Brain Salad Surgery
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Brain Salad Surgery is an album by progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in 1973 (see 1973 in music). It features cover art by famous artist H. R. Giger. Both the term "brain salad surgery" and Giger's cover art are covert references to fellatio (note the glowing object extending from the shaft on the cover). The most well known track is "Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression, Part 2" ("Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends..."). "Karn Evil 9" was so long it originally had to be split between sides 1 and 2 of the album. The original US CD release also divided the piece, but subsequent releases have presented it in an uninterrupted version.
For the first time Greg Lake's lyrics were co-written by Peter Sinfield. On the instrumental "Toccata", based on a piece by Alberto Ginastera, special synthesized effects were produced not by Keith Emerson but by Carl Palmer using newly-developed drum synthesizers. Ginastera's agent apparently did not care for ELP's rendition and wasn't going to clear the publishing rights however Ginastera himself liked it a lot and arranged for clearance.
The album has also been released on DVD-Audio, remixed into Dolby 5.1 and in many cases using alternative vocal tracks.
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Track listing
- "Jerusalem" (William Blake, C. Hubert H. Parry) - 2:44
- "Toccata (An Adaptation of Ginastera's 1st Piano Concerto, 4th Movement)" (Emerson)- 7:22
- "Still...You Turn Me On" (Lake) - 2:53
- "Benny the Bouncer" (Emerson, Lake, Peter Sinfield) - 2:21
- "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Pt. 1" (Emerson, Lake, Sinfield) - 8:43
- "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impresssion, Pt. 2" (Emerson, Lake) - 4:46
- "Karn Evil 9: 2nd Impression" (Emerson, Lake) - 7:07
- "Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression" (Emerson, Lake) - 9:03
Personnel
- Keith Emerson - organ, synthesizer, piano, accordion, harpsichord, keyboard, Moog synthesizer
- Greg Lake - bass, guitar, electric guitar, vocals, 12 string electric guitar
- Carl Palmer - synthesizer, percussion, drums, drum synthesizer
Production
- Producer: Greg Lake
- Engineers: Chris Kimsey, Geoff Young
- Mastering: Barry Diament
- Digital mastering: Barry Diament
- Remastering: Dan Hersch, Bill Inglot
- Reissue supervisor: David McLees
- Assistants: Bob Fisher, Ed Morgan, Gary Peterson
- Arrangers: Keith Emerson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- Art direction: Fabio Nicoli, Coco Shinomiya
- Design: Fabio Nicoli, Bryan Rackleff
- Artwork: H.R. Giger
- Paintings: H.R. Giger
- Cover painting: H.R. Giger
Additional recordings
Two further songs were recorded at the Brain Salad Surgery sessions but not included on the album.
- The instrumental "When The Apple Blossoms Bloom In The Windmills Of Your Mind I'll Be Your Valentine" appeared on the b-side of the single version of "Jerusalem".
- The song "Brain Salad Surgery" surprisingly did not appear on the album of the same name, but was released on a promotional 7" flexi-disc together with excerpts from the album.
Both songs were later included on Works Volume II.