Brain Salad Surgery - Emerson, Lake, And Palmer

Track List:

1. Jerusalem

2. Toccata

3. Still… You Turn Me On

4. Benny the Bouncer

5. Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Pt 1

6. Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Pt 2

7. Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression

8. Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression

Songs I have heard before this listening:

Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Pt 2

Songs I think could have been singles:

Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Pt 2 - Because I heard it before

Toccata - I think it’s a cool song

Other artists this reminds me of:

Frank Zappa - Similar music writing

Beatles and early Pink Floyd- Specifically “Benny the Bouncer” sounds so British

Don Mclean - The more folky parts of “Still…”

Notes on the music:

This is way ahead of it’s time. They did a good job predicting the types of sounds that would be used heavily in pop music well after this release.

The sonic stage is very deliberate. They are very aware and precise as to where the sound is coming from on the recording.

Notes on individual Songs

Jerusalem

Wow, that organ in the intro is right there in your face and really shows you what aural impressions you will be expecting on this one. The song is pretty and expands upon what appears to be a traditional hymn.

Toccata

I really like this song. The orchestral purcussion and other instruments wrapping around one another making various complex rhythms and rushing melodies. Honestly had I heard this out of context I would be easily convinced it was a Zappa song. The 2nd half of the song gets way more experimental.

So, the person who recommended this album to me added this tidbit "No, not prog! Why would I suggest that?" Which I interpreted as this will not be a prog rock album and asked why they would suggest a non-prog album by a prog group. I realized while this song was playing that I had read that with the wrong inflection.

I suspect this song is the point in which some folks listening to this album say "Yeah this isn't for me." in my case this is for me.

Still... You Turn Me On

A 'love' song that seems odd here. We have a singer songwriter type verses with a heavily stylistic chorus. The narrator is begging a woman to be his muse. He is rejected by her and he confesses his lust for her and then threatens suicide due to rejection. I think the star of this is the sudden changes in the chorus.

Benny the Bouncer

This song is fun! Oh that bass line. The vocals are very British. It tells a story of Benny who is a local thug and is finally put in his place...and to rest by another thug named Sidney. It's a very similar story to "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" by Jim Croce. The playful tone and bounciness creates a near circus like atmosphere for this song.

Karn Evil 9

I think this is 1 song overall with 3 different parts, one of which is divided on the playlist I am using for my listen of this. I assume this was side 2 or B of the album since this is like a half hour long experience.

1st Impression, Pt 1

This is a bit unwieldy. The song starts with an organ intro but quicky devolves to planned and controlled audible chaos. This song gives the setting information. We are in a futuristic world where dark events have taken place. Society has collapsed and the narrator wants to help protect whomever is left.

Then we hear a sales pitch for a carnival (karn evil???) With promises of decadence, possibly nostalgia for the populace.

The song finished with a nice instrumental part that mixes stylistic elements from the call to action part from the start of the song with the salespitch for the carnival. I imagine that this is representative of the people exploring side shopw and happenings around the carnival.

1st Impression, Pt 2

The sales pitch for the carnival continues. The main event is about to begin. The main show is a round of solos for the band! After the lyrics start again they promise more shows coming soon and promise that they just performed everything that we just heard.

2nd Impression

Instrumental piece of just piano, drums/percussion, and bass I think.

(I would recommend reading this while listening to the song as I wrote it stream of consciousness while listening, good luck)

Starts really jazzy and stark contrast to what was just playing. It turns darker and we get distorition of some sort on a drum that I cannot recognize sounds similar to a set of toms from a marching band. There are some non-sensical words and then we get more sharply contrasting tones come into the composition. Keyboard solo. Silence. Wait there is more. Keyboard starts again with bass and a completely differernt style yet again. the 2 insturments are dancing. The percussion accents the conversation between the keys and the bass. We get feed back, the song starts getting darker again. Time is being kept. The conversation has became an argument. The keys are angry and the bass is taunting. Then another sudden change to a much fuller sound of the piano with a decending run and rising bass line played on the piano drowning out the bass. The song has changed I think this is telling story of the 2 factions from the first part having a conflict. The downtrodden populace trying to revolt against their oppressors whom have sent a karn evil to rob them of the little provisions that they have.

This is an awesome piece and showcases so many different styles. It's also a stark contrast to the rest of the parts of this song.

3rd Impression

Oh we are dark and electric again!

The oppressors have been identified, they are computers. A fight begins and we get another instrumental break. This is very cinematic sounding, most of the album is cinematic sounding but this is more so. The instrumental part and keys solo. This is another representation of conflict, this time between the unmasked computer and the humans. The battle is over and humanity has won... or so they thought they had. The song ends with the computers crashing the victory party from the humans. The outro changes to a very digital sounding tone.

Some of the effects didn't age well, the computer sounds like a Dalek from Doctor Who.

I would like to see the Karn Evil 9 performed with a laser light show or something that would be cool as hell.

Overall:

My impressions of the album is that it is a commentary on the evolution of music. We have gone from religious hymns, folk tunes, drinking songs and ballads to a new digital revolution. The second half is a metaphor for the artists playing traditional acoustic instruments while their peers move to the digital. They try to rebel however they find out that ultimately they had already accepted their fate and have been experimenting with digital instruments all along.