Album of the Day

Tarkus, by Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1971): If any album captures ELP's ability to get it so right and so wrong all at the same time. As Bob notes in the Ground & Sky review, the title track, sprawling across the entire first side back in the LP days, is probably the band's high water mark. Side two, on the other hand, is a grab bag of mostly forgettable shorter cuts. I like "Jeremy Bender," sort of a companion piece to Trilogy's "The Sheriff" (the two got put together live), that's there and gone in under two minutes. But the rest, eh, I can safely never hear again. And I won't, until next year!