0186. Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Tarkus
This one definitely makes it into the top ten of weird sleeves with it's bastard love-child of an armadillo and a British Mark IV tank.
The title-track takes up all of the A-side, but is (per tradition) divided into chapters depicting different events in the life of the warrior-machine Tarkus. Not that it's obvious from listening to the lyrics, but instead you'd have to use your imagination while looking at the pictures on the inner gatefold, or read someone else's analysis. As not too uncommon with this kind of prog-rock it gets a bit navel-gazing as the music folds in on itself and damn near creates a singularity in the music: they're so busy trying to create an epic story that they just don't let anything but fragments of what they intended escape out to the listeners.
Compared to the twenty-minute title track the (almost) two-minute track Jeremy Bender is far better. Which is also an indication that ELP didn't really have a cohesive vision for the album as it's pretty much all over the place.
Strange to think that this is a trio that at a time were talking bout having Jimi Hendrix join the band.
