Tarkus [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Emerson Lake & Palmer

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 24, 2007)
• Original Release Date: November 16, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Shout Factory
• ASIN: B000NVL9KG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,206 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
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

9 of 10 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 (REAL NAME)

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.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "REMASTERING", AD INFINITUM, AD NAUSEUM, AD WALLET, May 15, 2007

By	BOB (LOS ANGELES, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I can't think of another catalog that has been "remastered" more times than ELP's. Every few years since the early 90's, as ELP caravanned their catalog from label to label, we were presented with another set of supposedly superior mastered versions, and were expected to dutifully re-purchase them.

When you include the MFSL and Japanese dual-K2 efforts, where are we at now, at least seven different remasters of just the individual studio albums over the past 15 years? And how many "remastered" compilations? I've stopped counting, I'm beginning not to care anymore, and I suspect the fab trio and/or their management are now just cash-milking the fans.

Vowing not to be a seven(?)-time, complete-catalog-re-purchase sucker, I bought only the 2007 Tarkus RM and compared it against the 2005 Japanese K2HD mini-sleeve version. I'm staying with the K2HD, and I'm here to tell you: The dichotomy between the two is so non-trivial that I don't need to buy any more Shout! Factory ELP titles for comparison.

There are ELPists that dislike the K2's for "harshness". But, where fingers point at the K2 processing, I have always held the opinion that Are-You-Ready-Eddie Offord was rather level-meter-monitoring-challenged on his ELP and Yes engineering. If you accept that premise, then yes, the K2's do especially emphasize that flaw.

Even if you've heard these recordings hundreds of times, and even if you don't own the K2's, if you carefully listen to any ELP remaster with my Offord postulation in mind, I believe you'll hear what I do.

However, there is certainly additional detail and clarity in both the K2's that I've never heard on either Shout! Factory's Tarkus, or any of the earlier remasters, including the MFSL's. So, once I realized what I was actually hearing, I've dismissed "harshness" for what I believe are distorted passages in the original recordings, greatly amplified in the K2 mastering.

In addition, I found a bit more detail in the K2HD's over the original K2's; it's very VERY slight, and it is there to be heard, but probably only if you have really good gear/interconnects/speakers, or great headphones.

I've also seen original-ELP/K2-owners bad-mouthing the K2HD's, but primarily in eBay ads where they're attempting to jettison their K2's, so consider the source. It's expensive, replacing K2 catalogs (ELP, Kinks, Costello, Creedence, Focus, Rundgren & PFM, to name a few) with K2HD's (especially if you don't know how to pre-order them at the cheapest prices directly from Japan prior to release), but I suck it up and don't complain about it.

So, at least for the ELP catalog, I'm a K2HD guy, and I'm sticking with them. Inevitably, there will be someone with one of the umpteen other remastered versions who will disagree with me, and that's fine, because I'm stating my own opinions and personal preferences, and I welcome the discourse.

Lastly, however, a piece of advice: All Japanese mini-sleeve releases are limited edition, so if you're even tempted to pick up one to compare, don't wait until they're OOP and +$50 on eBay. As of this writing, there are still reasonably-priced ELP K2HD's out there (and even greater deals on the older K2's!).

And I will take those fabulous Japanese original album sleeve replications over their jewel-boxed counterparts any day of the week. It's tré-kewl having an actual album cover collection again, albeit in miniature!

Link to the K2HD version of Tarkus.

WHAT IS A JAPAN "MINI-LP-SLEEVE" CD?

Have you ever lamented the loss of one of the 20th Century's great art forms, the 12" vinyl LP jacket? Then "mini-LP-sleeve" CD's may be for you.

Mini-sleeve CDs are manufactured in Japan under license. The disc is packaged inside a 135MM X 135MM cardboard precision-miniature replica of the original classic vinyl-LP album. Also, anything contained in the original LP, such as gatefolds, booklets, lyric sheets, posters, printed LP sleeves, stickers, embosses, special LP cover paper/inks/textures and/or die cuts, are precisely replicated and included. An English-language lyric sheet is always included, even if the original LP did not have printed lyrics.

Then, there's the sonic quality: Often (but not always), mini-sleeves have dedicated remastering (20-Bit, 24-Bit, DSD, K2/K2HD, and/or HDCD), and can often (but not always) be superior to the audio on the same title anywhere else in the world. There also may be bonus tracks unavailable elsewhere.

Each Japan mini-sleeve has an "obi" ("oh-bee"), a removable Japan-language promotional strip. The obi lists the Japan street date of that particular release, the catalog number, the mastering info, and often the original album's release date. Bonus tracks are only listed on the obi, maintaining the integrity of the original LP artwork. The obi's are collectable, and should not be discarded.

All mini-sleeve releases are limited edition, but re-pressings/re-issues are becoming more common (again, not always). The enthusiasm of mini-sleeve collecting must be tempered, however, with avoiding fake mini-sleeves manufactured in Russia and distributed throughout the world, primarily on eBay. They are inferior in quality, worthless in collectable value, a total waste of money, and should be avoided at all costs.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Progressive Rock Masterpiece, September 27, 2007

By	Earthdog "Psychodelic Metal Warlord" (Thousand Oaks ,CA. USA) - See all my reviews

This is one the best if not THE best Progressive Rock albums ever recorded.
The combination of Classical music score structures and heavy progressive rock
is absolutely awe inspiring .Keith Emerson even out does himself here. I personally don't think that there is an other album with as amazing heavy keyboard work out there to be found. This coming from a huge Jon Lord fan so that is no small compliment. The drumming and bass playing are both also masterly laid down to provide the perfect foundation to hold the wild organ leads together even as Carl Palmer the drummer dishes out some very wild and musical licks all his own. Greg Lake's vocals are as passionate as ever as is his low end playing . All this and "Lucky Man " too. What else could a 70's heavy progressive rock fan ask for?!?!?
I say nothing ...buy it now the re-master sounds great !!!