Brain Salad Surgery (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)

Year: 1973

I can only give this album three stars and I feel mildly generous in doing that.  (I
gave the album a bonus due to the amazing art work and rounded 2.4 up to 3.)
While ELP is without a doubt an influential band in this music that we call
progressive, they struggled with putting out solid albums.  Brain Salad Surgery, in
my opinion, really has one decent song (Karn Evil 9).

While I like "Jerusalem" and think that ELP does a decent job performing it, it seems
sorely out of place on this album.  There is also a weird volume discrepancy early on
in the song (which may be a flaw in the remastered recording) which keeps the last
three-quarters of the song in an audio fog.  If that was the intended effect (the
sudden decrescendo), I am puzzled what the reasoning behind it was.

"Toccata" is a bit violent for an instrumental, which is why ELP liked it so much, no
doubt.  However, I can only take this song in small doses.  It's just too much for
even this well-developed prog palate to handle.  So despite the original composer
being impressed with Emerson's adaption, I am not as impressed as I reach for an
aspirin to calm the headache that usually accompanies the hearing of Toccata in its
entirety.

"Still...You Turn Me On" (while I hit SKIP).  Seriously, this is a great little tune.
However, for this prog lover, I was bored to tears after hearing it five times.  For
those of you wondering if a song is "progressive" or not, give it the unofficial prog
test by listening to it five times in a row (yes...even the epics...especially the
epics).  If a song sounds good and catchy on the very first listen, that spells trouble
(pop song...definitely not prog).  If by the fifth listen, you are bored and there is
nothing new to hear in the song, then it fails the prog test.  However, you know
you are listening to good "progressive" music if you are just starting to see (and
hear) some new things in the song on the fifth listen.  This is a long-winded way of
saying that Still... miserably fails the unofficial prog test.  I should have known when
I thought it sounded pretty cool the very first time I heard it.  Now I just have to
skip it.

I said "Toccata" was tough for me to listen to.  "Benny the Bouncer" is just
dreadful.  I dare anyone to try the unofficial prog test with this song.  You may
swear off music all together if you were forced to listen to this waste of vinyl five
straight times.  Let's face it, this song is a filler as part of ELP's "formula" which
they thought was popular.  (No guys, it's your good songs that make you popular,
not these silly capers into music hell.)  I'd like to try and describe "Benny" to you,
but really...what's the point?  It's a tongue-in-cheek vaudville act which makes me
appreciate the SKIP button on my CD player.  (That's two skips in a row, for those
of you keeping score at home.)

"Karn Evil 9".  Is this a planet?  Is it a weird carnival?  Is it a computer?  Ask ELP and
they will probably answer "YES" to all three questions as it relates to this song,
easily the highlight of the album.  It comes in four flavors, with each of them tasting
a little different.  I prefer Parts 1 and 2 of the first impression, mainly because I am
a sucker for lyrics.  The second and third impressions seem to drag on with nothing
but keyboards on top of other keyboards.  If you are a guitar man, you probably
don't like ELP in the first place.  But you also might come across this highly
acclaimed song and wonder what all the fuss is about.  Obviously, Keith Emerson
shows some dazzling talent in all three impressions of this song and I would have
loved to have seen him perform it live (as I understand ELP knew how to dazzle in
their musicianship).  Carl Palmer asserts himself nicely on the drums as well in this
epic.  If this song weren't so impressive, this album really would be a stinker, in my
opinion.  But this song alone makes Brain Salad Surgery a decent addition to a prog
lover's collection (you might just have to SKIP some songs along the way).

Selling England by the Pound (Genesis)

Year: 1973

The Good, Bad and the Average

The Good: Firth of Fifth and The Cinema Show

While these two songs are very solid, they do not make this album a masterpiece.  "Firth of Fifth" is the third song and showcases some nice instrumentation in the way of keyboards early and guitar late.  Banks and Hackett showcase their skills rather nicely in this song and the overall effect is impressive.  "The Cinema Show" is an epic which weaves a nice story with a melody that never bores or gets old.  The whole band contributes nicely with Gabriel doing some emotive singing which adds some texture to the work.

The Average: Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, I Know What I Like, More Fool Me, After the Ordeal

"Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" starts off well but seems to drag about midway through the song.  In my humble opinion, it is long only for the sake of being long.  Good progressive rock songs should capture your attention and not let go.  This song just doesn't do that for me.  After about three minutes, I am ready for the next song, which is..."I Know What I Like" has a catchy melody and is fun to sing along with, but it does not grab my imagination.  So while I am glad that the day has broken on the "Moonlit Knight" with this song, I am already looking ahead to the aforementioned "Firth of Fifth".  "More Fool Me" showcases Collins' vocals nicely.  But other than that, it is a pretty forgettable love (pop?) song which really slows the pace coming in right after "Firth of Fifth."  "After the Ordeal" is basically an intermission piece stuffed between the two eleven-minute epics on this disc.  It is so forgettable in this position that I can't even think of anything to say about it.

The Bad: The Battle of Epping Forest, Aisle of Plenty

My primary gripe with this album comes in the form of "The Battle of Epping Forest."  This is a goofy song that is almost painful for me to listen to.  Gabriel seems to have fun with the various vocal jokes that he pulls off when performing this song.  But I would much prefer to hear him do the Slippermen than this mess.  The song begins with a march beat and flutes and turns into a musical brawl of epic (pun most certainly intended) proportions.  Hackett does insert a few fun little guitar riffs, but this song could just as easily be mistaken for a disco tune (in certain parts) as it could for progressive rock.  "Aisle of Plenty" is basically a 90 second reprise of the opening of the album with Gabriel adding some non-sensical utterances as the album closes.  I'm not sure why the band felt the need to end the album this way, but there it is.  A disappointing closure to an otherwise decent album.

Overall

I like Genesis and I like this album.  So while I would recommend it, I feel I should point out its flaws with this review.  The good songs are good enough to carry this album, but I can't for the life of me say that this is a masterpiece of progressive music.  I much prefer Genesis' next effort in The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.