Emerson Lake and Palmer
Posted by: Opportunity for growth on 07 April 2007
Any ELP fans out there?
Hearing Tarkus for the first time was the most significant moment of my musical life. I was 13 or 14 at the time. Having only recently taken down my posters of The Sweet and graduated to the more 'mature' and 'interesting' 10cc, I thought that was about as far as you could go. I had no idea that there was a whole other world (or worlds) of music out there. Beyond top 20 pop and my mother's Mario Lanza collection. Then we visited an uncle in Shefield and my cousin played me Tarkus.
Christ!
I had never suspected for a moment that music could be like that. I was transported. I was hooked. I bought Tarkus and played it every day. Sometimes two or three times a day, for a year and a half. It was the cornerstone of my world at the time. Now 30 years on, I found myself buying a copy of Fanfare for the Common Man, an ELP 'greatest hits' compilation. Just for the memories. I expected it to sound a bit cheesy and 5th form-like.
Bloody hell, was I wrong. It's stonking! So musical. So well thought out. So together. And so heavy. Tracks like Knife Edge and The Endless Enigma are really really good. But what most surprises me is the sound quality. It's huge, it's deep and it's as clear as a bell. Fantastic! There's a bit in the Endless Enigma where Carl Palmer goes "doof doof doof doof" on the bass drum pedal and it sounds like the council have come to knock down the house and are starting with the wall behind the speakers. Awesome!
Shame about the lyrics though. Some of them are a tad embarrasing
.
Hearing Tarkus for the first time was the most significant moment of my musical life. I was 13 or 14 at the time. Having only recently taken down my posters of The Sweet and graduated to the more 'mature' and 'interesting' 10cc, I thought that was about as far as you could go. I had no idea that there was a whole other world (or worlds) of music out there. Beyond top 20 pop and my mother's Mario Lanza collection. Then we visited an uncle in Shefield and my cousin played me Tarkus.
Christ!
I had never suspected for a moment that music could be like that. I was transported. I was hooked. I bought Tarkus and played it every day. Sometimes two or three times a day, for a year and a half. It was the cornerstone of my world at the time. Now 30 years on, I found myself buying a copy of Fanfare for the Common Man, an ELP 'greatest hits' compilation. Just for the memories. I expected it to sound a bit cheesy and 5th form-like.
Bloody hell, was I wrong. It's stonking! So musical. So well thought out. So together. And so heavy. Tracks like Knife Edge and The Endless Enigma are really really good. But what most surprises me is the sound quality. It's huge, it's deep and it's as clear as a bell. Fantastic! There's a bit in the Endless Enigma where Carl Palmer goes "doof doof doof doof" on the bass drum pedal and it sounds like the council have come to knock down the house and are starting with the wall behind the speakers. Awesome!
Shame about the lyrics though. Some of them are a tad embarrasing
.Thanks Opportunity for growth
£4.97 from Amazon - I've ordered a copy
£4.97 from Amazon - I've ordered a copy