A keeper, but as I learned the hard way with Yes's Relayer, I wouldn't recommend playing this kind of music at parties. Like any self-respecting music critic who likes ELP (or are there any music critics who like ELP apart from amateur web reviewers?), I do feel conflicted about enjoying their music. And indeed, for about half of the first side of the record, I felt confident that I would be able to break from the shackles of my forefathers and deem this a blue bin album. But I felt the same way when listening to ELP's Tarkus, but eventually came to a grudging acceptance of the record. And lo, the same thing happened here!
For those who have never listened to ELP before, the issue is as following. This is prog-rock at its most proggy, with the music centered around piercing early 70s synthesizer solos. I don't particularly care for Emerson's synthesizer tone, seeing how it's aged about as well as Paul McCartney's voice, and though his playing is technically impressive, it is ridiculously overwrought. But the solos are not played with no greater end in mind. There is a diversity of moods, melodic hooks, and most importantly, the sense that these are actual compositions. Plus there are some piano solos every now and then! And most importantly, this album closes with "Lucky Man," a song which I have no compulsions about liking, and in a weird way, reminds me of Ween's The Mollusk (without the humor, of course). If you ever decide to give ELP a chance, start here.
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