BRAIN SALAD SURGERY
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. (More from Wikipedia)
Even progressive rock bands whose albums sold well from the beginning often didn’t reach their creative peak for awhile. The magnum opus for Emerson, Lake and Palmer, “Karn Evil 9” was on their fifth album, Brain Salad Surgery. Jethro Tull’s classic album Aqualung was their fourth album. This also applies for several rock bands of the same time period that do not truly fit the progressive rock category. It was Queen’s fourth album, A Night at the Opera that included their unforgettable “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Canadian hard rockers Rush came up with 2112 as their fourth album (that title is exactly 100 years from now, as it happens). The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd’s space-rock masterpiece that took up near permanent residency on the Billboard album charts – was the band’s eighth album. With Trillion though, the band was never given the opportunity to develop an audience or to refine their sound.
(October 2012)
