fifth US Top 20 album reaching #11 but sales wise is ELP's biggest US seller and the album one should start interest in ELP with (I did in 1996 and didn't look back).
There are a few remasters out. The first was by Victory Music in 1993 (which Sanctuary Music in the UK reissued after they controversially issued an alternate mix of the album). Then when Victory Music folded, Rhino re-released the same remaster in 1996 with a 3-D cover and interview track with ELP and Sinfield. Now there's the remaster that Shout Factory! released which is alright (I cannot tell a difference in remastering, beats the alternate mix remasters that Castle/Sanctuary put out which had an alternate mix of the album) but I do like the fact it's repackaged like the original vinyl LP.
The rest of the album is the 29 plus minute epic "Karn Evil 9" (the name comes from the word carnival). The first part of the First Impression of "Karn Evil 9" is a long tense increasing in its first part, violent Hammond and synthesizer sounds, syncopated rhythms and a very wise impressing appearance of new motifs almost without notice - a skilful dealing with larger forms, culminating in a plain and somehow lighter guitar solo which ends the first part of the First Impression.
On the vinyl, one had to turn to Side Two to hear the First Impression's second part via fade out on the end of Side 1 and fade in at the beginning of Side 2. The first Victory Music CD Remastering engineer Joseph Palmaccio removes the fade out and joins the second section of the First Impression. In this is ELP's most famous US FM rock radio staple with the immortal lines "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends" and "come and see the show" and excellent guitar work from Lake. The Second Impression has the band doing a jazz fusion induced jam with some synth effects to sound like Carribean steel drums. The Third Impression is the most melodic part of the piece and has very provocating lyrics (with Greg Lake's ex-King Crimson bandmate Pete Sinfield helping on lyrical contribution) and technology decry with lyrics like "load your program I am Yourself" pre-dating computer programs that now dominate one's lives. Furthermore, Keith does the voice of the computer in one of the first uses of vocoder in rock music. Also the ending is one of the wildest endings to a rock album ever.
Brain Salad Surgery became ELP's fifth US Top 20 album reaching #11 but sales wise is ELP's biggest US seller and the album one should start interest in ELP with (I did in 1996 and didn't look back).
There are a few remasters out. The first was by Victory Music in 1993 (which Sanctuary Music in the UK reissued after they controversially issued an alternate mix of the album). Then when Victory Music folded, Rhino re-released the same remaster in 1996 with a 3-D cover and interview track with ELP and Sinfield. Now there's the remaster that Shout Factory! released which is alright (I cannot tell a difference in remastering, beats the alternate mix remasters that Castle/Sanctuary put out which had an alternate mix of the album) but I do like the fact it's repackaged like the original vinyl LP.
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