FUN FACT! I often have to edumacate ppl that ELP are one of the MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSICAL ACTS IN HUMAN HISTORY. (EX: lot more influential than, say, Bach or Black Sabbath...but no one knows this!) And that's BEFORE you remember "oh yeah: BILLY JOEL was a HUUUUUGE ELP fan and you can hear where joel got a LOT of his stuff from via ELP, like "The Sheriff"!" And that's BEFORE You remember "Oh yeah: the NINTENDO composer said ELP was one of his top influences!"
@@dumpygoodness4086 Other fun fact: I recently did a photo gig at the Geneva cathedral and chatted with some staff there, turns out the organist on that day was a huge Keith Emerson fan. You could definitely here that in some of the music played (not during the service, mind, but definitely before and after).
plus it's NOT just some comic THROWAWAY. ex: great melodies in there like "Ohhhhh what a terrible sight..." and fun lyrics (which most songs don't posess). I HATE ELP when they are repeating themselves ("ELP 101"). I like them best when it's their A-material and it sounds like nothing else on earth, plus ELP covers more ground than most bands! From electronic noise ("Toccata"!!!) to organ torture ("Rondo"!) to DELICIOUS ACOUSTIC BALLADS???? WHAT??? No other prog band could pull off those kinds of Pop Song Ballads like ELP did! (They don't get enough credit for how DEFT and IMPOSSIBLE that task was: to have their fans like BOTH the prog stuff AND the sappy pop ballads???!! WOW!)
that's wrong: you should NEVER silence another person. You can just disagree with them. everyone treats "HATRED" so negatively! If i HATE coffee, that's not EVIL! HATE just means I don't like it. It's NO SLIGHT on coffee at all - - get it? MATURE people are not afraid to be criticized, and if you're REALLY mature you CHALLENGE others to criticize you! If theyre just being mean, well then you have FUN at their expense and mock them (Wheee!)
Your cat is so philosophical! Whenever I am at my computer, one of my cats is legally obligated to come and help me, waving his tail in my face, lying on the keyboard, sniffing my nose, etc.
Trilogy, then their debut are my 2 favorites. Side 1 of Trilogy is brilliant. The title track is breathtaking. I love that’s there’s quite a few fun little tracks on there as well. They fit the album perfectly.
Trilogy is my favorite, no doubt. It's the only one I can listen to all the way through (not a _huge_ ELP fan) and the title track is their most perfect song.
OKAY...I CHALLENGE THEE!! Listen to ELP's FIRST ALBUM (on YT cuz ELP ain't KC)....TWICE.....in the DARK..... ...and then report back here what you didn't like. I PREDICT....u will come back here and say "ok....their debut is a MASTERPIECE of MELODY and textures and skill and action and TASTE and innovation!" ELP's first 5 albums are LANDMARK records that are nearly flawless. (I fear for ppl looking up the band and their intro to ELP is the BLAND "Fanfare For The Common Man" which is their biggest video I think! THAT's NOT ELP!!!! ELP is more fun and wild!)
@@Cpayne30 NO!! (Lizard needs at least THREE listens in the dark. Far more dense than ELP's records!) And HURRY! We all want to hear WHY you don't LOVE The Barbarian, Take A Pebble, The 3 Fates, etc! (It always bothers me when Niamh DOESN'T NAME SONGS when she's praising a record, most of the time. 'Side One is cheesy [name songs]" and "I really like side 2 [name songs!]")
@@Cpayne30 i usually tell doubters to listen to Lizard FIVE times. IN THE DARK. (Prog really should be listened to in the dark, so you don't miss as much.)
I still take love beach over black moon. Emerson still had his healthy hands, lake still had his gorgeous voice, palmer as great as ever. Canario and officer & gentlemen are excellent. Pictures at an exhibition one of greatest live albums for sure. Promenade, the sage and great gates of Kyiv are jewels.
my only complaint is that much of Pictures (the Classical Composition) is weak IMO or not my taste. the BEST parts are KILLER, but the main themes (just like Fanfare For The Common Man) are meh IMO. That might be why Niamh didn't put it higher.
Nice work. I’m 63 y.o. and recently came to the conclusion that Trilogy is #1 for me. It is the most complete and without any mediocre tracks. I do love Tarkus very much and at one point knew it much better than any other ELP album (thanks to my cousin). However, Trilogy is a more accessible album with UNMATCHED piano work by Keith. Tarkus is less accessible with the odd time signatures and obscure prog rock themes.
Thanks again Niamh for your comments. In fact I have been listening to ELP again because of your videos! I agree with your top five rankings too. Love your "ranting" about ranking. :)
You're so young and you're into prog, there's still hope for this world , ok here's my list 1. Brain Salad Surgery 2. Tarkus 3. EL&P 4. Trilogy Here's Pictures at an Exhibition it's not a studio album however sweetie 5. Love Beach (I like this one, side 2 is awesome) 6. Works vol. 2 7. Works vol. 1 8. Black Moon 9. In the Hot Seat ELP is my top 4 prog band.
I agree with your top-4 but not the order. Back in the 1970s, BSS was my favorite, hands-down. I thought it was a cut above all the others, mainly due to Karn Evil 9 being a masterwork. However, in my 60’s now I feel Trilogy is #1. It was fewer weak tracks and is a much more accessible album for the average listener. BSS sounds dated and corny.
@@richardshansky3040 BSS is timeless. Trilogy got me into ELP, I like that album but there's a filler or two on it. Plus I am not the average listener.
@@lucasbeer353 Both albums have “filler” tracks. On BSS, it’s Jerusalem, Still, You Turn Me On and Benny the Bouncer. On Trilogy, it’s The Sheriff, Hoedown and Abaddon’s Bolero.
@@richardshansky3040 And you still find Trilogy their best album, liking 4 songs on it, only 2 of them are substantial. Anyway, you didn't mention Living Sin, a true filler, I like other songs, maybe with the exception of Abaddon's Bolero, cos it's pretty boring. I also like Still You Turn Me On, Jerusalem and Benny the Bouncer, you just missed the humor on Benny and Sheriff.
Hey Niamh, interesting video. Your opinions are quite valid so don't ever apologise for them. My fave ELP album is "Brain Salad Surgery" as it's the first one of theirs that I ever bought, which led me down the ELP rabbit hole. Thanks you for also alerting me to the 2 later ELP albums that I knew nothing about. I may investigate those ones. I agree with you about "Cest La Vie", beautiful song. ELP are my favourite Prog Rock group. I think it's absolutely great that someone your age has such a grasp, appreciation and knowledge of this genre. You're educating this old guy every day. Cheers Niamh. Love your work. :)
Can't argue with number 1, for the title track alone. Amazing to think that Tarkus got to number 1 in the UK albums chart. No Internet in those days, virtually no radio airplay, just word of mouth and gigging. Brain Salad Surgery would be my #2. KarnEvil9 took rock music as a high art form to a level mere mortals can only dream of. Trilogy @ #3. Every track absolutely brilliant, especially the title track and Endless Enigma.
1. Brain Salad Surgery 2. Emerson, Lake & Palmer 3. Tarkus 4. Trilogy 5. Pictures at an Exhibition 6. Works Vol 1 7. Emerson, Lake & Powell [I'm including it] 8. Works Vol 2 9. Love Beach 10. Black Moon 11. In the Hot Seat And if we were to include 3’s To the Power of Three (Emerson, Berry and Palmer) I’d put it right above Love Beach.
In 1970 I went to the store and bought ELP's first album. I took it home, put it on the turntable, and hated it! I took it back, told them it skipped (I still feel guilty) and exchanged it for Grand Funk Railroad's first album, On Time, which I loved. Over the next year, my taste had changed and when a friend turned me on to Tarkus in his basement, it blew me away! I still remember that day. My next ELP album was Welcome Back My Friends. Senior year of High School, I would listen to Welcome Back My Friends, and Yessongs, back to back. I don't know if I ever made it all the way through, but i certainly tried. I saw ELP live, only once. The Welcome Back tour. It was a great show, and as a bonus, we sat right behind our friends, Terry Lutrell, original lead singer from REO Speedwagon and Starcastle, and Starcastle's bass player, Gary Strater. BTW, I REALLY ENJOY YOUR VIDEOS!
@Bookhouse Boy These guys I can listen to any time, and I am never tired of them for the last 50 years. Not many bands do that for me. However, I do like Fleetwood Mac ( pre Stevie Nicks) Mystery to me album and Heroes are Hard to find are dynamic. Nothing like Stevie Nicks era with them. There are others too, but no one like ELP
Another great post! I am pretty sure most people watching know your love for ELP. If not......pffffftttt! My cat also loves music! He mostly likes the Grateful Dead, but recently he has been reacting to Buckethead. Especially the Dragons of Eden album with Travis Dickerson and the pikes Echo, Space Viking and Healing Inside Outside Every Side. Cats are so funny(at least i think mine is).😀 Keep up the great work presenter Niamh. Always a pleasure. See you again soon. TTFN🖖🤘
Thanks for the video. The top 4 are stellar. Got me listening to some of those lesser albums to see if my initial indifference had changed any. It hadn't.
Thanks, Niamh, for this video. I never listened to Love Beach before, and thanks to your video, I did, and I’m happy to discover the epic on it! (Which I didn’t know that it existed in the first place).
Hello, Niamh, I completely agree with the order of your list. I'm an old fan of progressive rock and, of course, of ELP. In fact, like you, the first time I heard Tarkus, when I was 15, I was fascinated. I like your videos and your opinions. Don't stop doing them. Greetings from Mexico City.
Your experience with Tarkus sounds a lot like my experience with Kansas and their album Point Of Know Return. I bought Point Of Know Return because I'd heard the song "Dust In The Wind" on the radio, I was in 8th grade at the time. Got home and put the album on, and the first song is the title track, which it turns out I had heard on the radio a time or two as well... ok. Next track starts all the prog stuff, nothing like which I had EVER heard before. Paradox, Lightning's Hand, Portrait, The Spider, Nobody's Home, all these epic, compositionally complicated songs that just blew my doors off. I sat and listened to it 4 or 5 times in a row, literally unable to walk away from it, it drew me in so strongly. That was the start of my love for the band Kansas and my introduction and start of my love for Prog music in general. A few months later I would go for a ride with a classmate to his mom and dad's to get something, I don't even remember what it was, but we took his sister's car, and she had a Pioneer under dash Supertuner radio and cassette deck. He had a copy of the first Rush live album "All The World's A Stage" in the cassette deck when we got in the car. I'd never heard Rush before. That album is my favorite Rush album to this day, it was released right after the 2112 album and contains songs from the albums up to and including 2112. It's probably my favorite live album ever, it's SO good, a really nice representation of the band during that more aggressive, rocky-sounding period in their earlier days. OH, I found a copy of Love Beach at the local antique mall the other day for a dollar. I'd agree with your assessment of it. It's OK, but compared to other stuff they did, it kinda falls short.
Also, I'll say what everyone else here pretty much has, don't apologize for your opinions, you're welcome to yours every bit as much as anyone else is welcome to theirs. If they get offended by your opinion, well, you aren't obligated to agree with anyone 100% of the time. I don't like being cold toward others, but people in general are way too soft these days. It's OK to have an opinion, and it's OK if that opinion is not 100% in step with whatever the mainstream has made popular.
Loved hearing your ranking on ELP studio records, it's precisely the subjective opinions of each and every one of us that makes music rankings so interesting to me. I've only listened to five of their albums but Trilogy was my first ELP purchase and I really like it, that one and Brain Salad Surgery are neck and neck on my list, nice to hear that you rank Trilogy so high! Looking forward to more of these kind of videos 😊
niamh you keep doing what you do,,you are a breath of fresh air ..from an old rocker myself your dad reminds me so much of myself talking about his love of music..and was he at the last grateful dead shows at wembley arena when bruce hornsby made his debut with them...ps you need to give marillion the steve hogarth era a good listen..
ELP was the band that started my love for prog rock and it all started with tarkus and brain salad surgery top 3 ELP albums self titled, tarkus and brain salad surgery and runner up trilogy also check out Greg lakes 1981 solo debut it features the rocking track nuclear attack featuring Gary Moore on guitar
Love that ranking! I agree about "Love Beach" side 2. I can understand your ranking of "Pictures" too. I've started my own ELP reviews and ranking series today ;)
That ELP ‘Works’ album looks great! Ok my top 3 are as follows: 3. Tarkus 2. Brain Salad Surgery 1. Trilogy Works Vol. 1 and 2 are honorable mentions! Cheers from Tejás!
Hi Niamh, I used to be an Uber ELP Fan from the first LP. Don’t worry about your opinion, it’s fine and in the end, it’s all that matters. Keep making your videos for as long as it makes you happy. Bollocks to the haters. ;-) (That’s a curse word over there right?) My personal thoughts, opinions from someone your Dads’ age… Works 2 was mostly a collection of B sides. I had most of the album on 7" singles years before it came out. Works 1 was a disappointment. Having been a fan back in the day. 4 years between studio albums was an eternity to a teenager. And in the end only 1 side was ELP. It held up well though. I did see the orchestra tour all 3 nights at Madison Square Garden. My preference order: Trilogy - Saw ELP 8 times, and they never saw them do Endless Enigma. My favorite ELP piece. Brain Salad Surgery - This cemented me.. ELP became Gods with this album. The pictures you have of them on your wall were hanging in my room back in 73. ELP - My first exposure to them. My sister took me and my friend to a bungalow her and her friends rented for the summer in the Hamptons on Long Island NY. She played Lucky Man and I was mesmerized. This was her friends album. She talked about the machine one of the guys were playing at the end of the song…. ….and that the rest of the album, was very different and not as good. I wouldn’t stop playing the whole album. It was like nothing I ever heard before. My sister’s friend said to me, I will give you the record if you stop playing it! It was tough but being a little kid, I took the deal! ;-) Tarkus - Like all new ELP albums I wore it out. I can recite Tarkus. Pictures Welcome Back… live album. (Saw this tour, twice). One time was at Roosevelt stadium in NJ. There was a huge tornadic storm and they cancelled the concert. Works 1 Then all the rest order doesn’t really matter. I took a lot of crap from friends for Love Beach. Especially since they were hawking ELP underwear! Cheers from the colonies!
It is difficult to rank them, but my number 1 is Brain Salad Surgery. It is brilliant!! Even Alberto Ginastera praised Toccata (rendition of his Piano Concerto). Imagine that!!!. Thanks for a great video, as always.
My favorite version of Pictures at An Exhibition is the Lyceum concert. Flawed in places, but incredible energy and...terrifying. ELP were truly intimidating, in best possible way, during that performance.
Thank you for the video! I'm 50 and I've somehow managed not to get aknowlidged with ELP's discography yet, so after watching your brief but fascinating review I'm surely going to take some interest in their music 👍
Niamh, have you ever heard The Nice, Keith's previous group? Also, I'd recommend Keith's soundtrack to the Italian horror film 'Inferno' by Dario Argento, which is excellent. the Italians were big Prog fans in the 70s and I'd strongly recommend Italian band Goblin (who also worked on soundtracks for Dario Argento movies). They're like a cross between Crimson, ELP and Mike Oldfield, I'd say - their best albums are 'Deep Red' (aka 'Profondo Rosso'), 'Roller' 'Suspiria', 'Dawn of the Dead' and 'Contamination'. I think you and your dad would love them. Have a good day!
I must be the only ELP fan that doesn’t like the Nice, I also feel the same way about Todd Rundgren, I love Utopia but not his solo stuff. John Peel loves the Nice but hated ELP, anyway Niamh my top 3 ELP was the same as yours, keep up the good work!
@@mikewest1542 -Have to say I'm not a huge fan of The Nice or ELP, but I think Emerson was a superb keyboard player and keyboard players are one of my passions.
@@mikewest1542 nah, I get the feeling Peel was a bit snobby. He liked bands as long as they remained underground. I think the dislike to Yes and ELP was because they were playing footballstadiums and had platinum records, while VdGG and Caravan were still doing Peel sessions even when Punk was happening
Hi Niamh. Your cat is staring at you because Pictures is a live album, not a studio album. Nit picking aside.... 1 Brain Salad Surgery 2 Tarkus 3 Works vol 1 I've been a fan since 1976. The first ELP (and progressive album) I bought was Trilogy. I've never heard In The Hot Seat and hope to keep it that way.
A fine ranking I'd say. Nothing I would disagree with, though I probably listen to Welcome Back My Friends...the most. As far as the studio lps, you nailed it. I was a kid when Love Beach came out and I remember glancing at the cover thinking how strange, a new Bee Gees album. Fine video (and cute cat cameo).
Aloha, Niamh Awesome personal Ranking, Tarkus is also my favourite album by Emerson Lake and Palmer , I first heard this LP in 1972 when I was in high School. next would be Trilogy also, then I would take Brain salad surgery Then I will take their debut record album After those four, the next would be "welcome back my friend to the show that never ends"., after that I didn't follow them anymore I was moving on to other Genre's of music Thank you again for another great video. Looking forward to seeing your next video. Mahalo ed.
Favourite PROG album is a hard one. Even the best ones seem to have some flat bits. Possible sacrilegious statement but true love is hard to find especially after 5 decades of undying devotion and occasional trial separations. Thinking Hammill’s Silent Corner which goes over the top at the end and loses its way. Apart from that it’s almost relentlessly inspired if a bit dated now in part. He churned out about five classics in a few years after Pawn Hearts which is a definite candidate by itself, including Godbluff which is a showstopper itself. Not a bad effort. He had some staying power too which appeared to evade most of the others. Bit of Genesis, Floyd, Zappa, Crimson, Rush, Bowie etc, etc, etc...oh my God another old prog tragic.
Trilogy is such a great album, so is tarkus,its hard to pick which one is my favorite,I'm a drummer and I've learned both albums,there so much dynamics in both records. The organ parts on tarkus are so strong but the piano on trilogy is so great as well,there both number one !
Thanks for the rundown. A lot more agreement than disagreement. I'm especially glad you shouted out side 2 of Love Beach. Fantastic stuff that doesn't get enough credit. I also like side 1, corny as it is. Keep at it.
just bought Love Beach online (as I'd already bought several from the seller) and am picking them up on Wednesday, from Lyttelton, NZ. Hah, I knew you'd mentioned this, thought you'd ranked it higher!
No worries. Most will agree that those that make up your top six are indeed the top six and the four that make up your bottom four are indeed the bottom four. Other than that there's very little to seperate them in terms of quality. I would put your number five at number six, and vice versa. For the top spot it's between the debut and Brain Salad Surgery for me. I share your enthusiasm for the title track especially of the Tarkus album. But there's no right or wrong here, only opinions. You did very well. Both in terms of your ranking and explanation.
My choice is pretty much as yours : 1.Tarkus 2.Trilogy 3. Brain Salad Surgery 4. Debut 5. Pictures at an Exhibition 6. Works Vol 1. Fantastic band but I have never owned any of the other studio albums as not in the same league for me.
Beautiful cat! I mostly agree with your ranking of the ELP albums and your comments about them. I would put the first album as No1 (The Barbarian and The Three Fates are my favourites), Brain Salad Surgery as No2 (Jerusalem, Toccata, and Karn Evil 9 are favourites), Picture At An Exhibition as No 3, and the rest of the albums in the same order you had them. Pictures At An Exhibition got me interested in the original piece of music, so I bought several different versions, including the score for the original piano version. I saw ELP live at the Concert Hall in Stockholm in November 1992. Sadly it made me realise that ELP at the time were quite tacky, and crowd-pleasing without any real passion. Since I discovered excellent new bands like Anekdoten and Änglagård that year, ELP then got put into the category of _former_ favourite bands.
Tarkus is my favorite Prog album of all time. Side one is perfect. I seldom turn the record over I can't rank several of their records, as I haven't listened to anything that came after Works 1 & 2, and I've only listened to the Works albums once. I will leave those out and will rank the records that I have in my collection. Top to bottom #1 Tarkus, #2 Self Titled Debut, #3 Trilogy, #4 Brain Salad Surgery, #5 Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends, and #6 Pictures at an Exhibition.
I can't speak either for or against the music, but the sleeve art for Love Beach is a masterpiece: The bouffant hairstyles; the plunging V-necklines, pointing like subliminal arrows towards the groin; a good five acres of untamed chest hair between the trio - all of it coming together in a fashion statement that seems to say "After this photo-shoot is over, we are going to a night club in Miami and some of The Bee Gees might be there." Madonna is often cited as the catalyst for hyper sexuality in pop music, but she didn't really get going until the mid 1980s. ELP were doing it in the cultural maelstrom of 1978, hot on the Doc Martened heels of punk - the least erotic genre of music of the last century.
CRAZY FACT: we only have the iconic image of SHIRTLESS ROCK STARS....b/c they didn't have LED lighting back then, as they do today! STAGE lights back then were called "chicken cookers" because anyone on stage was getting COOKED. Extremely hot lights. Now,...... a Sinatra doesn't exert himself like a Mick Jagger or Robert Plant or Elvis. And only NOW that we have seen the MURDER OF ROCK MUSIC (by the industry)....we realize how RARE / SINGULAR the 1960s / 1970s were! Had that window been while LED lights existed, you'd NEVER have had a shirtless rock star or any of them with their shirts unbuttoned! GOOD NEWS: I and many other musical innovators are doing shit today even more cool and daring and adventurous than our 1970s faves (b/c we avoid cliches)! BAD NEWS: the entire music industry is more crooked than ever and have a BLOCK on rock b/c it teaches kids that REBELLION IS COOL.
the NOSTALGIA factor is often quite strong in us. (I think Niamh said Tarkus was #1 b/c it was her....FIRST, ba-dum-bump!) (Whoa...that's like PHILOSOPHY or a Koan: "YOUR #1 FAVORITE IS USUALLY YOUR FIRST [aka the FIRST album or film or whatever you heard or saw or ate]") Nostalgia doesn't usually affect me though. I'm one of those ppl who thinks BRAIN SALAD is ELP's Quintessential LP and their PEAK OF POWERS.... but it wasn't my first ELP. You could make a strong argument that their debut is their BEST....or Trilogy....or BSS....or Tarkus.... but it's kinda scientifically quantifiable that BSS is ELP at their PEAK of skill and colors, so.... I go along with that I think.
My dad gave me an old Pictures At An Exhibition vinyl copy when I was ten so that introduced me to the whole prog thing. But the debut is amazing as well. And your cat is amazing too.
well, also, as she points out, some songs are growers. I agree with her that the songs that are INSTANT FAVES...often don't have "staying power" and a year later I'm tired of them....but the songs that took longer to fall in love with end up having a long shelf life for me. ex: i LOVED the Tarkus suite instantly, but years later, it's lost some of its lustre. (Ha: I have a song called "Love At 12th Sight" which is about NOT being knocked out by a gal at first but once you get to know her, her personality blows your mind and you fall totally in love with her.)
My Top 4: 1. Self Titled Debut - Every song is killer for me. My favourite song is Take a Pebble. 2. Brain Salad Surgery - Love every song except for Benny The Bouncer. My favourite song is all parts of Karn Evil 9. 3. Trilogy - Love about 6 or 7 of the tracks. My favourite song is the title track. 4. Tarkus - Love all the songs except Jeremy Bender and Are You Ready Eddy. My favourite song is the title track.
1) Tarkus 2) Pictures at an exhibition 3) brain salad surgery 4) trilogy 5) works one 6) Emerson Lake and Powell 7) Black Moon 8) first album Your cat is so cool.
Kia ora,greetings from New Zealand. I bought the vinyl album Works .vol 1 new in 1977,still have it. I have Pictures at an exhibition on dvd (live 1970). I like Tarkus as well,not sure which I like best until I have heard the rest. Thanks for posting.
I agree that In The Hot Seat is #10 but my first two are self titled and Brain Salad Surgery mostly because (besides Fanfare For The Common Man) they have the first tracks I really loved, Knife Edge and Karn Evil 9
1. Love Beach 2. La plage d'amour 3. 愛のビーチ 4. DER STRAND DER LIEBE 5. Romantic Seaside 6. La spiaggia dei pantaloni stretti 7. Picture of Exhibitionism 8. Tarkus
-ELP- 13. In the Hot Seat. 12. Love Beach. 11. In Concert. 10. Black Moon. 9. Live at the Royal Albert Hall. 8. Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends: Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. 7. Pictures at an Exhibition. 6. Works, Vol. 2 5. Emerson, Lake And Palmer. 4. Tarkus. 3. Works, Vol. 1. 2. Trilogy. 1. Brain Salad Surgery.
Brain Salad Surgery is probably the nearest they got to that 'perfect' album. Trilogy also came close, though I feel that the title track (apart from the opening) and Living Sin let it down somewhat. Side One of Pictures At An Exhibition is what I'd recommend to new listeners. Works Volume 1 is where they overreached themselves. Love Beach was a middle finger to the record company, and I suppose it warrants some affection for that.
I think your rankings are very fair, although my top 3 are: 1- Brain Salad Surgery 2- Trilogy 3- Works Vol 1 I consider 'Works Vol 2' to be more of a compilation than a proper studio album. Some of the songs were recorded years before and had already been released in one way or another, so it's hard to evaluate it fairly. 'Pictures...' is a bit problematic for me. It's mostly a live album of cover songs. I actually prefer the studio version that was in 'The Return of the Manticore' box set. 'Love Beach' will always be at the bottom for me. It was a real disappointment for me when it came out, and still is. And that horrible cover... Good video, thumbs up!
Your opinion is the only one you've got. If someone has a problem with it, it's their problem. Never got into ELP. I did have the Brain Salad Surgery flexi-disc given away with NME ahead of the album release. Played it once. I think "Benny the Bouncer" put me off ...
Top 3 - Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson Lake & Palmer and Trilogy. Pictures at an Exhibition is 4th, then Love Beach and Works Vol 1 tied for 5th, Tarkus, Works Vol. 2 and Black Moon tied for 7th and In the Hot Seat is last (even though it has a nice studio version of Pictures and three excellent other tracks - too much Keith Olsen on the rest of the album!)
I don't have Instagram. I don't like Mark Zuckerberg. But, I like your videos and I recently got caravan because of your recent Canterbury prog video. Here's my top 5 ELP. 5. Pictures of an exhibition (one of my first Albums I got in my new collection) 4. Self titled debut 3. Tarkus ( came into it in the last 5 years) 2. Brain Salad Surgery 1. Trilogy ( was my first introduction to E,L,P in 84 or so). I love Works but they come lower after Welcome to the show ( triple live album that I had in the 80s from a yard sale)
Your cat gets the last word. I only have Works 1 and Brain Salad Surgery. I love them both but I never felt the inclination to get more but that's Prolly because I had too many other things to get at the time and ELP fell by the wayside. I sort of reside within the realm of Yes, Rush, Floyd and Genesis when it comes to completistness. I invented a word. Don't worry about voicing an unpopular opinion on your channel. It's your bloody channel. The complainers can do their own thing on their own channel. But I think most like a good conversation. But I certainly agree with you on Benny The Bouncer. It totally ruins the flow of the album.
I found a new channel to watch. My ranking: 10. In the Hot Seat 9. Black Moon 8. Love Beach 7. Works 2 6. Works 1 5. ELP (self titled) 4. Pictures at an Exhibition 3.Brain Salad Surgery 2. Trilogy 1. Tarkus
1) ELP 2) Trilogy 3) Tarkus 4) Brain salad surgery ( mostly for the cover artwork. The music is partially good, partially unlistenable) 5) Pictures at an exhibition ( again: good at times..)
I'd go with ELP debut, Pictures at an Exhibition & Tarkus. Pictures was not only my first ELP but also my first what is now regarded as classic prog. At the time I never called it prog, it was just music I liked. I was also into Beatles, Stones,Who, Rod Stewart, Status Quo at the time, as well as Queen,Yes, Pink Floyd. So it doesn't matter what you call it or if anyone else doesn't like it. B^)
Great list. However I think that the Welcome back my friends live album was great. Had all of the classic songs and they played them really great live.
I'm not a big fan, only got the first four studio album's, of those: 1 Trilogy 2 Emerson, Lake & Palmer 3 Brain Salad Surgery 4 Tarkus There is not a lot in it though. Remember having Pictures at an Exhibition on vinyl but sold years ago and never replaced it as the classical orchestral version is far superior, especially Valery Gergiev, there is no contest, ELPs doesn't come close. The albums I have got include 5.1 marvellous listening to music in surround sound, it really does take music to a higher level.
Works vol. 2, a bit of a misleading title.. it was actually a compilation LP.. It had leftover tracks from the Brain Salad and Works 1 sessions combined with tracks from singles and some solo stuff
You may be interested to know that on ITHS there are two tracks that Keith and Carl are not even on. They exited the 'scene of the crime'. I know Keith went to make Iron Man, not sure what Carl did. Those two tracks were finished by Greg and Keith Olsen's mates.
oh my: I always thought Greg aged worse than most rock stars....but I just saw him on the High Voltage set and....um...he looks like.....um....er....HARVEY WEINSTEIN! [author washes his eyes out with soap...]
Never apologize for 1) cats, 2) opinions and 3) Emerson Lake & Palmer.
FUN FACT! I often have to edumacate ppl that ELP are one of the MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSICAL ACTS IN HUMAN HISTORY. (EX: lot more influential than, say, Bach or Black Sabbath...but no one knows this!)
And that's BEFORE you remember "oh yeah: BILLY JOEL was a HUUUUUGE ELP fan and you can hear where joel got a LOT of his stuff from via ELP, like "The Sheriff"!"
And that's BEFORE You remember "Oh yeah: the NINTENDO composer said ELP was one of his top influences!"
@@dumpygoodness4086 Other fun fact: I recently did a photo gig at the Geneva cathedral and chatted with some staff there, turns out the organist on that day was a huge Keith Emerson fan. You could definitely here that in some of the music played (not during the service, mind, but definitely before and after).
"Benny the Bouncer" is the comic relief after such serious music
Agreed. I always liked that track; it's a bit like "Harold The Barrel" by Genesis.
plus it's NOT just some comic THROWAWAY. ex: great melodies in there like "Ohhhhh what a terrible sight..." and fun lyrics (which most songs don't posess).
I HATE ELP when they are repeating themselves ("ELP 101"). I like them best when it's their A-material and it sounds like nothing else on earth, plus ELP covers more ground than most bands! From electronic noise ("Toccata"!!!) to organ torture ("Rondo"!) to DELICIOUS ACOUSTIC BALLADS???? WHAT??? No other prog band could pull off those kinds of Pop Song Ballads like ELP did! (They don't get enough credit for how DEFT and IMPOSSIBLE that task was: to have their fans like BOTH the prog stuff AND the sappy pop ballads???!! WOW!)
Almost all the first side of the album is comical, except for the last track
Since you're a big Emerson fan you really should listen to the Nice albums
I do!
Don't be worried about voicing your opinions, and if there are any abusive/hater comments delete them and block them from your channel.
that's wrong: you should NEVER silence another person. You can just disagree with them.
everyone treats "HATRED" so negatively!
If i HATE coffee, that's not EVIL!
HATE just means I don't like it. It's NO SLIGHT on coffee at all - - get it?
MATURE people are not afraid to be criticized, and if you're REALLY mature you CHALLENGE others to criticize you!
If theyre just being mean, well then you have FUN at their expense and mock them (Wheee!)
Your cat is so philosophical! Whenever I am at my computer, one of my cats is legally obligated to come and help me, waving his tail in my face, lying on the keyboard, sniffing my nose, etc.
Trilogy, then their debut are my 2 favorites. Side 1 of Trilogy is brilliant. The title track is breathtaking. I love that’s there’s quite a few fun little tracks on there as well. They fit the album perfectly.
Trilogy is my favorite, no doubt. It's the only one I can listen to all the way through (not a _huge_ ELP fan) and the title track is their most perfect song.
OKAY...I CHALLENGE THEE!!
Listen to ELP's FIRST ALBUM (on YT cuz ELP ain't KC)....TWICE.....in the DARK.....
...and then report back here what you didn't like.
I PREDICT....u will come back here and say "ok....their debut is a MASTERPIECE of MELODY and textures and
skill and action and TASTE and innovation!"
ELP's first 5 albums are LANDMARK records that are nearly flawless.
(I fear for ppl looking up the band and their intro to ELP is the BLAND "Fanfare For The Common Man" which is
their biggest video I think! THAT's NOT ELP!!!! ELP is more fun and wild!)
@@dumpygoodness4086 After that, should I also listen to KC's Lizard twice in the dark?
@@Cpayne30 NO!!
(Lizard needs at least THREE listens in the dark. Far more dense than ELP's records!)
And HURRY! We all want to hear WHY you don't LOVE The Barbarian, Take A Pebble, The 3 Fates, etc!
(It always bothers me when Niamh DOESN'T NAME SONGS when she's praising a record, most of the time. 'Side One is cheesy [name songs]" and "I really like side 2 [name songs!]")
@@Cpayne30 i usually tell doubters to listen to Lizard FIVE times.
IN THE DARK.
(Prog really should be listened to in the dark, so you don't miss as much.)
I still take love beach over black moon. Emerson still had his healthy hands, lake still had his gorgeous voice, palmer as great as ever. Canario and officer & gentlemen are excellent. Pictures at an exhibition one of greatest live albums for sure. Promenade, the sage and great gates of Kyiv are jewels.
my only complaint is that much of Pictures (the Classical Composition) is weak IMO or not my taste. the BEST parts are KILLER, but the main themes (just like Fanfare For The Common Man) are meh IMO.
That might be why Niamh didn't put it higher.
Nice work. I’m 63 y.o. and recently came to the conclusion that Trilogy is #1 for me. It is the most complete and without any mediocre tracks. I do love Tarkus very much and at one point knew it much better than any other ELP album (thanks to my cousin). However, Trilogy is a more accessible album with UNMATCHED piano work by Keith. Tarkus is less accessible with the odd time signatures and obscure prog rock themes.
Thanks again Niamh for your comments. In fact I have been listening to ELP again because of your videos! I agree with your top five rankings too. Love your "ranting" about ranking. :)
To get your cat to miaow right on cue at the end was genius
You're so young and you're into prog, there's still hope for this world , ok here's my list
1. Brain Salad Surgery
2. Tarkus
3. EL&P
4. Trilogy
Here's Pictures at an Exhibition it's not a studio album however sweetie
5. Love Beach (I like this one, side 2 is awesome)
6. Works vol. 2
7. Works vol. 1
8. Black Moon
9. In the Hot Seat
ELP is my top 4 prog band.
Agree totally on your top 4. None of the albums after that evoke an a strong opinion from me. Maybe Works 1 with bonus tracks for 5
I agree with your top-4 but not the order. Back in the 1970s, BSS was my favorite, hands-down. I thought it was a cut above all the others, mainly due to Karn Evil 9 being a masterwork. However, in my 60’s now I feel Trilogy is #1. It was fewer weak tracks and is a much more accessible album for the average listener. BSS sounds dated and corny.
@@richardshansky3040 BSS is timeless. Trilogy got me into ELP, I like that album but there's a filler or two on it. Plus I am not the average listener.
@@lucasbeer353 Both albums have “filler” tracks. On BSS, it’s Jerusalem, Still, You Turn Me On and Benny the Bouncer. On Trilogy, it’s The Sheriff, Hoedown and Abaddon’s Bolero.
@@richardshansky3040 And you still find Trilogy their best album, liking 4 songs on it, only 2 of them are substantial. Anyway, you didn't mention Living Sin, a true filler, I like other songs, maybe with the exception of Abaddon's Bolero, cos it's pretty boring. I also like Still You Turn Me On, Jerusalem and Benny the Bouncer, you just missed the humor on Benny and Sheriff.
Hey Niamh, interesting video. Your opinions are quite valid so don't ever apologise for them. My fave ELP album is "Brain Salad Surgery" as it's the first one of theirs that I ever bought, which led me down the ELP rabbit hole. Thanks you for also alerting me to the 2 later ELP albums that I knew nothing about. I may investigate those ones. I agree with you about "Cest La Vie", beautiful song.
ELP are my favourite Prog Rock group. I think it's absolutely great that someone your age has such a grasp, appreciation and knowledge of this genre. You're educating this old guy every day. Cheers Niamh. Love your work. :)
1. Emerson, Lake and Palmer, 2. Tarkus, 3 Brain Salad Surgery....classic timeless prog albums from a great era of music
Can't argue with number 1, for the title track alone. Amazing to think that Tarkus got to number 1 in the UK albums chart. No Internet in those days, virtually no radio airplay, just word of mouth and gigging.
Brain Salad Surgery would be my #2.
KarnEvil9 took rock music as a high art form to a level mere mortals can only dream of.
Trilogy @ #3. Every track absolutely brilliant, especially the title track and Endless Enigma.
1. Brain Salad Surgery
2. Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3. Tarkus
4. Trilogy
5. Pictures at an Exhibition
6. Works Vol 1
7. Emerson, Lake & Powell [I'm including it]
8. Works Vol 2
9. Love Beach
10. Black Moon
11. In the Hot Seat
And if we were to include 3’s To the Power of Three (Emerson, Berry and Palmer) I’d put it right above Love Beach.
In 1970 I went to the store and bought ELP's first album. I took it home, put it on the turntable, and hated it! I took it back, told them it skipped (I still feel guilty) and exchanged it for Grand Funk Railroad's first album, On Time, which I loved. Over the next year, my taste had changed and when a friend turned me on to Tarkus in his basement, it blew me away! I still remember that day. My next ELP album was Welcome Back My Friends. Senior year of High School, I would listen to Welcome Back My Friends, and Yessongs, back to back. I don't know if I ever made it all the way through, but i certainly tried. I saw ELP live, only once. The Welcome Back tour. It was a great show, and as a bonus, we sat right behind our friends, Terry Lutrell, original lead singer from REO Speedwagon and Starcastle, and Starcastle's bass player, Gary Strater. BTW, I REALLY ENJOY YOUR VIDEOS!
Love Beach had a few good songs. “ For You”, Canario, and The epic “ officer and Gentlemen
@Bookhouse Boy
These guys I can listen to any time, and I am never tired of them for the last 50 years. Not many bands do that for me. However, I do like Fleetwood Mac ( pre Stevie Nicks) Mystery to me album and Heroes are Hard to find are dynamic. Nothing like Stevie Nicks era with them. There are others too, but no one like ELP
Another great post! I am pretty sure most people watching know your love for ELP. If not......pffffftttt! My cat also loves music! He mostly likes the Grateful Dead, but recently he has been reacting to Buckethead. Especially the Dragons of Eden album with Travis Dickerson and the pikes Echo, Space Viking and Healing Inside Outside Every Side. Cats are so funny(at least i think mine is).😀 Keep up the great work presenter Niamh. Always a pleasure. See you again soon. TTFN🖖🤘
Your cat has a brilliant music taste
I know right!😁 Maybe I should give him his own reaction channel. 😆 Maybe we could get Bob(Niamh's cat) in on it too.😹 thanks for the reply. 🖖
Emerson lake and palmer
Are the Kings of prog rock
This is one of the best videos
WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER
💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💕💞
Thanks for the video. The top 4 are stellar. Got me listening to some of those lesser albums to see if my initial indifference had changed any. It hadn't.
Thanks, Niamh, for this video. I never listened to Love Beach before, and thanks to your video, I did, and I’m happy to discover the epic on it! (Which I didn’t know that it existed in the first place).
Hello, Niamh, I completely agree with the order of your list. I'm an old fan of progressive rock and, of course, of ELP. In fact, like you, the first time I heard Tarkus, when I was 15, I was fascinated. I like your videos and your opinions. Don't stop doing them. Greetings from Mexico City.
Your experience with Tarkus sounds a lot like my experience with Kansas and their album Point Of Know Return. I bought Point Of Know Return because I'd heard the song "Dust In The Wind" on the radio, I was in 8th grade at the time. Got home and put the album on, and the first song is the title track, which it turns out I had heard on the radio a time or two as well... ok. Next track starts all the prog stuff, nothing like which I had EVER heard before. Paradox, Lightning's Hand, Portrait, The Spider, Nobody's Home, all these epic, compositionally complicated songs that just blew my doors off. I sat and listened to it 4 or 5 times in a row, literally unable to walk away from it, it drew me in so strongly. That was the start of my love for the band Kansas and my introduction and start of my love for Prog music in general. A few months later I would go for a ride with a classmate to his mom and dad's to get something, I don't even remember what it was, but we took his sister's car, and she had a Pioneer under dash Supertuner radio and cassette deck. He had a copy of the first Rush live album "All The World's A Stage" in the cassette deck when we got in the car. I'd never heard Rush before. That album is my favorite Rush album to this day, it was released right after the 2112 album and contains songs from the albums up to and including 2112. It's probably my favorite live album ever, it's SO good, a really nice representation of the band during that more aggressive, rocky-sounding period in their earlier days. OH, I found a copy of Love Beach at the local antique mall the other day for a dollar. I'd agree with your assessment of it. It's OK, but compared to other stuff they did, it kinda falls short.
Also, I'll say what everyone else here pretty much has, don't apologize for your opinions, you're welcome to yours every bit as much as anyone else is welcome to theirs. If they get offended by your opinion, well, you aren't obligated to agree with anyone 100% of the time. I don't like being cold toward others, but people in general are way too soft these days. It's OK to have an opinion, and it's OK if that opinion is not 100% in step with whatever the mainstream has made popular.
Loved hearing your ranking on ELP studio records, it's precisely the subjective opinions of each and every one of us that makes music rankings so interesting to me. I've only listened to five of their albums but Trilogy was my first ELP purchase and I really like it, that one and Brain Salad Surgery are neck and neck on my list, nice to hear that you rank Trilogy so high!
Looking forward to more of these kind of videos 😊
niamh you keep doing what you do,,you are a breath of fresh air ..from an old rocker myself your dad reminds me so much of myself talking about his love of music..and was he at the last grateful dead shows at wembley arena when bruce hornsby made his debut with them...ps you need to give marillion the steve hogarth era a good listen..
ELP was the band that started my love for prog rock and it all started with tarkus and brain salad surgery top 3 ELP albums self titled, tarkus and brain salad surgery and runner up trilogy also check out Greg lakes 1981 solo debut it features the rocking track nuclear attack featuring Gary Moore on guitar
Love that ranking! I agree about "Love Beach" side 2. I can understand your ranking of "Pictures" too. I've started my own ELP reviews and ranking series today ;)
That ELP ‘Works’ album looks great!
Ok my top 3 are as follows:
3. Tarkus
2. Brain Salad Surgery
1. Trilogy
Works Vol. 1 and 2 are honorable mentions!
Cheers from Tejás!
Hi Niamh,
I used to be an Uber ELP Fan from the first LP. Don’t worry about your opinion, it’s fine and in the end, it’s all that matters. Keep making your videos for as long as it makes you happy. Bollocks to the haters. ;-) (That’s a curse word over there right?)
My personal thoughts, opinions from someone your Dads’ age…
Works 2 was mostly a collection of B sides. I had most of the album on 7" singles years before it came out. Works 1 was a disappointment. Having been a fan back in the day. 4 years between studio albums was an eternity to a teenager. And in the end only 1 side was ELP. It held up well though.
I did see the orchestra tour all 3 nights at Madison Square Garden.
My preference order:
Trilogy - Saw ELP 8 times, and they never saw them do Endless Enigma. My favorite ELP piece.
Brain Salad Surgery - This cemented me.. ELP became Gods with this album. The pictures you have of them on your wall were hanging in my room back in 73.
ELP - My first exposure to them. My sister took me and my friend to a bungalow her and her friends rented for the summer in the Hamptons on Long Island NY. She played Lucky Man and I was mesmerized. This was her friends album. She talked about the machine one of the guys were playing at the end of the song…. ….and that the rest of the album, was very different and not as good. I wouldn’t stop playing the whole album. It was like nothing I ever heard before. My sister’s friend said to me, I will give you the record if you stop playing it! It was tough but being a little kid, I took the deal! ;-)
Tarkus - Like all new ELP albums I wore it out. I can recite Tarkus.
Pictures
Welcome Back… live album. (Saw this tour, twice). One time was at Roosevelt stadium in NJ. There was a huge tornadic storm and they cancelled the concert.
Works 1
Then all the rest order doesn’t really matter. I took a lot of crap from friends for Love Beach. Especially since they were hawking ELP underwear!
Cheers from the colonies!
That cat is bound to end up an ELP fan! My Top 5 would be: BSS at number one followed by Trilogy, ELP, Works 1, Tarkus.
It is difficult to rank them, but my number 1 is Brain Salad Surgery. It is brilliant!! Even Alberto Ginastera praised Toccata (rendition of his Piano Concerto). Imagine that!!!. Thanks for a great video, as always.
My favorite version of Pictures at An Exhibition is the Lyceum concert. Flawed in places, but incredible energy and...terrifying. ELP were truly intimidating, in best possible way, during that performance.
Thank you for the video! I'm 50 and I've somehow managed not to get aknowlidged with ELP's discography yet, so after watching your brief but fascinating review I'm surely going to take some interest in their music 👍
The one good thing about In The Hot Seat is the studio version of Pictures at an Exhibition on the CD
Niamh, have you ever heard The Nice, Keith's previous group? Also, I'd recommend Keith's soundtrack to the Italian horror film 'Inferno' by Dario Argento, which is excellent. the Italians were big Prog fans in the 70s and I'd strongly recommend Italian band Goblin (who also worked on soundtracks for Dario Argento movies). They're like a cross between Crimson, ELP and Mike Oldfield, I'd say - their best albums are 'Deep Red' (aka 'Profondo Rosso'), 'Roller' 'Suspiria', 'Dawn of the Dead' and 'Contamination'. I think you and your dad would love them. Have a good day!
I must be the only ELP fan that doesn’t like the Nice, I also feel the same way about Todd Rundgren, I love Utopia but not his solo stuff.
John Peel loves the Nice but hated ELP, anyway Niamh my top 3 ELP was the same as yours, keep up the good work!
@@mikewest1542 -Have to say I'm not a huge fan of The Nice or ELP, but I think Emerson was a superb keyboard player and keyboard players are one of my passions.
@@mikewest1542 nah, I get the feeling Peel was a bit snobby. He liked bands as long as they remained underground. I think the dislike to Yes and ELP was because they were playing footballstadiums and had platinum records, while VdGG and Caravan were still doing Peel sessions even when Punk was happening
Hi Niamh. Your cat is staring at you because Pictures is a live album, not a studio album. Nit picking aside....
1 Brain Salad Surgery
2 Tarkus
3 Works vol 1
I've been a fan since 1976. The first ELP (and progressive album) I bought was Trilogy. I've never heard In The Hot Seat and hope to keep it that way.
omg! I can't believe you put ..... only joking :-) Tarkus is now at the top of my wantlist.
A fine ranking I'd say. Nothing I would disagree with, though I probably listen to Welcome Back My Friends...the most. As far as the studio lps, you nailed it. I was a kid when Love Beach came out and I remember glancing at the cover thinking how strange, a new Bee Gees album. Fine video (and cute cat cameo).
Aloha, Niamh
Awesome personal Ranking, Tarkus is also my favourite album by Emerson Lake and Palmer , I first heard this LP in 1972 when I was in high School. next would be Trilogy also, then I would take Brain salad surgery Then I will take their debut record album After those four, the next would be "welcome back my friend to the show that never ends"., after that I didn't follow them anymore I was moving on to other Genre's of music
Thank you again for another great video. Looking forward to seeing your next video. Mahalo ed.
Favourite PROG album is a hard one. Even the best ones seem to have some flat bits. Possible sacrilegious statement but true love is hard to find especially after 5 decades of undying devotion and occasional trial separations. Thinking Hammill’s Silent Corner which goes over the top at the end and loses its way. Apart from that it’s almost relentlessly inspired if a bit dated now in part. He churned out about five classics in a few years after Pawn Hearts which is a definite candidate by itself, including Godbluff which is a showstopper itself. Not a bad effort. He had some staying power too which appeared to evade most of the others. Bit of Genesis, Floyd, Zappa, Crimson, Rush, Bowie etc, etc, etc...oh my God another old prog tragic.
Trilogy is such a great album, so is tarkus,its hard to pick which one is my favorite,I'm a drummer and I've learned both albums,there so much dynamics in both records.
The organ parts on tarkus are so strong but the piano on trilogy is so great as well,there both number one !
Thanks for the rundown. A lot more agreement than disagreement. I'm especially glad you shouted out side 2 of Love Beach. Fantastic stuff that doesn't get enough credit. I also like side 1, corny as it is. Keep at it.
just bought Love Beach online (as I'd already bought several from the seller) and am picking them up on Wednesday, from Lyttelton, NZ.
Hah, I knew you'd mentioned this, thought you'd ranked it higher!
No worries. Most will agree that those that make up your top six are indeed the top six and the four that make up your bottom four are indeed the bottom four. Other than that there's very little to seperate them in terms of quality. I would put your number five at number six, and vice versa. For the top spot it's between the debut and Brain Salad Surgery for me. I share your enthusiasm for the title track especially of the Tarkus album. But there's no right or wrong here, only opinions. You did very well. Both in terms of your ranking and explanation.
My choice is pretty much as yours : 1.Tarkus 2.Trilogy 3. Brain Salad Surgery 4. Debut 5. Pictures at an Exhibition 6. Works Vol 1. Fantastic band but I have never owned any of the other studio albums as not in the same league for me.
Beautiful cat! I mostly agree with your ranking of the ELP albums and your comments about them. I would put the first album as No1 (The Barbarian and The Three Fates are my favourites), Brain Salad Surgery as No2 (Jerusalem, Toccata, and Karn Evil 9 are favourites), Picture At An Exhibition as No 3, and the rest of the albums in the same order you had them. Pictures At An Exhibition got me interested in the original piece of music, so I bought several different versions, including the score for the original piano version. I saw ELP live at the Concert Hall in Stockholm in November 1992. Sadly it made me realise that ELP at the time were quite tacky, and crowd-pleasing without any real passion. Since I discovered excellent new bands like Anekdoten and Änglagård that year, ELP then got put into the category of _former_ favourite bands.
As a classical music fan, I'm glad you like Pictures at an Exhibition. It is in my ELP collection.
Tarkus is my favorite Prog album of all time. Side one is perfect. I seldom turn the record over I can't rank several of their records, as I haven't listened to anything that came after Works 1 & 2, and I've only listened to the Works albums once. I will leave those out and will rank the records that I have in my collection. Top to bottom #1 Tarkus, #2 Self Titled Debut, #3 Trilogy, #4 Brain Salad Surgery, #5 Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends, and #6 Pictures at an Exhibition.
I can't speak either for or against the music, but the sleeve art for Love Beach is a masterpiece: The bouffant hairstyles; the plunging V-necklines, pointing like subliminal arrows towards the groin; a good five acres of untamed chest hair between the trio - all of it coming together in a fashion statement that seems to say "After this photo-shoot is over, we are going to a night club in Miami and some of The Bee Gees might be there."
Madonna is often cited as the catalyst for hyper sexuality in pop music, but she didn't really get going until the mid 1980s. ELP were doing it in the cultural maelstrom of 1978, hot on the Doc Martened heels of punk - the least erotic genre of music of the last century.
CRAZY FACT:
we only have the iconic image of SHIRTLESS ROCK STARS....b/c they didn't have LED lighting back then, as they do today!
STAGE lights back then were called "chicken cookers" because anyone on stage was getting COOKED. Extremely hot lights. Now,...... a Sinatra doesn't exert himself like a Mick Jagger or Robert Plant or Elvis.
And only NOW that we have seen the MURDER OF ROCK MUSIC (by the industry)....we realize how RARE / SINGULAR the 1960s / 1970s were!
Had that window been while LED lights existed, you'd NEVER have had a shirtless rock star or any of them with their shirts unbuttoned!
GOOD NEWS:
I and many other musical innovators are doing shit today even more cool and daring and adventurous than our 1970s faves (b/c we avoid cliches)!
BAD NEWS:
the entire music industry is more crooked than ever and have a BLOCK on rock b/c it teaches kids that REBELLION IS COOL.
My favorite album is Trilogy because I heard for the first time when I was 13 and I fall in love with them, especially the Maestro Keith Emerson.
the NOSTALGIA factor is often quite strong in us. (I think Niamh said Tarkus was #1 b/c it was her....FIRST, ba-dum-bump!)
(Whoa...that's like PHILOSOPHY or a Koan: "YOUR #1 FAVORITE IS USUALLY YOUR FIRST [aka the FIRST album or film or whatever you heard or saw or ate]")
Nostalgia doesn't usually affect me though.
I'm one of those ppl who thinks BRAIN SALAD is ELP's Quintessential LP and their PEAK OF POWERS.... but it wasn't my first ELP.
You could make a strong argument that their debut is their BEST....or Trilogy....or BSS....or Tarkus.... but it's kinda scientifically quantifiable that BSS is ELP at their PEAK of skill and colors, so.... I go along with that I think.
Very good selection Niamh - slightly off topic have you checked out the sensational Rachel Flowers?
She's incredible. There's footage of her on CZcams doing guitar and vocals to 'Montana' with Dweezil Zappa's band.
@@richardfurness7556 You're right Richard, but her versions of Tarkus and other ELP classics are truly awesome.
My dad gave me an old Pictures At An Exhibition vinyl copy when I was ten so that introduced me to the whole prog thing. But the debut is amazing as well. And your cat is amazing too.
Lovely considerate reviews.
I'm only interested in the old ELP.
I agreed with your top three.
Except 2 would be the debut.
3 Trilogy.
I remember back in the mid 70s I made my own ELP t-shirts.I don't think anyone else in my small school was even into them.Good video by the way.
I really love Tarkus A side, now that my mind grow up in so many ways on music, i should give another chance for the B side.
Seen ELP 9 times. Your assessment is valid. I think the Benny the Bouncer type songs would connect if you saw a live show.
well, also, as she points out, some songs are growers.
I agree with her that the songs that are INSTANT FAVES...often don't have "staying power" and a year later I'm tired of them....but the songs that took longer to fall in love with end up having a long shelf life for me.
ex:
i LOVED the Tarkus suite instantly, but years later, it's lost some of its lustre.
(Ha: I have a song called "Love At 12th Sight" which is about NOT being knocked out by a gal at first but once you get to know her, her personality blows your mind and you fall totally in love with her.)
My Top 4:
1. Self Titled Debut - Every song is killer for me. My favourite song is Take a Pebble.
2. Brain Salad Surgery - Love every song except for Benny The Bouncer. My favourite song is all parts of Karn Evil 9.
3. Trilogy - Love about 6 or 7 of the tracks. My favourite song is the title track.
4. Tarkus - Love all the songs except Jeremy Bender and Are You Ready Eddy. My favourite song is the title track.
1) Tarkus 2) Pictures at an exhibition 3) brain salad surgery 4) trilogy 5) works one 6) Emerson Lake and Powell 7) Black Moon 8) first album
Your cat is so cool.
Kia ora,greetings from New Zealand. I bought the vinyl album Works .vol 1 new in 1977,still have it. I have Pictures at an exhibition on dvd (live 1970). I like Tarkus as well,not sure which I like best until I have heard the rest. Thanks for posting.
Excellent ranking
My top three definitely match yours.
Enjoyed that a lot.🎶✌️
I agree that In The Hot Seat is #10 but my first two are self titled and Brain Salad Surgery mostly because (besides Fanfare For The Common Man) they have the first tracks I really loved, Knife Edge and Karn Evil 9
Just for fun where would you put the Emerson lake and Powell album in this list.
Love Beach: I love it. However, if people can ignore the first 2 songs on there and the album cover, the rest is really really good.
What are your thoughts about the band Budgie? (maybe you should do a video about that)
1. Love Beach
2. La plage d'amour
3. 愛のビーチ
4. DER STRAND DER LIEBE
5. Romantic Seaside
6. La spiaggia dei pantaloni stretti
7. Picture of Exhibitionism
8. Tarkus
Another stellar video!! I was fortunate enough to see them several times live.
I saw them twice on the Black Moon tour, Royal Albert Hall and their farewell High Voltage festive in 2010 , brilliant on all 3 occasions.
Nice!! This will show my age. I saw them 1977, 78 and 1981 in St. Louis, Missouri. USA. I love this channel!!
1981 was Lake
Great video!
My ranking:
#1 - "Brain Salad Surgery" - (1973)
#2 - "Emerson, Lake & Palmer" - (1970)
#3 - "Tarkus" - (1971)
#4 - "Trilogy" - (1972)
#5 - "Works - Volume 1" - (1977)
#6 - "Pictures at an Exhibition" - (1971)
#7 - "Works - Volume 2" - (1977)
#8 - "Love Beach" - (1978)
#9 - "Black Moon" - (1992)
#10 - "In the Hot Seat" - (1994)
Honorable Mention:
#11 - "Emerson, Lake & Powell" - (1986)
-ELP-
13. In the Hot Seat.
12. Love Beach.
11. In Concert.
10. Black Moon.
9. Live at the Royal Albert Hall.
8. Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends: Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
7. Pictures at an Exhibition.
6. Works, Vol. 2
5. Emerson, Lake And Palmer.
4. Tarkus.
3. Works, Vol. 1.
2. Trilogy.
1. Brain Salad Surgery.
Brain Salad Surgery is probably the nearest they got to that 'perfect' album. Trilogy also came close, though I feel that the title track (apart from the opening) and Living Sin let it down somewhat. Side One of Pictures At An Exhibition is what I'd recommend to new listeners.
Works Volume 1 is where they overreached themselves. Love Beach was a middle finger to the record company, and I suppose it warrants some affection for that.
Niamh, can you do a review on the Moody Blues of their so called magnificent 7 albums.
Love hearing your opinions! Don’t be worried, they’re awesome!
Hello!! and thank you!
I think your rankings are very fair, although my top 3 are:
1- Brain Salad Surgery
2- Trilogy
3- Works Vol 1
I consider 'Works Vol 2' to be more of a compilation than a proper studio album. Some of the songs were recorded years before and had already been released in one way or another, so it's hard to evaluate it fairly.
'Pictures...' is a bit problematic for me. It's mostly a live album of cover songs. I actually prefer the studio version that was in 'The Return of the Manticore' box set.
'Love Beach' will always be at the bottom for me. It was a real disappointment for me when it came out, and still is. And that horrible cover...
Good video, thumbs up!
My favorite ELP albums: (1) Self-titled/1st; (2) Trilogy; (3) Brain Salad Surgery; (4) Tarkus.
Your opinion is the only one you've got. If someone has a problem with it, it's their problem.
Never got into ELP. I did have the Brain Salad Surgery flexi-disc given away with NME ahead of the album release. Played it once. I think "Benny the Bouncer" put me off ...
Top 3 - Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson Lake & Palmer and Trilogy. Pictures at an Exhibition is 4th, then Love Beach and Works Vol 1 tied for 5th, Tarkus, Works Vol. 2 and Black Moon tied for 7th and In the Hot Seat is last (even though it has a nice studio version of Pictures and three excellent other tracks - too much Keith Olsen on the rest of the album!)
Do you know the Italian prog scene in the '70? A lot of great bands, like Area. Check them out, you will be amazed. Love you!
11:00 Well said. right with you here.
I don't have Instagram. I don't like Mark Zuckerberg. But, I like your videos and I recently got caravan because of your recent Canterbury prog video.
Here's my top 5 ELP.
5. Pictures of an exhibition (one of my first Albums I got in my new collection)
4. Self titled debut
3. Tarkus ( came into it in the last 5 years)
2. Brain Salad Surgery
1. Trilogy ( was my first introduction to E,L,P in 84 or so).
I love Works but they come lower after Welcome to the show ( triple live album that I had in the 80s from a yard sale)
Wouldn't a copy of Love Beach be a "more" fitting prize? Good morning from Baltimore!
Yes, tarkus is number one in my heart too
wonderful, I love these videos, rankings based on YOUR opinion. Because everyone has reasons, great, thanks
Do you like Todd Rundgren and Neil Young?
Yes!
Todd is God
Great stuff. Nice to see Trilogy up near the top.
Great video yes tarsus is top but the debut album is almost equal very heavy. And Love Beach 10 for me lacking inspiration
I enjoyed the video. My opinion: 1. Brain Salad Surgery 2. ELP 3. Trilogy 4. Tarkus 5. Pictures at an exhibition
Your cat gets the last word.
I only have Works 1 and Brain Salad Surgery. I love them both but I never felt the inclination to get more but that's Prolly because I had too many other things to get at the time and ELP fell by the wayside. I sort of reside within the realm of Yes, Rush, Floyd and Genesis when it comes to completistness. I invented a word.
Don't worry about voicing an unpopular opinion on your channel. It's your bloody channel. The complainers can do their own thing on their own channel. But I think most like a good conversation.
But I certainly agree with you on Benny The Bouncer. It totally ruins the flow of the album.
I think it would be if you do a video on your favourite top 100 hard rock artists of all time because im trying to list down hard rock artists a to z
Yes, this is cool and all, but what (1) what is your cat's name?, and (2) what are your cat's favorite ELP records?
Mine : 1. Trilogy
2. Tarkus
3. Brain Salad
4. ELP
5. Pictures
Never listened to the others..
Incredible video just posted on youtube about our heroes in Italy..in sane band and crowd : Fast ! .... Emerson Lake and Palmer - CZcams
I found a new channel to watch. My ranking:
10. In the Hot Seat
9. Black Moon
8. Love Beach
7. Works 2
6. Works 1
5. ELP (self titled)
4. Pictures at an Exhibition
3.Brain Salad Surgery
2. Trilogy
1. Tarkus
enjoyed the vid , as usual. i shall play side 2 of LB. 1st time since it came out. i will render my verdict.
1) ELP
2) Trilogy
3) Tarkus
4) Brain salad surgery ( mostly for the cover artwork. The music is partially good, partially unlistenable)
5) Pictures at an exhibition ( again: good at times..)
Tarkus is a work of art
I'd go with ELP debut, Pictures at an Exhibition & Tarkus. Pictures was not only my first ELP but also my first what is now regarded as classic prog. At the time I never called it prog, it was just music I liked. I was also into Beatles, Stones,Who, Rod Stewart, Status Quo at the time, as well as Queen,Yes, Pink Floyd. So it doesn't matter what you call it or if anyone else doesn't like it. B^)
Great list. However I think that the Welcome back my friends live album was great. Had all of the classic songs and they played them really great live.
I'm not a big fan, only got the first four studio album's, of those:
1 Trilogy
2 Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3 Brain Salad Surgery
4 Tarkus
There is not a lot in it though. Remember having Pictures at an Exhibition on vinyl but sold years ago and never replaced it as the classical orchestral version is far superior, especially Valery Gergiev, there is no contest, ELPs doesn't come close.
The albums I have got include 5.1 marvellous listening to music in surround sound, it really does take music to a higher level.
Works vol. 2, a bit of a misleading title.. it was actually a compilation LP.. It had leftover tracks from the Brain Salad and Works 1 sessions combined with tracks from singles and some solo stuff
You may be interested to know that on ITHS there are two tracks that Keith and Carl are not even on. They exited the 'scene of the crime'. I know Keith went to make Iron Man, not sure what Carl did. Those two tracks were finished by Greg and Keith Olsen's mates.
oh my: I always thought Greg aged worse than most rock stars....but I just saw him on the High Voltage set and....um...he looks like.....um....er....HARVEY WEINSTEIN!
[author washes his eyes out with soap...]