One of the most successful progressive art rock bands with a sale of over 40 million. Even if this is their first I wouldn't call it a debute as such. All three members were already part of the English music movement - Carl Palmer came from Atomic Rooster, Greg Lake from King Crimson and Keith Emerson prosperous with art rock band Nice. Record is a mix between rock, jazz and art music. With more than one big ego in the gang it's not as much a group effort as solopieces, each performed with help from the others, which explains it's not coming through as an entity but more a collection of diverse ideas. Listening closely it is for exemple hard to believe Lake's "Lucky Man" and Emerson's classical interventions are from the same gang. Greg Lake is credited for production allthough I suspect engineer Eddy Offord had a lot to do with the final result. He was the foremost progressive rock producer and engineer of the decade, often hailed by the groups he worked with. ELP would also tribute him on their next album "Tarkus" with the song "Are You Ready Eddy?". Today I like Lake's songs best on this. Even if Emerson's arty tunes were most exciting at the time it's the melodies that grabs me today. Early UK issues mostly on pink rim label, first pressed copies on pink "I" as shown here and a thin unlaminated cover. US stock issue on Cotillion -71 (SD 9040), also as white label mono promo with same number. (ÖSÄP*)(ÄPY*)
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