Brain Salad Surgery

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.

Related Topics:
Album - Progressive rock - Emerson, Lake & Palmer - 1973 - 1973 in music - H. R. Giger - Fellatio - US - CD

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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.

Related Topics:
Greg Lake - Peter Sinfield - Alberto Ginastera - Keith Emerson - Carl Palmer

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Interestingly, "Karn Evil 9" includes the slightly cryptic credit: "Vocal--Emerson, written by Lake", possibly referring to the "computer voice" in the song's Third Impression. Although his voice can be heard in snippets elsewhere in the ELP catalog (ie "Are You Ready, Eddy?" on Tarkus), this is Emerson's only official vocal credit on an ELP record.

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The album has also been released on DVD-Audio, remixed into Dolby 5.1 and in many cases using alternative vocal tracks.

Related Topics:
DVD-Audio - Dolby 5.1

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