Customer Reviews

Brain Salad Surgery

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Be warned! While this import sounds amazing, it's not the same mix as the album we all know and love. "Jerusalem" and "Benny The Bouncer" feature completely different vocals from Greg Lake.

How do I begin to describe such a great album? Are there even words that can? Well, here goes...

It opens with the classic British hymn, Jerusalem. If you are from England, You will recognize it immediately, and may well be sick and tired of hearing it. Well, this version is amazingly powerful and even if you have heard it a million times you will not grow tired of it. I will compare it to the version of 'God Save the Queen' on Queen's 'A Night at the Opera.' What's not to like?

Next comes Toccata. It is an interesting piece, although not the highlight of the album. It has got some pretty cool timpani bits, etc. It's worth listening to a few times.

Track 3 is entitled 'Still You Turn Me On.' It is one of Greg Lake's acoustic ballads, that we ELP fans have grown to know and love. It is a beautiful song, one of the best on the album.

After this is the rather odd 'Benny the Bouncer.' A lot of people don't much care for this one (see the other review) but I don't think it's really that bad. If you listen to the lyrics you will get an odd song about a fight in a bar. It's actually pretty good, in my opinion.

Ah yes, the musical juggernaut that is Karn Evil 9. Definitely ELP's most famous work, I don't know anyone who hasn't heard the line 'welcome back my friends to the show that never ends' (although not all of them know who does it!). The first impression starts out with some lyrics that seem to be about oppressed kids, or something, and then, after a great instrumental bit, we hear ELP's signature line, and a bit about a weird carnival.
The second impression is an instrumental, and what an instrumental it is! It's amazing, what more can I say?
The third and final impression has the theme 'Man vs. Computer.' Near the end we hear the man and the computer arguing, and the computer eventually prevails. Killer music and lyrics.

So, to wrap it all up, get this CD. You will be glad you did. Also, if you want a killer live version, get 'Welcome Back My Friends...' It has everything except Benny the Bouncer, plus live versions of Tarkus, Hoedown and some piano improv.

Thanks for lending me your time, and hope this helps!

The gold... the gem... there are no words to describe this masterpiece!

But I'm going to try.

We start off with "Jerusalem." This is an original arrangement of a traditional widely-known Anglican hymn. It is very powerful and exciting, yet it soothes the soul at the same time.

Next, we get into Toccata. This is an incredible instrumental with one of the best rythm sections in music, proving Carl Palmer is one of, if not, the best percussionists of all time.

Then, we have Still... You Turn Me On, another one of Greg Lake's ballads. Greg Lake always wrote incredible acoustic ballads, but this most definitely falls as his best.

Next comes Benny the Bouncer. This is a very wierd track, but I've always been a sucker for wierd songs, so I love this one.

And now, the masterpiece. My second favorite ELP song and my third favorite song, Karn Evil 9 is... This monolithic composition is one of the most incredible, most daring pieces of music in Rock history. It flows through insrumentals and sung stories, and includes the classic line "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends." This alone is worth anything at all.

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer were genius's of their time and still are today, and this album is a testament to that fact.