Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Brain Salad Surgery
The ELP landmark Rolling Stone called sadly uneven and pretentious
Released in the UK on 7 December 1973, Brain Salad Surgery became Emerson, Lake & Palmer's fourth studio album and their second UK number-two peak. A contemporary hostile review, alongside chart results with their dates.
The verdict at the time
Fletcher attacked the record as 'another sadly uneven album from a group with technical gifts equal to that of any British trio', dismissed EL&P's songwriting as not their 'strong suite', criticised Lake's 'overblown lyrics' on 'Still...You Turn Me On' as dragging it to 'near-farcical proportions', and called 'Benny The Bouncer' a 'needless nonsensical whimsey' and 'a terrible waste of the band's talent and the listener's time'. He labelled the group 'conservatory-rock' players who 'studiously avoid having any fun and are pretentious from the word go', concluding the album showed 'this fine band to mixed effect' and they 'ought to record all their material in concert'.
Chart peaks
European positions are listed by country. Later chart entries are labelled separately.
Sources & context
One critic's opinion, summarised from Gordon Fletcher's original Rolling Stone review of 31 January 1974. The album is now ranked #12 on Rolling Stone's 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time (2015), placed #5 in Q Classic and Mojo's '40 Cosmic Rock Albums' (2005), and cited by AllMusic, Paul Stump and 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die as ELP's crowning masterpiece and undeniable high water mark, with its side-long 'Karn Evil 9' suite ranked among progressive rock's greatest compositions.
