Brain Salad Surgery (1973)

 

Brain Salad Surgery

Artist: Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Release Year: 1973

Rating: 5/10

Track Listing: 1) Jerusalem; 2) Toccata; 3) Still…You Turn Me On; 4) Benny the Bouncer; 5) Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression - Part 1; 6) Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression - Part 2; 7) Karn Evil 9: 2nd Impression; 8) Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression.

"The show that never ends" sure sounds like an apt description for this kind of thing…or at least, that's what it feels like when I've listened to all the doodly-doodly synths and organs until my head hurts, only to realize I'm only halfway through this thing.  Yeah, these guys undoubtedly had chops, but that doesn't mean I need that proven to me over and over and over at the expense of melody.  I mean, who do they think they are, having "Toccata" devolve so quickly into a mess of electronic noise instead of just being, you know, a toccata?  Even when the catchy parts of "Karn Evil 9" crop up, they're annoyingly drowned out in dizzying, swirling keys, and that makes it really hard to focus on Greg Lake's excellent voice. 

The few places where the aforementioned annoyance doesn't happen, like on the ominous opener "Jerusalem" or the mysterious and beautiful baroque ballad "Still...You Turn Me On", are easily the high points for me, and I don't care what that says about me as a prog fan.  I don't want complexity just for its own sake, dammit!  But when they do throw in some really nice segments, like they do in that piano solo throughout "2nd Impression", I can get onboard a hundred percent.

Well, maybe ninety percent.

Anyway, not only do they show off more than not, but they also become card-carrying showoffs when they tout their show as "guaranteed to blow your head apart".  Ughh.  I'd much rather have that done by a guy like Robert Fripp, who never once claimed to be a genius.  He just trusted his audience to know that he is.