Onstage, EL&P usually overcome the shortcomings of their records -- insufficient intensity and lack of worthy material -- by working hard and busting their asses to play with incredible tightness (witness Pictures at an Exhibition). In the studio, their vision and grandiose schemes dilute the tightness, resulting in things like Brain Salad Surgery, on which their shortcomings outweigh undeniable moments of brilliance. The result: another sadly uneven album from a group with technical gifts equal to that of any British trio.

Save for an occasional blast like "Lucky Man" or "Take a Pebble," songs have not been EL&P's strong suite. When Lake is good as a writer, he's very good; when he's off, he has a tendency toward overblown lyrics. Hence, lines like "Do you want to be the lover of another/undercover/ you can even be the man on the moon," which drag the conceptually sound "Still You Turn Me On" to near-farcical proportions. And variation or no, each EL&P disk has contained a needless nonsensical whimsey like this one's "Benny The Bouncer" -- each a terrible waste of the band's talent and the listener's time.

Two shorter, instrumental-based pieces fare better. One, an adaptation of Albert Ginastera's First Piano Concerto, Fourth Movement, was rearranged by Keith Emerson with an eye toward the piece's inherent violence. The result so moved Mr. G. that his unsolicited review is printed in the liner notes. Enough said. The other, an adaptation of the old Englishe hymn "Jerusalem," is pulled off with particular aplomb by Lake, whose interpretative vocals often take him beyond the limits of less impressive lyrics.

The real meat of this platter, though, is the "Karn Evil 9" suite whose three movements compromise roughly a side and a quarter of the disk. Another tour-de-force where EL&P pull out all the sonic stops, this time around the theme's of a tripart epic battle between man and his surroundings. Emerson's keyboards whiz and speak, Lake and Carl Palmer hustle to keep perfect, imaginative time. Nonetheless, it's but a shell of its onstage self -- where here they cook, in concert EL&P's presentation of this number boils over and vaporizes.

This LP only convinces me that EL&P really ought to record all their material in concert, for short of that I fear we're doomed to more albums like Brain Salad Surgery, -- another record that shows this fine band to mixed effect.

- Gordon Fletcher, Rolling Stone, 1/31/74.

Bonus Reviews!

Further reading on Super Seventies RockSite!: Album Review: Emerson, Lake & Palmer Album Review: Pictures At An Exhibition Album Review: Trilogy Album Review: Welcome Back, My Friends, To The Show That Never Ends...

Is this supposed to be a rebound because Pete Sinfield wrote the lyrics? Because Certified Classical Composer Alberto Ginastera -- who gets royalties, after all -- attests to their sensitivity on the jacket? Because the sound is so crystalline you can hear the gism as it drips off the microphone? C-

- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.

Science-fiction rock, virtually a soundtrack to a non-existant film. Well-produced and overpowering, but fully rewarding only on the tracks that fall outside the concept. * * * *

- Bruce Eder, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.

A deliciously grandiose opus that solidified this trio as one of the premier practitioners of progressive rock, this artistic piece of epic magnitude is just short of pretentious making it, well, brilliant. Their supreme mastery of instruments (long live the Moog synthesizer) and blending of classical music was way ahead of its time, perhaps too far for a few who bristle at its overblown, bombastic UK excess. * * * *

- Zagat Survey Music Guide - 1,000 Top Albums of All Time, 2003.

Synths imitating trumpets! A track based on the work of a classical composer from Argentina! A half-hour suite pitting man against computer! What's not to love? An essential classic-prog album.

- David Browne, Entertainment Weekly, 5/13/05.

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