Tarkus
Encyclopedia
Tarkus is the second album
by the British progressive rock
band Emerson, Lake & Palmer
, released in 1971.
In 1993 the album was digitally remastered
by Joseph M. Palmaccio
. The remastered version was released by Victory Records in the United Kingdom and Rhino Records
in the United States.
Greg Lake
stated in an early interview that he viewed Tarkus as a representation of the military-industrial complex, and that his lyrics were about that, and about the futility of war and strife.
On the album cover, commissioned to the graphic designer and painter William Neal
, and made after the music was created and recorded, Tarkus is depicted as a half armadillo
/half tank
creature, born from an egg erupted from a volcano.
The inner gatefold
sleeve features a sequence of pictures depicting battles between Tarkus and other half-mechanical creatures, until its eventual defeat by a manticore
- the only creature in the tale that is wholly organic. Tarkus is then shown, defeated but still living, and weeping a tear of blood as he floats down a river in "Aquatarkus". The band later named its own record company Manticore Records
.
The lyrics of the "Tarkus" suite relate only very abstractly to the story as delineated in the images: "Mass" is musings on organised religion (as is "The Only Way"), while "Battlefield" is a general statement about war and what war causes (such as: "You talk of freedom? Starving children fall...").
Keith Emerson
later said in his autobiography that he presented most of the piece fully formed to the rest of the band and as such Greg Lake was initially not pleased about the band's new direction.
song, "Epitaph", originally co-authored and sung by Lake on Crimson's first album
.
The final track, "Are You Ready Eddy?", was written for the band's recording engineer, Advision Studios' Eddy Offord. The song, whose music is an arrangement of Bobby Troup
's "The Girl Can't Help It", ends with Carl Palmer
exclaiming "They've only got 'am or cheese!", a reference to what were apparently the only sandwiches on offer in the Advision canteen.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
by the British progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...
, released in 1971.
In 1993 the album was digitally remastered
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
by Joseph M. Palmaccio
Joseph M. Palmaccio
Joseph M. Palmaccio is an American mastering engineer born in rural South Carolina.Palmaccio has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and has won 3 in the Best Historical Album category for mastering...
. The remastered version was released by Victory Records in the United Kingdom and Rhino Records
Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...
in the United States.
The title track
The chief feature of the album is the "Tarkus" suite, originally forming the whole of side one of the album.Greg Lake
Greg Lake
Gregory Stuart "Greg" Lake is an English musician, songwriter and producer, best known as a vocalist and bassist of King Crimson, and the bassist, guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.-1960s: King Crimson:...
stated in an early interview that he viewed Tarkus as a representation of the military-industrial complex, and that his lyrics were about that, and about the futility of war and strife.
On the album cover, commissioned to the graphic designer and painter William Neal
William Neal
William Neal, is an English painter and graphic designer born in Guildford in 1947, but who was brought up in the village of Bramley, Surrey, England. He gained international fame for his artwork on the progressive rock albums Tarkus and Pictures at an Exhibition by the English progressive rock...
, and made after the music was created and recorded, Tarkus is depicted as a half armadillo
Armadillo
Armadillos are New World placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths. The word armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one"...
/half tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
creature, born from an egg erupted from a volcano.
The inner gatefold
Gatefold
A gatefold is a type of fold used for advertising around a magazine or section, and for packaging of media such as vinyl records.- LP covers :...
sleeve features a sequence of pictures depicting battles between Tarkus and other half-mechanical creatures, until its eventual defeat by a manticore
Manticore
The manticore is a legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth , and a trumpet-like voice. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story. It may be horned, winged, or both...
- the only creature in the tale that is wholly organic. Tarkus is then shown, defeated but still living, and weeping a tear of blood as he floats down a river in "Aquatarkus". The band later named its own record company Manticore Records
Manticore Records
Manticore Records was the record label launched by Emerson, Lake & Palmer's production company Manticore in 1973. The manticore is featured in the artwork for the album Tarkus by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, . Initially the label was jointly owned with Island Records, but that partnership was dissolved...
.
The lyrics of the "Tarkus" suite relate only very abstractly to the story as delineated in the images: "Mass" is musings on organised religion (as is "The Only Way"), while "Battlefield" is a general statement about war and what war causes (such as: "You talk of freedom? Starving children fall...").
Keith Emerson
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
later said in his autobiography that he presented most of the piece fully formed to the rest of the band and as such Greg Lake was initially not pleased about the band's new direction.
Other songs
The track "Battlefield" features one of the rare electric guitar solos from Greg Lake. Some live versions also featured an excerpt from a King CrimsonKing Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
song, "Epitaph", originally co-authored and sung by Lake on Crimson's first album
In the Court of the Crimson King
In the Court of the Crimson King is the 1969 debut album by the British progressive rock group King Crimson. The album reached No. 5 on the British charts, and is certified gold in the United States....
.
The final track, "Are You Ready Eddy?", was written for the band's recording engineer, Advision Studios' Eddy Offord. The song, whose music is an arrangement of Bobby Troup
Bobby Troup
Robert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. was an American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard " Route 66", and for his role as Dr...
's "The Girl Can't Help It", ends with Carl Palmer
Carl Palmer
Carl Frederick Kendall Palmer is an English drummer and percussionist. He is credited as one of the most respected rock drummers to emerge from the 1960s...
exclaiming "They've only got 'am or cheese!", a reference to what were apparently the only sandwiches on offer in the Advision canteen.
Side one
- "TarkusTarkus (song)"Tarkus" is the title track of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's second album. The progressive rock epic clocks in at 20:35. It was the longest studio song by the band until the three impressions of Karn Evil 9 and their concert performances. The name "Tarkus" refers to the armadillo-tank from the William...
" – 20:35- "Eruption" (Emerson) – 2:43
- "Stones of Years" (Emerson, Lake) – 3:44
- "Iconoclast" (Emerson) – 1:15
- "Mass" (Emerson, Lake) – 3:11
- "Manticore" (Emerson) – 1:52
- "Battlefield" (Lake) – 3:51
- "Aquatarkus" (Emerson) – 3:59
Side two
- "Jeremy Bender" (Emerson, Lake) – 1:46
- "Bitches Crystal" (Emerson, Lake) – 3:55
- "The Only Way (Hymn)" (Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Emerson, Lake) – 3:49 - "Infinite Space (Conclusion)" (Emerson, Palmer) – 3:18
- "A Time and a Place" (Emerson, Lake, Palmer) – 2:57
- "Are You Ready Eddy?" (Emerson, Lake, Palmer, Troup [uncredited]) – 2:10
Personnel
- Keith EmersonKeith EmersonKeith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
- Hammond organHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, church organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, celesteCelestaThe celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
, Moog synthesizerMoog synthesizerMoog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
, Backing Vocals (Are You Ready Eddy?) - Greg LakeGreg LakeGregory Stuart "Greg" Lake is an English musician, songwriter and producer, best known as a vocalist and bassist of King Crimson, and the bassist, guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.-1960s: King Crimson:...
- Electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, acoustic guitarSteel-string acoustic guitarA steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...
, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Carl PalmerCarl PalmerCarl Frederick Kendall Palmer is an English drummer and percussionist. He is credited as one of the most respected rock drummers to emerge from the 1960s...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, Backing Vocals (Are You Ready Eddy?)
Production
- Producer: Greg LakeGreg LakeGregory Stuart "Greg" Lake is an English musician, songwriter and producer, best known as a vocalist and bassist of King Crimson, and the bassist, guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist of Emerson, Lake & Palmer.-1960s: King Crimson:...
- Engineer: Eddie OffordEddie OffordEddy Offord is a former record producer and recording engineer, who worked on some of the most famous progressive rock albums of the 1970s, often at London's Advision Studios. He is especially well known for his work with the groups Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. ELP wrote a tribute to Offord with...
- Mastering: Zal Schreiber
- Arranger: Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- Director: Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- Paintings: William NealWilliam NealWilliam Neal, is an English painter and graphic designer born in Guildford in 1947, but who was brought up in the village of Bramley, Surrey, England. He gained international fame for his artwork on the progressive rock albums Tarkus and Pictures at an Exhibition by the English progressive rock...
Charts
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
9 |
| 1971 | UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
1 |