Hoedown (Emerson Lake and Palmer) (LP 1075-1078)

Emerson Lake & Palmer  Trilogy (Vinyl, Atlantic Records, 1972) *****

Emerson Lake & Palmer  Brain Salad Surgery (Vinyl, Manticore Records, 1973) *****

Emerson Lake & Palmer  Works Volume 1 (Vinyl, Atlantic Records, 1977) *** 

Emerson Lake & Palmer  Works Volume 2 (Vinyl, Atlantic Records, 1977) **

Genre: Prog rock

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records, Real Groovy Records, Taste Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: From The Beginning (Trilogy)

Gear costume: Fanfare For The Common Man (Works Vol 1)

Active compensatory factors: It's been a while since I started the journey through the Emerson Lake and Palmer canon. In fact, I had to check whether I'd covered these albums already or not. I hadn't, which was a mild surprise.

Trilogy is where my love for ELP began back in 1972. From The Beginning was played on the radio and the sound immediately hooked me.

When I bought the album my dad loved it too! That was a rarity back in the day. 

All this was strange. The guitars on From The Beginning hooked me but the keyboard bombast from Keith Emerson and the humour (The Sheriff) sealed the deal for me (and dad).

After borrowing a copy from a friend and taping it, Brain Salad Surgery was a non-brainer purchase in 1973 and I flogged it to death! All that humour again (someone get me a ladder) and guitars (Still...you Turn Me On) and kitchen sink keyboards from Keith plus the booming Palmerisms made this an album I have revisited often over the years.

Works Vol 1 was good in theory. After five albums in four years they had taken nearly four years off and came back with a different look. A double album, it has a side each by the individual members and then a side of ELP.

It's not a bad idea but it does result in three solo sides of varying quality and nothing to the standard of Trilogy or Brain Salad Surgery. The fourth side is a semi triumph thanks to Fanfare or maybe it just feels that way after the previous three sides.

Works Vol 2 is a single album and includes shorter material produced during the same time span. It's a grab bag of odds and sods and as such doesn't hold together as a coherent album.

Where do they all belong? A lot more to come as the late seventies and eighties take their toll.