Brain Salad Surgery would be the fifth work of the band and one of the most successful of progressive rock. EL&P reach here its creative zenith, its interpretive force achieves objectives of a very high level, its sound becomes more electric and forceful. The three components demonstrate a great virtuosity in their respective instruments, including Greg Lake, the one who suffered the most with the electric guitar, achieves interpretations of great merit. In addition, if that were not enough, they count on the collaboration of Peter Sinfield as a lyricist, with which they manage to silence the criticisms about the occasional simplicity of the lyrics written by Greg, with Sinfield the texts become as complex and elaborate as music and EL&P manage to close that circle.
It was the year 1973 and we were in full symphonic effervescence. In the early 1970s, many of the best symphonic rock works of all time were composed. It was the time of the great classics, without going any further in that same year, 1973, we have plenty of examples of the quantity and quality of the published works, to name a few: Camel brought to light his great debut album, Genesis followed us Hypnotizing now with the masterpiece Selling England by the Pound, Pink Floyd touches the infinite with The Dark Side of the Moon, King Crimson climbed one more step in his progressive evolution and published the superb Starless and Bible Black, Jethro Tull left us his anthology A Passion Play and just the previous year, 1972, Yes published what is considered another of the masterpieces of symphonic rock with capital letters Close to the Edge.
Well, in that context appeared the work of EL&P, certifying the peak moment of progressive rock, with Brian Salad Surgery the trio is up to those mentioned above and many others that I have left in the inkwell for not being repetitive.
The work went on sale in November 1973 and was the first one they recorded with their own label: Manticore Records. At first the album was going to be called "Whip some skull on ya", but later they would change it to what would finally be the definitive name and already known by all.
The splendid cover is the work of H.R. Giger renowned artist in the surreal style of modern painting, known for his futuristic ideas and dark environments, and later even more recognized for being the creator of Alien, the famous eighth passenger of the Nostromo ship, in the cult film of the Same name, well known to all.
Regarding this work, Giger says that the illustration is created based on the first title of the album Whip some skull on ya, an expression that refers to skeletons and skulls. After the trio changed the name of the work, but since the painting was related to the new title Brian Salad Surgery and the final result they loved, they decided to keep the cover as designed by the painter.
Another curiosity of this cover, is that the group wanted the album cover to open wide, like two heavy doors. This forced Giger to do an extra job, which he finally solved in an extraordinary way, making a large cover in which the skull-shaped doors open revealing a mysterious woman of disturbing beauty.
The disc went to number 2 of the British lists and to number 11 of those of the USA.
The album strongly begins the piece "Jerusalem", an Anglo-Saxon Christian hymn adapted by the composer Hubert Parry from the poem of the same name written by William Blake. This theme many years ago, since the time of The Nice, which was around the head of Emerson and finally adapts it for this work.
In this theme, Emerson uses a church organ that gives a special majesty to the musical ensemble, where the magnificent Lake voice also stands out with its own light.
If Jerusalem impresses, resulting in an overwhelming disk start, Toccata is the worthy succession. It is an adaptation of the work of the Argentine Alberto Ginastera, First Piano Concerto, specifically of his fourth movement. Keith has always declared himself a great admirer of Ginastera's work, it is even said that before including the piece among the cuts of the album, Emerson visited the Argentine musician to show him the final result of the adaptation and ask for authorization for its publication, getting no only such authorization, but your unconditional support. Ginastera himself commented: “Hell! No one had ever been able to capture my music that way! It's the way I imagine it myself! ”
On this issue, Palmer's work on synthesized percussions and timpani is also very remarkable, it is said that Carl took extra lessons from the handling of these instruments and because of the final result of the product, we can assure that he got performance. Likewise, Emerson's work is also superb, laying the foundations for later works whose main component is the synthesizer.
After such an overwhelming issue, Still… You Turn Me on was still going on, and as usually happens, after the storm comes calm and the truth is that this definition fits in this case as a ring to the finger. After the great avalanche of keyboards and percussions that are downloaded with fury in Toccata, suddenly a simple acoustic guitar sounds and Lake's warm voice fills every corner of the subject. Then Emerson joins him, with his keyboards and together with the wah-wah effect of the electric guitar, a relaxed dialogue begins on the acoustic guitar's tapping mattress, giving a result of enormous beauty and an original touch to what otherwise it would have been the typical Lake ballad.
The fourth track of the album is Benny the Bouncer, it is undoubtedly the weakest track on the album. I would almost dare to say that it is a tradition of EL&P to introduce a joke theme in many of his albums. It seems, or at least it reminds me, a song for the typical “saloon” of western film, at any moment it seems that the outsider will enter through the swinging doors, will approach the bar, take out a coin and ask for a whishy
For the rest, and in anticipation of what awaits us, it will be good for us to relax a little because after “Benny” the album will not give us a moment of respite. And it is that my friends lack the best, fasten your seatbelts, hold on tight to your seats, free your minds and let yourself go, we get fully into one of the most famous suites of symphonic rock, and contemporary music: KARN EVIL 9.
We are therefore facing the masterpiece of this work, the subject is subdivided into three pieces "impressions", which are actually four since the first of these "impressions" in turn is divided into two, although all parts form a single set, with its own internal coherence, well defined and delimited from the rest of the disk.
The suite is inspired by a futuristic environment, where the excessive progress of technology and the importance it has taken in Western society is criticized. Recalling a bit (and this is a very personal vision) to films like "2001, An Odyssey in Space" at the time Dave disconnects Hal 900. That struggle between the human being and the machine, presented and debated in a thousand And sometimes. That fear, rational or not, who knows, that the machines take control of the world one day, who has not seen "Matrix", "Terminator" ...
Special attention to the final man / machine dialogue: great, bestial, impressive, captivated me from the first moment and now that I know that the synthesized voice (that of the machine) is given by Emerson, answering that of the man who puts it Lake (like it could not be otherwise) and that the letter with almost total security is from Sinfield, because you want me to tell you, my stolen heart has ... the best letter of the prog? ... Well maybe yes.
In addition to this theme, the famous “Welcome Back my friends, to the show never ends” comes out, a phrase with which as a welcome the trio opened its concerts.
But well let's go parts.
Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression, part I
The suite starts with a relatively quiet rhythm, Keith's great work on keyboards, perfectly seconded with Greg's bass and vocals and Carl's drums. A few minutes later the pace accelerates with a single brand from Emerson's house that starts all kinds of sounds to its modular moog, Lake's voice still sounds powerful, performing at the highest level and Palmer doesn't breathe his drumsticks: EL&P in its purest form !!!
Towards the end we can appreciate the advances of Lake with the electric guitar marking a single nothing despicable. Sincerely hearing more attention than normal this work has made me appreciate Greg's virtues with the guitar, which for me had always been in a very, very second term.
Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression, part II
This second part begins with the famous "Welcome Bak my Friends ...", is significantly shorter than the previous part and maintains the same schemes; playing the instruments and the voice a practically identical role, in this sense it can be affirmed that we are facing a continuation of the same theme, as in fact already shows the same title of the piece.
Karn Evil 9 - 2nd Impression
The second "Impression" is totally instrumental and begins with a fully soaked jazz rhythm. The acoustic piano of Emerson fills all the pores of the song, until the incorporation of some percussions of a certainly very curious rhythm, they seem as synthesized, although I would not dare to affirm that extreme forcefully either. In the middle of the song, the rhythm becomes more leisurely and Keith offers us a magnificent piano concert, passing the drums and bass to mere accompaniment instruments, it is a time for the personal brilliance of the keyboardist.
Karn Evil 9 - 3rd Impression
We resume the structure of the sung piece, again taking the textual part a great importance. The keyboards are shown again blunt, the rhythm of the percussions constant and dynamic, Lake focuses on the vocal and bassist facet. Among the keyboards, the use of the organ stands out above all others, mixed with the effects of the synthesizer. We approach the “climax”, at the climax, the moment in which the human being will seek an answer and the machine will give them to them, but the cybernetic responses are not what the man expects to receive, the machines take control…. Will the human being succumb to the designs of the machines?
In short, EL&P's top work and one of the greatest albums of progressive rock and general rock of all time
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