Emerson Lake & Palmer – Brain Salad Surgery
(Manticore Records 1973 MC66669)
Matrix No’s: ST-MC-732991-G SRC Logo AT PR/ST-MC-732992-G SRC Logo AT PR – First UK pressing
Die-Cut Fold Out Sleeve in Excellent+ condition
– some wear to edges & some ringwear rubbing on back cover
Poster in Nr MINT condition
Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from the odd light pop/crackle)
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of keyboardist Keith Emerson, singer, bassist, and producer Greg Lake, and drummer and percussionist Carl Palmer. With 4.5 million RIAA-certified albums sold in the US, and an estimated 48 million sold worldwide, they were one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock bands in the 1970s, with a musical sound including adaptations of classical music with jazz and symphonic rock elements, dominated by Emerson’s flamboyant use of the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, and piano (although Lake wrote several acoustic songs for the group).
After forming in early 1970, the band came to prominence following their performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. In their first year, the group signed with Atlantic Records and released Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970) and Tarkus (1971), both of which reached the United Kingdom top five. The band’s success continued with Pictures at an Exhibition (1971), Trilogy (1972), and Brain Salad Surgery (1973). After a three-year break, Emerson, Lake & Palmer released Works Volume 1 (1977) and Works Volume 2 (1977) which began their decline in popularity. After Love Beach (1978), the group disbanded in 1979.
The band reformed partially in the 1980s with Emerson, Lake & Powell featuring Cozy Powell in place of Palmer. Robert Berry then replaced Lake, forming 3. In 1991, the original trio reformed and released two more albums, Black Moon (1992) and In the Hot Seat (1994), and toured at various times between 1992 and 1998. Their final performance took place in 2010 at the High Voltage Festival in London to commemorate the band’s 40th anniversary. Both Emerson and Lake died in 2016, leaving Palmer as the only surviving member of the band.
Brain Salad Surgery is the fourth studio album by progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in 1973 and the first under their Manticore Records imprint. It fuses rock and classical themes. Greg Lake wrote the lyrics for the album with the assistance (on two tracks, “Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression” and “Benny the Bouncer”) of former King Crimson bandmate (and, beginning with this album, frequent ELP collaborator) Peter Sinfield. This was the first Emerson, Lake & Palmer album to have no songwriting contributions from Carl Palmer. The cover art is by H. R. Giger.
Track listing
| Side one | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | “Jerusalem” (William Blake, Hubert Parry as adapted by Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, Carl Palmer) | 2:41 | ||||||||
| 2. | “Toccata” (Alberto Ginastera, arr. Emerson) | 7:16 | ||||||||
| 3. | “Still…You Turn Me On” (Lake) | 2:50 | ||||||||
| 4. | “Benny the Bouncer” (Emerson, Lake, Peter Sinfield) | 2:15 | ||||||||
| 5. | “Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Pt. 1” (Emerson, Lake) | 8:39 | ||||||||
| Side two | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 6. | “Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Pt. 2” (Emerson, Lake) | 4:43 | ||||||||
| 7. | “Karn Evil 9: 2nd Impression” (Emerson) | 7:05 | ||||||||
| 8. | “Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression” (Emerson, Lake, Sinfield) | 9:05 | ||||||||
Personnel
- Keith Emerson – Hammond organs, piano, harpsichord, accordion, Moog Modular IIIc synthesizer, Moog Minimoog synthesizer, Moog Constellation polyphonic ensemble (consisting of Moog Lyra solo synthesiser, Moog Apollo polyphonic synthesiser (Polymoog prototype), and prototype Moog Taurus bass pedal synthesizer), ring-modulated “computer” voice on “Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression”
- Greg Lake – vocals, Zemaitis double neck, bass guitar
- Carl Palmer – drums, percussion, gongs, timpani, percussion synthesizers (drum-based synthesizer triggers)
- Produced by Greg Lake
- Engineered and mixed by Chris Kimsey & Geoff Young
- Additional engineering: Bob Fisher, Ed Morgan
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