Tarkus [Original recording remastered]

Emerson Lake & Palmer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Shout Factory
• ASIN: B000NVL9KG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,039 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

On the strength of an epic 20-minute opening track, ELP's second album, Tarkus, set the gold standard for progressive rock upon its release in 1971. Though the "Tarkus" medley is the album's centerpiece, it is only one half of a great album that demonstrates what these incredible musicians were capable of. Remastered from the original master tapes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Are You Ready, Eddy?, August 25, 2007

By 

Thomas K. Emanuel "Music Fan & a Half" (Deadwood, SD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tarkus (Audio CD)

When it comes to Emerson Lake & Palmer, one of two pieces is usually voted the band's pinnacle of achievement: "Karn Evil 9" from 1973's BRAIN SALAD SURGERY or the titular suite from 1971's TARKUS. And if "Karn Evil 9" is one of my top candidates for Best Prog Work Ever, "Tarkus" is a monolithic achievement nevertheless, one of the first sidelong epics in the annals of progressive rock, and one of its greatest.

Flying high on Keith Emerson's savage keyboards, grounded by Carl Palmer's seismic drumming, embroidered with Greg Lake's dour vocals and complementary bass licks, "Tarkus" alternates peaks of the loftiest beauty with storms of the basest profanity. There's a plot in Lake's overblown lyrics somewhere - I think it has to do with war, and the armadillo-tank on the LP cover, and something about a manticore as well - but lyrics have never been all that important in prog. They sound profound, and that's all that matters. The suite is partitioned into seven movements, but it's often difficult, amidst the hail of screaming organ solos and percussive whiplash, to discern where one ends and another begins. Besides, I listen to "Tarkus" as a whole, a mammoth example of everything good (and bad) about prog rock, so it's rather pointless to focus on the individual parts. It's a monster, to be sure, some of the most intricate, bloodthirstily confrontational music of the rock era.

Two prog workouts ("Bitches Crystal", "A Time & a Place"), a pair of goofy throwaways ("Jeremy Bender", "Are You Ready Eddy?"), and a bipartite mini-epic ("The Only Way (Hymn)"/"Infinite Space(Conclusion)") flesh out the remainder of the disc. After a behemothic opening like the title cut, the rest of TARKUS should be an anticlimax, and in many ways it is. But if it doesn't achieve the demented grandeur of Side I, Side II allows the band to calm down, stretch out, and defuse their self-conscious pomposity a bit. "The Only Way (Hymn)"/"Infinite Space (Conclusion)" in particular is great, featuring ecclesiastical organ, blazing bass figures, and a couple melodies "borrowed" from Bach.

If 70s prog ever needed a "poster band", there would be few acts better qualified to fill that role than ELP. By the same token, TARKUS plays about as near a 70s prog "poster album" as any album possibly could.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what a great listen, May 2, 2007

By 

B. E Jackson (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tarkus (Audio CD)

Emerson, Lake and Palmer once again gives the world another satisfying listen. Again, the keyboards are everywhere, just like on the debut. This time, though, they sort of changed gears and gave us some shorter and catchier tunes on Side 2.

The first half of the album is one GIANT medley of keyboards. It's really surprising to me how, even before I got into lengthy prog pieces and jams, I was STILL able to enjoy this song. It's because the band knows how to make their jams melodic and interesting. That was something they did very well back in the day.

It's a shame most people ignore the shorter songs on the second side of the album. There's some good stuff there, and entirely worth hearing if you're a fan of the band.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Distortion - not Shout Factory's fault, March 15, 2010

By 

Carl F. Green (Gotha, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tarkus (Audio CD)

As mentioned in several other reviews, there is marked distortion in the right channel during Tarkus (side 1 on the original vinyl). Contrary to statements in these reviews, it is not from Shout Factory's mastering. I listened closely to the original (late 1980's) CD mastering from Atlantic records and the distortion is there, too, albeit far less noticeable. So, either the distortion is more noticeable due to a clearer mastering by Shout Factory or the master tape is deteriorating. Either way, you can't blame Shout Factory. Other than the distortion, this mastering sounds great, a definite improvement on the Atlantic CD mastering. As for the music, it is just as incredible now as it was when it was first released. This is one of ELP's best albums.