"Stormcock" by ROY HARPER - May 1971 UK LP on Harvest Records featuring Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin (August 2013 and February 2018 Science Friction CD Reissue and Remaster in 'Hardback Book' Packaging) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Love's Cascades..."

Some albums do your nut in. You love them with a passion that borders on calling in the thought police to calm you down. Always a vinyl rarity when I worked in Reckless (20 years as a buyer) - 1971's "Stormcock" wasn't the kind of record you saw in second-hand stores in abundance or in personal collections (neither did the four that preceded it for that matter). But even now I'm stunned that Harper's seismic fifth studio platter isn't on some Classic 1971 Rock Album Winner you-must-hear-before-you-die pedestal somewhere like say The Who's "Who's Next", Joni Mitchell's "Blue" or Cat Stevens' "Teaser And The Firecat" - more nuggets from that astonishingly creative year. Time to rectify this heinous anomaly - ye Gods of taste and twisty beards. Here are the hard facts, old cock...

The album’s CD reissue history is tangled – so here goes. "Stormcock" by ROY HARPER was first released December 1990 onto Awareness AWCD 2001 (Barcode 5017701200122) in the UK. Then October 1994 in the UK onto Science Friction HUCD004 (Barcode 5020522397728 - reissued October 1996). Then in October 2007 - it was again reissued and remastered onto Science Friction HUCD047 (Barcode 679076770478) – itself reissued 2013 and now in February 2018.

2013 and 2018's Science Friction HUCD047 (Barcode 679076770478) comes in specialist ‘hardback book’ packaging and is a straightforward transfer of Roy Harper's 5th UK album "Stormcock" from May 1971 originally on Harvest Records SHVL 789 - it plays out as follows (41:29 minutes): 

1. Hors d'Oeuvres (i) [Side 1]

2. The Same Old Rock (ii)

3. Old Man Rock And Roll Band (iii) [Side 2]

4. Me And My Woman (iv)

With only 4 tracks (2 to each side) - "Stormcock" might seem 'lean' but it's nothing of the sort. This album is closing in on being 48 years old - yet it remains amazingly contemporary and has stood the test of time incredibly well. If anything re-listening to it in 2018 - you can imagine that this 1971 album is a bit of a secret stepping point for so many new writers and bands - because after 40 minutes with it you can 'so' hear how Fleet Foxes, Elbow and Vetiver got their sound (Kate Bush and others have name-checked RH too and of course Zeppelin had the song "Hats Off To Roy Harper" as the last track on Side 2 of III in 1970).

Beautifully produced by PETER JENNER (Engineered by PHILP MacDONALD) - the songs are primarily long acoustic workouts with some electric guitars, keyboards, string flourishes, brass and vocal over-layering thrown in. Each song takes it sweet time - allowing you to wrap your ears around the thought-provoking life-observations in the lyrics. This is also one of only two releases on his own Science Friction label that has received a rather gorgeous 'hardback' book makeover in the art department - the other title is 1975's equally brill "HQ" (Science Friction HUCD048 - Barcode 679076770485). 

 

The 22-page colour booklet is attached to the inner hardback and reflects the '(i) to (iv) artwork of the original album - each song being parts one to four (I used to think that squiggle on the front gatefold was a typo!). Like "HQ" this reissue contains more cryptic almost poetry liner notes from RH, black and white and colour photos from the period, the lyrics, the inner gatefold spread, recording and reissue credits and a sheet-card offering all of his albums from 1967's "Sophisticated Beggar" through to 2005's "The Death Of God" (DVDs, Lyric Books and Tee-shirts too) from Science Friction Ltd in Clonakilty, Cork in Ireland. They're also directions to Roy Harper's own website.

But the big news is that the album has been Digitally Remastered by ROY HARPER and JOHNNY FITZGERALD in August 2007 providing stupendous Audio - all those clean instruments swirling around your speakers like their "Meddle"-period Pink Floyd on an Acoustic tip. This CD is a winner sonically. Harper pretty much plays the lot - every instrument - with the exceptions noted below. Let's get to the music...

It opens with "Hors d'Oeuvres" - a near nine-minute Nick Drake/Tim Buckley acoustic dreamscape about a man "...whose brains bred answers like flies..." It builds and builds to gorgeous treated vocals towards the end - more of a mood than a song really with David Bedford of ELP fame playing the Hammond (he also arranges the strings on "Me And My Woman"). But then you get the album's first piece of undeniable Harper genius - and for me one of the great unspoken masterpieces of the Seventies - the 12 and half minute Side 1 closer "The Same Old Rock". The song famously features JIMMY PAGE on Lead Acoustic Guitar credited as the delightfully oblique 'J. Flavius Mercurious' for contractual reasons. You can so hear Page’s Zep "III" and "IV" acoustic phase - and his thunderous solo towards the end swirling around multi-layered Harper vocals is just brilliant. You have to say too that the remaster is just gorgeous here (lyrics above). Harper himself rates it as Page's best ever work...

Side 2 opens with "One Man Rock And Roll Band" - another multi-layered acoustic strum-fest "...welcome back you total stranger..." His treated vocals add so much to the seven and half-minutes - the plucked steel guitar-strings rattling around your speakers - again the remaster so beautifully clear. It ends on the gorgeous 13-minute "Me And My Woman" with lush orchestration from long-time Mike Oldfield collaborator DAVID BEDFORD. Even after all these years - the 'freshness' of it all still amazes me. And it's so uniquely Roy Harper...

"Stormcock" is an old English name given to the Mistle Thrush bird - a feathery friend of these here isles that is prone to glorious singing of a morning (and apparently it's also the artist's nickname on occasion). "Stormcock" - spread your wings on this secret CD masterpiece and let your spirits fly...

"HQ" by ROY HARPER - August 1975 UK LP on Harvest Records (August 2013 and February 2018 Science Friction CD Remaster in 'Hardback Book' Packaging) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Stand In This Light And See..."

Roy Harper's back catalogue is not surprisingly undergoing constant rediscovery by generations hungry for Seventies Classic Rock and frankly (Frank) by those who were there but simply left his albums in the racks when such things were plentiful in second-hand stores. Somehow our Roy has always remained a bit of a cult – an acquired taste really – like Bovril or Cliff Richard calendars (I like both unadorned myself).

Not unavailable anymore - at least for the purposes of CD reissue that is. Harper owns/controls his own back-catalogue now and this is reflected by the 'Science Friction' label that offers a whopping 27 albums of his for sale on CD – 50-years of original material including obscure sets like the "Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion" live/studio double album on Harvest Records in 1974. He may no longer walk on water, but you can at least buy something that looks and sounds like he does - which by way of beefy beverages, bare-chested Julys and whiffy underarms brings us to Roy Harper's eight studio set…

1975's "HQ" featured heavy-hitters like Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour and Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones - whilst the core band accompanying multi-instrumentalist Harper was ace-axeman Chris Spedding and his Bassist Dave Cochran playing a storm alongside the Yes/King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford. David Bedford of ELP fame also did some of the arrangements especially the gorgeous brass of The Grimethorpe Colliery Band on "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease". The album is also only the second of two Roy Harper reissues to receive a packaging upgrade into a 'hardback 'book' set on CD (the other is 1971's "Stormcock" - see separate review). "HQ" comes with a 28-page booklet attached within and a new 2012 'digital remix and re-sculpt' by JOHN FITZPATRICK.

In truth (like so much of his catalogue) "HQ" is all but forgotten now and of course screams out not to be. Time to rectify this heinous anomaly - ye Gods of taste and twisty beards. Let's get back to an England joining the EU with a smile instead of leaving it in a strop...

UK released August 2013 (reissued February 2018) - "HQ" by ROY HARPER on Science Friction HUCD048 (Barcode 679076770485) is a straightforward 7-track remaster of his eighth UK album from August 1975 on Harvest Records SHSP 4086. This reissue CD comes in specialist 'hardback book' packaging and it plays out as follows (40:54 minutes):

1. The Game (Parts 1-5) [Side 1]

2. The Spirit Lives

3. Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children

4. Referendum (Legend) [Side 2]

5. Forget Me Not

6. Hallucinating Light

7. When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease

The 28-page colour booklet designed by HARRY PEARCE is attached to the inner hardback and reflects the Hipgnosis artwork of the original album complete with the James Edgar sketch of RH on the inner sleeve. Like "Stormcock" this reissue also contains pages and pages of new cryptic almost-poetry-like liner notes from RH, black and white photos of the boys in their bare-chested cricket outfits and some shots of RH playing live, the lyrics to all six songs typed out instead of being in the illegible scrawl they were on the original inner sleeve (repro’d as they were would make reading the words all but impossible), recording and reissue credits and a sheet-card offering all of his albums from 1967's crudely-recorded "Sophisticated Beggar" through to 2005's "The Death Of God" (DVDs, Lyric Books and Tee-shirts too) from Science Friction Ltd in Clonakilty, Cork in Ireland. They're also directions to Roy Harper's own website.

Like "Stormcock" in 1971 – Master Producer PETER JENNER returns at the knobs helm (John Leckie this time as his Engineer) and delivers a gorgeously deep and rich sound yet again. But the big news is that the album has been Digitally Re-mixed and Re-sculpted in 2012 for CD by Irish Musician and Audio Engineer JOHN FITZGERALD at Lettercollum Recording Studios in Ireland (Produced by Roy Harper). This team has produced stupendous Audio - all those clean instruments swirling around your speakers like "Wish You Were Here"-period Pink Floyd on an Acoustic tip (John Fitzgerald recorded Ireland’s own Brian Kennedy and played on Harper's 2005 set "The Death Of God"). Like "Stormcock" (which he prepared also) - this CD is a sonic winner. Now let's get to the music...

Re-listening to this simple yet somehow dense album in 2018 - "HQ" remains alarmingly up-to-date what with its very own referendum song on joining the EU in 1974 as Britain now prepares to leave it 44-years later for exactly the same cultural reasons Harper mentions (amongst other things).  In fact his whole soundscape of huge Acoustic Guitars and echoed swirling treated vocals has surely been a secret stepping point for so many new writers and bands (you can 'so' hear how Fleet Foxes, Elbow and Vetiver got their sound - whilst Kate Bush and others have name-checked RH too and of course Zeppelin had the song "Hats Off To Roy Harper" as the last track on Side 2 of Zep III in 1970).

The brilliant and lyrically acidic five-parter "The Game" is nearly fourteen minutes long and features a bevy of famous types adding hugely to the riffage and chop/change musical ins and outs. Steve Broughton of The Edgar Broughton Band is in there as is Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Dave Gilmore of Pink Floyd, Bill Bruford of King Crimson and Chris Spedding doubling-up with Page on Guitars. You can even sense the spirit of 1976 Punk creeping into "The Spirit Lives" where an angry Harper still wants to believe that 'love prevails'. Side 1 ends with a fun Rock 'n' Roll pastiche to heroes of old in the witty "Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children" - Spedding letting rip on Guitar as he channels Eddie Cochran via T. Rex.

Although it doesn't say so in the liner notes or credits - I'd swear that's Page again on guitar in the 'join the EU' tune "Referendum (Legend)". Whether it is or not my fave-rave on Side 2 is the gorgeous "Forget Me Not" - a love song bathed in swirling guitar-romance and flanged voices - a sort of emotional floating tank for the ears. Hearing it again like this is a total blast and brings me back too to the fabulous soundscapes of 1971's "Stormcock" - always good news in my book. The six-and-a-half minutes of "Hallucinating Light" is a deceptive slow Blues - a sad song with hurt rumbling beneath - organ notes adding poignancy to the beautiful production values and echoed vocals. "HQ" ends on a total winner - the deeply moving "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease" where David Bedford organises Saxophonist Ray Warleigh and the brass hum of The Grimethorpe Colliery Band into the song which such a deftness of arranging touch. You can envisage the scene, smell the grass and hear his shoes shuffling as he leaves something he loves deep down in his DNA.

The 1995 2nd CD Reissue of "HQ" on Science Friction HUCD019 (Barcode 5020522393522) actually included early mixes and a single version from the 1974 double-LP "Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion" as three bonus tracks ("The Spirit Lives", "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease" and "Hallucinating Light") and I suppose you could argue that their absence here is a bit of a reissue steal rather than a gift - but I'm still loving this 'upgrade' anyway - especially with this upgraded audio.

Whatever way you spin the ball "HQ" on this CD is a classy affair - reigniting my love of Roy Harper's criminally forgotten contributions to England's mighty musical repertoire. Brill my son and bowled for a six. Just keep the shirt on next time old bean...

"Lifemask" by ROY HARPER (February 2018 Science Friction CD Reissue - 2016 John Fitzpatrick and Roy Harper Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Clean Sheets..."

Not much point in arguing that Roy Harper's sixth studio album "Lifemask" (issued February 1973 in the UK) is a bit of a wonder - it is. But as any fan will tell you, his CD reissues have had a tangled history to say the friggin least and "Lifemask" is no different. I'd like to sort out those details first before discussing this superb new 2018 reissue that at last makes the album available in digital form with truly awesome audio.

The first CD reissue for "Lifemask" came in October 1990 on the Awareness label - Awareness AWCD 1007 (Barcode 5017701100729) and was a bog-standard jewel case with a minimal booklet. Second came his own record label Science Friction who in September 1994 issued Science Friction HUCD005 (Barcode 679076770058) as a supposed Remaster - itself reissued in October 1996. Come 1999 we're still on HUCD005 - but now with a different Barcode - 5020522397629. Then to celebrate his 75th birthday and 50 years in the music game - Harper reissued "Lifemask" in September 2016 on 180-Gram VINYL with a detailed repro of the gorgeous and elaborate original LP on Harvest Records. Science Friction SFLP 002 was remastered by ROY HARPER and JOHN FITZGERALD in Lettercollum Studios, Timoleague, West Cork in Ireland and it is this 2016 Remaster that is used for the February 2018 CD variant - unfortunately minus that great LP packaging (note also how the catalogue number of old HUCD005 has now become HUCD050).

For the 2018 reissue the booklet has been upgraded to 20-pages and features lyrics to the six songs including the five-part 23-minute song occupying all of Side 2 - "The Lord’s Prayer", his song explanations, the 'Introduction 1972' note penned by RH from the original gatefold, that colour painting on the inner gatefold now sits beneath the see-through CD tray and finally we also get a new 'Introduction 2017' essay by Harper that mainly goes on about "The Lord's Prayer" in that uniquely oblique way of his (talks a lot - tells you nothing). Unfortunately unlike "Stormcock" (1971) and "HQ" (1975) which received gorgeous hardback book edition reissues recently (see my reviews for both) - for some reason we don't get that here - just another boring jewel case that completely undermines the sheer visual impact of the original Hipgnosis artwork - that opening die-cut face sleeve with the inner and song explanations. Still the 2016 Remastered AUDIO is fabulous - bringing out the original Peter Jenner Production values. Let's get down to the details...

UK released February 2018 - "Lifemask" by ROY HARPER on Science Friction HUDCD050 (Barcode 5065000022075) is a straightforward CD Reissue of the 6-Track 1973 UK LP with a 2016 Remaster that plays out as follows (44:00 minutes):

1. Highway Blues [Side 1]

2. All Ireland

3. Little Lady

4. Bank Of The Dead

5. South Africa

6. The Lord's Prayer [Side 2]

(a) Poem

(b) Modal Song Parts I to IV

(c) Front Song

(d) Middle Song

(e) End Song (Front Song Reprise)

Tracks 1 to 6 are his 6th studio album "Lifemask" - released February 1973 in the UK on Harvest Records SHVL 808 (no US release). Produced by PETER JENNER with all songs written by Roy Harper - it didn't chart. Much of the music was used in the 1972 John Mackenzie movie soundtrack to "Made" - a film that starred Roy Harper in the part of Mike Preston (his acting debut). The soundtrack was not released as a stand-alone LP – so "Lifemask" is the way to acquire its music. 

PLAYERS:

ROY HARPER - All Lead Vocals, Guitars, Synth, Bass, Harmonica and Bells (all instruments on "All Ireland" and "South Africa")

JIMMY PAGE (of Led Zeppelin) - Lead Guitar on "Little Lady", "Bank Of The Dead" and "The Lord's Prayer"

STEVE BROUGHTON (of The Edgar Broughton Band) - Bongos on "The Lord's Prayer"

BRIAN DAVISON (of The Nice and Brian Davison's Every Which Way) - Drums on "The Lord's Prayer"

RON WARLEY (of Soft Machine and The Keef Hartley Band) - Flute on "The Lord's Prayer"

BRIAN HODGES - Bass on "Little Lady", "Bank Of The Dead" and "The Lord's Prayer"

TONY CARR - Drums on "Little Lady", Bongos on "The Lord's Prayer"

LAURIE ALLEN - Drums on "Highway Blues"

Harper plays Guitars, Synth and Bass on the opener "Highway Blues" with Laurie Allen providing the Drums. The song sets the album's restless mood - huge-sounding acoustic guitars assaulting you like their plugged into Orange stacks  - a travelling song about driving through foreign countries with a friend in a car that reminded him of olden touring days. The violence of nationalism and rabid political positions rears its ugly head in the pretty but dreadfully sad "All Ireland" – Harper playing Guitar, Harmonica and Bells as he tries to square the human-cost of religion's downside. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin plays Lead Guitar throughout "Little Lady", "Bank Of The Dead"and "The Lord's Prayer". "Little Lady" is about women although his own notes try to imply its more about sex - but deep in its 'that old forgiveness that I can't forget' lyrics you can hear the hurt - trying to understand the minefield that is relationships. "Bank Of The Dead" has Harper praising Page's contributions and understanding of his unique leanings in tones and textures.

Speaking of such - using highly tuned 6-and-12 string guitars with his voice often echoed - Harper more often than not creates an 'atmosphere' as opposed to an actual song. When EMI reissued the June 1970 Harvest Label double-album sampler "Picnic - A Breath Of Fresh Air" as an expanded 4CD remaster in 2007 - they chose the fabulous "South Africa" song as their demonstrative poison for "Lifemask" (they also featured "Twelve Hours Of Sunshine" from 1974’s "Valentine"). And it's easy to hear why. It's utterly brilliant and uniquely RH. The LP simply credited the instruments on "South Africa" as Guitars and Vocals - yet listening to it - you'd swear there was an army of players at work – overdubbed pings and pongs echoing in a gorgeous swirling mood-scape – the sideways yet deeply personal lyrics hurting for a torn nation in a far away country.

You will need 'an open mind before me' when listening to the 23-minute opus that is "The Lord's Prayer" - a part astonishing, part tedious meandering swirl of sounds and melodies you can never quite nail but somehow enthral nonetheless. Harper was seriously ill at the time (even hospitalised) and some felt the album's centrepiece might well end up being a 'last will and testament' moment. The five-part monster opens with a four-minute poem spoken by Harper that occasionally has a synth drone ominously entering its 'living the story' narrative. Then the music proper begins with the long 'Whose...' section where every line starts with 'whose' - strings of text that are both statements and questions - whose excuse is holy, whose fear is himself, whose hope is lust, whose thoughts are games...' and so on. Jimmy Page makes his Lead Guitar a subtle presence as the piece progresses – those beautiful strummed passages around sixteen minutes impressing so much as Harper makes the synths sound like string arrangements. The best bits of "The Lord's Prayer" feel like those wild acoustic stretches on 1971's "Stormcock".

Harper fans tend to think everyone else should and must adore their hero – but I know people who simply can’t get on with his voice or the long songs or sometimes his lack of an actual tune. But I’d argue that’s what makes him such a national treasure. In fact like so much of his Seventies output – I want it all and return to it like I would a John Martyn or Sandy Denny or Bruce Springsteen album – with genuine affection – always somehow finding myself admire and love them even more.

It’s a shame Science Friction didn’t go the full hog with the ‘book’ packaging of "Lifemask" like they did on "Stormcock" and "HQ" (docked a star for that). But otherwise – dig your gooey kisser lugs-first into this revealing remaster and prepare to swoon and swear by poetry you don’t understand...

"Brain Salad Surgery: 2CD Deluxe Edition" by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (September 2016 BMG/Manticore 2CD Reissue Using Newly Mastered 2014 Remasters and Remixes) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Tough Customer..."

Taking its title from a lyric in a Dr. John song on his 1973 LP "In The Right Place" (the tune is "Right Place, Wrong Time" to be exact) - ELP's fourth studio LP "Brain Salad Surgery" came forth in the UK in November 1973 (December 1973 in the USA) in a year when Progressive Rock was huge and I can remember at the time hating it (apart from the cool artwork courtesy of Swiss Shock-Rock Artist H.R. Giger and his Alien paintings).

I loved the first three studio albums that preceded BSS in 1970, 1971 and 1972 - but I thought most of Side 1 on the new platter was pretentious knob and the abomination of "Benny The Bouncer" has to be the worst crap I've ever heard a major band do. It was of course 1973 and Progressive Rock was at its most bombastic and flashy - much of it difficult to get into but brilliant nonetheless (I was and still am a convert). And if you want sheer diversity and a slice of Prog greatness in all its pomp and circumstance then the first two parts of "Karn Evil 9" spread across two sides of the original vinyl album takes some beating (the title came from Pete Sinfield who suggested the four parter sounded like a 'carnival' - a word Keith Emerson then twisted into 'Karn Evil'). But again – even as a fan and on a re-listen – this for me was the beginning of the end...

ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery" has had a ludicrously twisted history when it comes to digital reissues and this September 2016 'Deluxe Edition' is no different. It contains 2014 Remasters and Remixes – but what is worth noting and slightly different to those contentious sounds – is that this double has been ‘mastered’ in 2016 by two engineers I trust and love – ANDY PEARCE and MATT WORTHAM. And I think for ELP fans that worship at the feet of this densely recorded/mixed platter (the band rejected the first mix back in the day) - the 2016 mastering results on this 2CD Deluxe Edition are worth noting – audiowise anyway. Let's get to the Toccatas and the Impressions...

UK released 30 September 2016 (reissued 1 March 2017) - "Brain Salad Surgery: 2CD Deluxe Edition" by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER on BMG/Manticore BMGCAT2CD6 (Barcode 4050538180275) offers a 2014 Remaster on Disc 1 of the original 1973 LP (newly mastered in 2016) and a 2014 Stereo Mix of an 'Alternate Album' on Disc 2 (also newly mastered in 2016). This 2016 2-Disc Reissue plays out as follows:

Disc 1 - "The Original 1973 Album (2014 Remaster, 2016 Mastering)" - 44:50 minutes

1. Jerusalem [Side 1]

2. Toccata

3. Still...You Turn Me On

4. Benny The Bouncer

5. Karn Evil 9 1st Impression (Part 1)

6. Karn Evil 9 1st Impression (Part 2) [Side 2]

7. Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression

8. Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression

Tracks 1 to 8 are their fourth studio album (fifth release overall) "Brain Salad Surgery" - released November 1973 in the UK on Manticore Records K 53501 and December 1973 in the USA on Manticore MC 66669. Produced by GREG LAKE - it peaked at No. 2 in the UK and No. 11 in the USA.

Disc 2 - "The Alternate Album (Jakko M Jakszyk 2014 Stereo Mixes)"  - 72:36 minutes:

1. Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression (Original Backing track)

2. Jerusalem (First Mix)

3. Still...You Turn Me On (First Mix)

4. Toccata (Alternate Version)

5. Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 1 (Alternate Version)

6. Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2 (Alternate Version)

7. Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression (Alternate Version)

8. Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression (Alternate Version)

9. Excerpts From Brain Salad Surgery (NME Flexi Disc Version)

(i) Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 1

(ii) Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression

(iii) Still...You Turn Me On

(iv) Toccata

(v) Jerusalem

(vi) Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression

(vii) Benny The Bouncer

(viii) Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2

(ix) Benny The Bouncer

10. When The Apple Blossoms Bloom In The Windmills Of Your Mind I'll Be Your Valentine (Non-Album B-side to "Jerusalem" - released November 1973 in the UK as a 7" single on Manticore K 13503)

11. Brain Salad Surgery (Non-Album B-side to "Fanfare For The Common Man" - released May 1977 in the UK as a 7" single on Manticore K 10946)

12. Brain Salad Surgery (Instrumental)

13. Karn Evil 9 3rd Impression (Different Version)

Keyboard Wiz Keith Emerson plays Organ, Piano, Harpsichord, Synthesisers and Accordion – Guitarist Greg Lake plays Electric 6 and 12-String Guitars, Bass and sings Lead Vocals whilst Carl Palmer plays Drums, Percussion and Synthesised Percussion.

Each of these BMG/Manticore Deluxe Editions come in a three-way fold-out card digipak - this 2016 variant boasting a 16-page upgraded booklet with new band photos and interviews with CHRIS WELCH on the making of the album, its inspirations, Giger's extraordinary artwork, Keith’s new Polyphonic Moog Synth, buying the ABC Fulham Cinema to write and rehearse it as a 'live' show and then finally to Olympic Studios with legendary Engineer Chris Kimsey (famed for his work with The Rolling Stones) to record it. There are photos of the famous NME 'Excerpts' Flexi that preceded the album's release in November 1973 as well as repros of three foreign picture sleeves for the album's only single "Jerusalem" with the non-album song "When The Apple Blossoms Bloom In The Windmills Of Your Mind I'll Be Your Valentine" on the flipside (Track 10 on Disc 2). There's an British Tour 1974 Program but a rather stupid omission is the lyrics that came with the foldout inlay from the original LP. But at least the new liner notes acknowledge Keith Emerson's sad passing in March 2016.

But the big news over the 2014 Sony/Leadclass Ltd. Reissue and Remaster is only subtly alluded too. Although these are the 2014 versions which some didn't like (no changes in track lists) - this 2016 upgrade has been 'newly' mastered by ANDY PEARCE and MATT WORTHAM whose Remaster catalogue is huge - Rory Gallagher, Budgie, Free, Black Sabbath, ELP, Spooky Tooth, Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep, Status Quo, John Renbourn, Pentangle, Thin Lizzy and even Lee Perry. I think they've managed to wangle more - a better depth and naturality. To the music...

The bells and crashing Tympany drums of "Jerusalem" roar and that Greg Lake wah-wah guitar break in "Still...You Turn Me On" punches out of the acoustic guitars with intent. That fantastic synth break Emerson goes into towards the end of Part 1 of "Karn Evil 9 1st Impression" chugs along with a zip I haven't heard before and of course they've joined the synth fade out of Part 1 to Part to make it into one seamless piece of music. Alberto Ginastera's "Toccata" has all that wild percussion stuff coming at you (he approved apparently) while Lake's guitars pan across the speakers in Part 2 of "Karn Evil 9" in tandem with Emerson's synth soloing - like both are gone on a virtuoso bender.

I can't really tell if there's that much of a difference between the 'First Mix' versions of "Jerusalem" or "Still...You Turn Me On" - while the Bass and soaring Synths on the Alternate Version of Part 1 variant of "Karn Evil 9 1st Impression" sound amazing to my ears - probably the most King Crimson ELP ever got. I'd forgotten how cool the NME Flexi was - a very cleverly mixed 'excerpts' that feature eight snippets that runs to only 2:52 minutes. The long-winded/silly-billy titles notwithstanding - I've always thought 'both' the instrumental "When The Apple Blossoms Bloom In The Windmills Of Your Mind I'll Be Your Valentine" and "Brain Salad Surgery" tracks should have replaced "Toccata" and the horrid "Benny The Bouncer" on the album. I've always thought both are brilliant with "Brain Salad Surgery" substituting "Bouncer" for the album's moment of wit. 

--> They would release the indulgent live triple album "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends" in 1974 (lyrics taken from "Karn Evil 9") practically ushering in the need for Punk Rock. But if you want to know why they caused such a Proggy Jangle - then this 2016 Reissue of "Brain Salad Surgery" is the one for you...