The 20th of February 1974
Official U.K. Albums Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 17th,
and published on Wednesday the 20th of February 1974.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Brain Salad Surgery
At No.17, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Albums Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, are Emerson, Lake & Palmer with Brain Salad Surgery.
The potent collective powerhouse…
…of Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer stay fully ensconced in the UK Chart this week with arguably their most successful offering thus far. A formidable album blazing with such authoritative certainty, striding into progressively new musical effects and territory (with the first use anywhere of a polyphonic synthesizer, a pre-cursor to the polymoog, appearing here), whilst dissecting and re-building music’s past and reflecting it back in a vivid electrifying explosion of sonic superiority; and all of that was just in the first two and a half minutes.
The trio…
…had previously returned like conquering heroes from an immensely successful tour of the United States, and had collectively decided at that moment to also take a more proactive roll in their own affairs outside of the music they were creating. A major factor in this was to purposefully set up their own production company and record label, Manticore. Another was to purchase a disused cinema in Fulham to use as their own rehearsal space, with the added convenience of having their whole company headquarters situated there too.
Now, this may seem a very prog and extravagant thing to do to the casual passer-by; however, it instead transpires to become a stroke of forward-thinking genius.
One stand-out peeve from their recent touring was the sound they were attempting to replicate to their ever-growing following. Problem was, due to the advancement in studio technology at this time, they had to succumb to taped backing effects when embarking their music on the road.
With the purchase of the cinema, they were now free to compose and rehearse any new material in an audibly controlled environment, refining ways they could then take on tour already tried and tested; and what a sonic masterpiece they ended up creating.
A re-imagining of one of the UK’s most cherished compositions (already nodded to above), a re-interpretation of the Argentian composer Alberto Ginastera‘s “Toccata concertata” (a piece that they wanted to use so greatly, that Keith personally flew to Alberto’s home in Geneva to gain personal permission from the man himself), a ballad composed entirely by Greg which could easily have the subtitle of ‘Love Song for an Artificial Intelligence’ (if that was the idea and reason for its inclusion), and a honky-tonk pastiche of a real bouncer who in real-life went by the nickname of ‘Tiny’ Mike; a guy who was almost 7-feet tall. For this playful track they seemed to be summoning their inner Benny Hill (maybe that’s why they changed the character’s name, as a nod to the popular comedian), placing Benny the Bouncer in the midst of a comical bar-room brawl similar to Ernie’s dual to the death with Ten Ton Ted.
All of this though, was just a pre-curser to the main event, which would begin at the end of Side 1 and completely occupy the second side of the album.
Taking it’s theme…
…slightly from Greg’s old band King Crimson and the track 21st Century Schizoid Man especially, the main concept was the continuing future battle between man and machine; still very relevant even today (I’m currently writing this in February 2026), especially with the ever growing Artificial Intelligence saga playing out in this future world of ours (I won’t tell you who wins in their story, you can play the album and discover for yourself).
No better point is this played out than with their now legendary masterpiece Karn Evil 9; a title which is partly a play on the word “Carnival”; and the addition of the number 9? Well, as Greg himself so eloquently put it..
“I have no f–king clue what number 9’s got to do with anything, to be honest with you.”
A track so long it broke the limits of the vinyl LP and had to be split, with half of the first third filling out the first side of the album.
With lyrics co-written by Greg and another Crimson connection Pete Sinfield, portraying a premonition years before the vision would be portrayed in films such as the Terminator and Matrix sagas, the LP describes a future battle with the monster that humanity has created to serve them, and it’s extreme relentless will to decisively fight back. The whole thing set in an apocalyptic carnival setting where even a blade of grass is portrayed as a wonder in a freak show, amongst other disturbing scenarios which our once normal world has succumbed to, now dysfunctional and de-humanised, due to the past greed of the few who lobotomised the world for their own gains in the past.
The whole package…
…is wrapped up effectively with the stunning cover artwork by Hans Ruedi Giger, the prophetic artist who portrayed a biomechanical slave race so effectively with this album cover, and will eventually airbrush his way to winning the Best Achievement in Visual Effects Oscar for his artistry in the design of the film Alien at the end of this decade.
For this album, and to fit, not just the narrative, but also the title of the album (a euphemism of the act of fellatio) which Keith had most probably taken from a line in Dr. John‘s “Right Place, Wrong Time“, it went quite far in depicting the future possibility of the human race in a dark and degraded world threatened by sexual slavery; so much so that the initial cover had to be slightly airbrushed a little further to get by the executives, who decided that having an erect penis sticking out of a tube under a female’s mouth (modelled by Hans’ then partner Li Tobler) was probably not quite a good idea when stuck up in the Long Playing section of your local Woolworths. Thus that part was hidden away just enough; but now you know it’s there, it’s actually quite obvious, and sticks out like a…well, I’ll let you finish that sentence.
The whole package is therefore designed to enter into the nerve centre, and to where the story is waiting to be played out.
It’s a powerful album, with a powerful narrative, performed by three progressively powerful virtuoso’s at the very top of their game.
The album…
…had entered the chart at No.12 last year on the 16th of December 1973 and then, after sitting at that position for a further week, had rocketed up to No.2, stopped only by the album which currently sits at No.13 this very week. Let’s just say, this part of the decade was definitely showcasing the battle of the progressive bands at this point.
After a further week at the same position again, the album would relent and scale back in the early part of this new year of 1974, which is where we eventually find it this week.
From here,..
…it will begin to slip even further back as it enters the spring month of March, and disappears after the penultimate day of that month.
It will reappear at the end of April for a brief two week stay, before it’s off again after the 11th of May.
Its final appearance so far is for one more solitary week, when it makes a fleeting appearance in mid-September; by which time it has notched up 18 weeks of chart action, and an appreciation (with listeners still growing in numbers even today) for a prediction which, even now, could still come true.
Side 1
Side 2
Many thanks goes to the following YouTube channels, for providing the chance to hear the tracks so that together we can experience both sides of this album release, as it was intended, once again.
Please show your support by visiting their channels.
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