Tarkus

Some good bits in there but again surrounded by a sea of 'fine I suppose'

First rate prog rock! Feel like this is a big influence on the John Zorn Simulacrum stuff.

sounds very dated 2/5 #musicsky #albumsky #musicchallenge

Nice listen. Interesting album

I’m at a 5.

Once again, there’s really only so much you can say about prog rock. It's my first time listening to (or even knowing about) ELP, but I liked this a lot. This isn’t quite at the level of a “Close to the Edge”, but for my money’s worth, this is about on par with “The Yes Album”. That just means this is really, really good prog rock, enhanced a bit further by the heavy emphasis on keyboard work, giving this more of a VGM-adjacent feel that appeals to all of my sensibilities. I can very specifically hear lots of inspiration for Zelda & Metroid stuff throughout the 20-minute masterclass that is “Tarkus”, though there’s also a little bit of Kirby, Final Fantasy & Galaga in there. The music speaks for itself, though the addition to make an entire plot about a mechanical armadillo fighting other mecha beasts in a vaguely biblical parallel is a cherry on top. It’s giving incredible Evangelion energy, and I’m all here for it.

So, how about the rest of the album? Well, outside of the vaguely transphobic panic / weirdness of “Jeremy Bender”, the rest of the album holds up fine. Obviously, it’s not at the same level as Tarkus, but it holds its ground rather well – “Bitches Crystal” is the standout track of the back half, acting as a ragtime piano-driven prog rock piece, and it just sounds cool as shit. “The Only Way” & “Infinite Space” are a good two-part piece, though I do think “Infinite Space” could’ve benefited from having some extra instrumentation to it. “A Time and a Place” needed some extra percussive energy at the top, but once it gets going, that shit rules – that ending is kind of a stunner. “Are You Ready Eddy?” is just a good goofy way to close out the album; it’s obviously not that “good”, but it’s just fun, especially with the pastiche of 50s style doowop production across the board, even down to the reverb-heavy vocal nonsense.

It’s a 5, what can I say? Give me some good prog rock, and I’ll be there for it every time. If you somehow manage to fuck up prog rock, you simply shouldn’t be making music, plain & simple. The only reason this has the average that it does on the website is because people despise video game music or anything that sounds like it here, & that’s just pretentious as hell. This was a lot of fun, and I suspect I need to go hunt down some more ELP to listen to.

P.S.: The line alluding to the Holocaust on "The Only Way" was crazy. I have no earthly idea how that stayed in, especially for 1971. It's not even a bad/offensive line, given that it's a halfway common sentiment to call out God for allowing tragedies to happen. It's just surprising that it stayed in given that it wasn't THAT long ago at the time.

I'm a prog fan, but when people complain about prog's excesses, ELP is almost always the first band that comes to mind. They were so over-the-top, and their albums are primarily a showcase for Emerson's insane keyboard playing. However, I'll give credit here, Tarkus is a powerful album and the title track is seriously impressive, both from a compositional angle and the musicianship. And, credit where credit's due, ELP rawk a lot more than most prog bands. It's understandable how they could sell out arenas in the 70s (no way could a band like this become huge today. Take of that what you will). Taking away one star for excess. Favorite tracks: Tarkus, Bitches Crystal, A Time and a Place.

Toimiva progelevy. hieno kansi! 4/5

Goofy looking armadillo tank on the cover here. I like it. When people talk about progressive rock wankery this is the kind of stuff they mean. How the hell am I supposed to understand that there is a story/concept here without having it explained to me? The title track does some neat things sometimes when it’s not keyboard nonsense for the sake of it. The rest of the album is a mixed bag ranging from plain bad to just ok.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer is always all over the place, they're not the most consistent band. I really like their first 2 albums and Brain Salad Surgery but never really enjoyed Tarkus for some reason. Tarkus itself doesn't really hit the heights of other side long epics like Focus' Eruption and Pink Floyds Echoes. There's some good jamming in there but its not a very cohesive piece and doesn't always sound the most pleasant. The rest of the songs are short pieces with varying degrees of quality. Noone really needs to hear Jeremy Bender before they die. The album cover is one of the best album covers ever though, extra point for that.

Turns out this is the absolute worst possible record to listen to on a stressful day of dealing with lawyers and HR departments.

Poeh, het toetsenwerk werkt wel behoorlijk op de zenuwen zeg. Je bent toch blij als de zanger even in de spotlight mag staan. Ev3n rust...

Dit album draait om één nummer. De hele b-kant is of herhaling of opvulling. Maar dat ene nummer, zogenaamd opgebouwd, duurt 20 minuten. Dat je het durft uit te brengen joh. Het lijkt mij een gevalletje zelfoverschatting van de toetsenist...

Posting here because I hit submit on the last Dr Dre review too soon, but what is it with hip hop albums and sex in between tracks? Like what does it add to the album? 'How gangsta, this dude fucks' -- maybe it was a function of the 90s.

Ok, back to this album: someone else described it as budget Pink Floyd, and that's all I can think of now.

1.86

though i’m usually partial to prog, i found this album to be very middle of the road. not bad, but nothing special

When I saw the first track was 20 minutes long I nearly gave up from the start.

I have never listened to an Emerson, Lake, & Palmer before and had no idea what to expect. I will not be listening again

Favourite song: None
Least favourite: all of them
Album artwork: Great cover.

I was curious to see what the album would be like. My relationship with ELP has always been somewhat ambivalent. I was enthusiastic about Lucky Man and I can remember standing in front of the album in the record store for a long time as a teenager and thinking about buying it. But then it was too expensive for me and I wasn't convinced.
So now I've listened to it. It was good that I saved the money as a teenager. I wouldn't have been able to cope with the album. And even now I find it quite exhausting. There were some nice passages on the album. But all in all, I don't think I'll listen to this album again.
3/5

Strange and interesting.

Hell yeah baby. Tarkus is a wild ride start to finish. Honestly this album goes so many places and throws so much at you it's hard to full wrap your arms around it. A Time And Place rules.

Way too experimental for me. The only times they really shined was when they were covering other music styles.

One of the best prog albums of all time. No notes.