Tarkus

After their debut live gigs in August 1970, the band toured across the UK and Europe for the rest of the year, during which their debut album, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, was released. While on tour, Emerson found that he and drummer Carl Palmer were exploring more complex rhythmic ideas. He took patterns that Palmer was playing on his practice drum pads and found that they complemented runs that he had developed on the piano, and used this as a basis for material on Tarkus. The group approached the album by having a centrepiece track in order to establish a concept, but a definite story or idea for it had not been discussed at this stage.{{cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/elp-s-tarkus-the-story-behind-the-album|title=ELP's Tarkus: The Story Behind The Album|date=14 June 2016|first=Malcolm|last=Dome|publisher=Loudersound|access-date=23 April 2021}}

The group paused touring commitments in December 1970 and set the following month aside to record. As with their debut, the band recorded at Advision Studios in London with Lake handling the production duties and Eddy Offord returning as engineer.{{harvnb|Dome|2011|p=[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/texasrose455/LOTL/CRPP17/CRPP_issue17_pg74.jpg 74]}} Early into the sessions Emerson presented the basis of the title track to Lake and Palmer; Lake was less than enthusiastic with its direction and threatened to leave the group. A subsequent meeting amongst the band and their management convinced Lake to stay, and he went on to contribute to the track and most of the other songs on the album{{sfn|Macan|1997|p=87}} including the lyrics, for which he used the artwork as inspiration. Although Lake thought the opening was "too demonstrative" for the sake of being clever, he did not want to split the group over such an issue and got into the album as recording went on. The band could only work out "Tarkus" during the January 1971 studio sessions, so they booked further time at Advision in February to work on side two, for which they had no material prepared.{{cite magazine|title=ELP: So afraid of being thought flash|first=Nick|last=Logan|magazine=New Musical Express|date=20 February 1971}}

Side one is occupied by the 20-minute title track which has seven sections. It was written by Emerson, with Lake credited for "Battlefield" and contributions to "Stones of Years" and "Mass". It is a conceptual piece in which its narrative remains ambiguous and open to interpretation, but the artwork depicts the Tarkus character in the form of an armadillo tank hybrid who is born and loses a fight with a manticore, which concludes with the appearance of an aquatic version of Tarkus named Aquatarkus.{{sfn|Macan|1997|p=87}} Lake said the song is about "the futility of conflict, expressed in this context in terms of soldiers and war — but it's broader than that. The words are about revolution, the revolution that's gone, that has happened. Where has it got anybody? Nowhere." He added that the songs concern "the hypocrisy of it all" and the closing march "a joke".

Emerson wrote the first musical ideas for "Tarkus" from a 10/8 rhythm that Palmer had played on his practice drum pad backstage at a gig.{{cite web|url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/interview-keith-emerson-talks-elps-tarkus-track-by-track-565038|title=Interview: Keith Emerson talks ELP's Tarkus track-by-track|date=8 October 2012|publisher=Musicradar|first=Joe|last=Bosso|access-date=24 December 2022}} He composed the entire piece in six days on his upright piano at his London apartment, and wrote the score on manuscript. After the band rehearsed it for six days, they put it to tape; Emerson said once Lake and Palmer had mastered the 5/4 and 10/8 rhythms, "everything else flowed." Emerson transposed "a fleeting run of one bar" from the Allegro of Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 to bridge a transition between two parts of "Eruption". The section is played in a 5/4 time signature which was a "frustrating" meter for Lake to play. Emerson wanted the "Aquatarkus" section to have a sound that resembled a snorkel tube as he was into scuba diving at the time, so he generated one from his Moog synthesizer and played it during the marching beat. The group would not record a longer track in the studio until 1973, with the 29-minute "Karn Evil 9".

Side two features six songs unrelated to the conceptual title track. "Jeremy Bender" is a rendition of the Stephen Foster song "Oh! Susanna" and Emerson's performance was influenced by Floyd Cramer, one of his favourite pianists. It came about when Emerson was playing the song's chord progressions on a honky-tonk piano and incorporated some fifth-root chords, which the band liked. The closing features handclaps from Emerson and Palmer. "Bitches Crystal" originated from the idea of playing a boogie-woogie part in a 6/8 time signature, with Emerson naming Dave Brubeck's "Countdown" as an influence to his playing on it. The band had a firm idea on the direction of the track early on, although some parts were difficult for the group to put down. Lake was not a fan of Brubeck as Emerson was, but Palmer was into Brubeck's drummer Joe Morello and Emerson noticed his style of drumming in Palmer's performance.

"The Only Way (Hymn)" contains themes from Toccata and Fugue in F major, BWV 540 and Prelude and Fugue VI, BWV 851 by Bach, and features Emerson on the pipe organ at St Mark's church in Finchley, north London which was put down using a mobile recording facility.{{cite journal|url=http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/emerson/8455|title=Emerson: A Life Story|first=Paul|last=Colbert|date=July 1984|journal=One Two Testing|issue=Jul 1984 |pages=68–71 |access-date=23 December 2022|via=Muzines}} Lake wrote the lyrics after the music was recorded; Emerson and Palmer considered the religious implication in the line: "Can you believe God makes you breathe, why did he lose six million Jews?" was a bit too strong, but they went along with it. "Infinite Space (Conclusion)" features Emerson playing a 7-ft Bechstein grand piano, and came about from the band's decision to follow the profound lyrics on "The Only Way" with a laid-back piece.

Emerson said Led Zeppelin were a loose inspiration for "A Time and a Place", and was listening to the band a lot at the time. He recalled the track being put down in about three takes. Although not credited, the music to "Are You Ready, Eddy?" was largely inspired by Bobby Troup's 1956 song "The Girl Can't Help It". Its title was a phrase the band yelled out to Offord when they were ready to record. Palmer is heard saying "They've only go' 'am or cheese!", which is what an elderly lady at Advision said to the band when they sent her round to a nearby sandwich shop and announce what they had available. Emerson said Palmer could mimic her mix of Greek and cockney accents "wonderfully", and recalled the confusion from some American fans who could not understand what it was about. The track was "an impromptu jam" and a one-off take, and played in celebration of completing work on Tarkus.Emerson, Keith (2004). Pictures of an Exhibitionist, John Blake Publishing Ltd., {{ISBN|1-84454-053-7}}, p. 205.

One track left as an outtake was Lake's "Oh My Father", an autobiographical ballad dealing with grief over the recent death of his father. Featuring layers of acoustic guitars, piano, and a wah-wah guitar solo it might have balanced the keyboard-heavy tracks on the album but Lake ultimately thought it was too personal for release; it was eventually included on the 2012 deluxe reissue. Another outtake unearthed for the reissue, "Unknown Ballad", was a song actually titled "Just A Dream" recorded during the sessions when Emerson and Palmer were out of the studio, featuring Lake on piano and his friend Gary Margetts (of the group Spontaneous Combustion) on lead vocal, with brother Tris Margetts on bass and Lake helping out on backing harmonies.

File:Priodontes maximus, museum 02.JPG tank]]

The album was packaged in a gatefold sleeve and features artwork by English-born Scottish artist William Neal, whose armadillo has since become an iconic image in progressive rock.{{sfn|Macan|1997|p=88}} Neal was involved with the London-based CCS Associates which typically produced art for reggae albums but occasionally they were given other records to work on, which was the case with Tarkus. When the band rejected the designs already completed, Neal recalled: "On one of my drawings, there was a small doodle at the bottom of the page. This was of an armadillo with tank tracks on it but it was just an idea that wasn't really going anywhere."{{cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/cover-story-elp-tarkus|title=Cover Story: ELP - Tarkus|date=25 February 2015|publisher=Loudersound|first=Rich|last=Wilson|access-date=23 December 2022}} It originated from one of Neal's initial designs of a machine gun with a belt of bullets replaced by a row of keyboard keys, which he inadvertently sketched on with a pencil during a phone conversation which produced the tank image.{{cite AV media notes|url=https://www.discogs.com/release/8866669-Emerson-Lake-Palmer-Tarkus|title=Tarkus|year=2016|publisher=BMG Records|id=BMGCAT2CD2|access-date=1 January 2023}} Emerson liked it and suggested it be developed "into more of a cartoon story", as by which point he had written "Tarkus" and thought the music fit with the imagery. Neal was given a copy of the album to listen to while he completed the final cover, which inspired the other drawings. The gatefold presents eleven panels that illustrate the events of the title track, beginning with an erupting volcano, below which Tarkus emerges from an egg. Tarkus then faces a number of cybernetic creatures, culminating in the battle against the manticore which stings Tarkus's eye, and Tarkus retreats bleeding into a river.{{sfn|Macan|1997|p=88}}

Emerson went away with Neal's designs and began to think of album titles. "To everyone, it represented what we were doing in that studio. The next day on my drive up from Sussex the imagery of the armadillo kept hitting me. It had to have a name. Something guttural. It had to begin with the letter 'T' and end with a flourish".{{harvnb|Dome|2011|p=[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/texasrose455/LOTL/CRPP17/CRPP_issue17_pg76.jpg 76]}} Emerson acknowledged that Tarka of Tarka the Otter may have been an inspiration, "but this armadillo needed a science fiction kind of name that represented Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in reverse. Some {{sic|hide=y|mutilation |expected=mutation}} of the species caused by radiation", at which point he came up with "Tarkus". The "Tarkus" on the front cover is made from whitened bones from the skeleton of a devoured lizard.

Tarkus was released on 4 June 1971 in the UK on Island Records, appearing two months later in the US by Atlantic Records' subsidiary label Cotillion Records.{{harvnb|Dome|2011|p=[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/texasrose455/LOTL/CRPP17/CRPP_issue17_pg77.jpg 77]}} It is one of only two ELP studio albums to reach the Top 10 in the United States, making it to {{thinspace|No.|9}} (Trilogy, the following year, got to {{thinspace|No.|5}}), while in Britain it is their only number-one album. Additionally, Tarkus spent a total of 17 weeks in the UK Albums Chart.{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/emerson,%20lake%20%26%20palmer/ |title=Emerson, Lake & Palmer chart positions in the UK |publisher=The Official Charts Company |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109100124/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/emerson%2C%20lake%20%26%20palmer/ |archive-date=9 November 2014}} In Japan the album was released on Atlantic Records. Later vinyl reissues were on the Manticore label.

Tarkus was certified gold in the United States shortly after its release on 26 August 1971.{{cite web |url=https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=tarkus#search_section |title=RIAA's Gold & Platinum Program searchable database |publisher=Recording Industry Association of America |access-date=2 July 2020}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite web|author=François Couture |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/tarkus-mw0000652026|title=Tarkus – Emerson, Lake & Palmer |work=AllMusic Review |publisher=AllMusic}}

| rev2 = Sound & Vision

| rev2Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.soundandvision.com/content/elp-reissue-series-emerson-lake-palmer-tarkus-pictures-exhibition|title=ELP Reissue Series: Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Tarkus; Pictures at an Exhibition|last=Mettler|first=Mike|website=soundandvision.com|date=14 December 2016|access-date=28 January 2019}}

| rev3 = Classic Rock Revisited

| rev3Score = A{{cite web |url=https://www.classicrockrevisited.com/show_review.php?id=905 |work=Classic Rock Revisited |title=ELP – Emerson Lake & Palmer and Tarkus Deluxe Editions (Razor & Tie) |first=Jeb |last=Wright |access-date=9 March 2020}}

| rev4 = The Daily Vault

| rev4Score = A{{cite web |url= http://dailyvault.com/toc.php5?review=7547 |title=The Daily Vault Music Reviews : Tarkus (Deluxe Edition) |first=Tom |last=Haugen |work=dailyvault.com |year=2019 |access-date=28 January 2019}}

| rev5 = MusicHound Rock

| rev5Score = {{rating|2|5}}{{cite book|editor1-last=Graff|editor1-first=Gary|editor2-last=Durchholz|editor2-first=Daniel|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Farmington Hills, MI|year=1999|section=Emerson, Lake & Palmer/Emerson, Lake & Powell|isbn=1-57859-061-2|pages=387–388}}

| rev6 = Classic Rock

| rev6Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.loudersound.com/reviews/emerson-lake-and-palmer-tarkus-album-of-the-week-club-review| title=Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Tarkus – Album of the Week Club review |access-date= 2020-11-04 |last=Rock |first=Classic |date=5 November 2019 |website=Loudersound}}

}}

Although it is now considered a quintessential progressive rock album, Tarkus received generally unfavorable reviews from critics upon its release. New Musical Express's Richard Green, who had given high praise to the band's debut, bemoaned that "there are some nice passages, but these are almost completely buried by the overall cacophonous ostentation."{{cite magazine|title='Elp Our Eardrums|magazine=New Musical Express|date=12 June 1971|url=https://geirmykl.wordpress.com/2024/04/04/article-about-elp-from-new-musical-express-june-12-1971/|access-date=21 June 2024}} In America, David Lebin in Rolling Stone wrote: "Tarkus records the failure of three performers to become creators. Regardless of how fast and how many styles they can play. Emerson, Lake and Palmer will continue turning out mediocrity like Tarkus until they discover what, if anything, it is that they must say on their own and for themselves."{{cite magazine |url= https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/emersonlakepalmer/albums/album/117327/review/6068126/tarkus |title= Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Tarkus: Music Reviews |first=David |last=Lebin |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=1971-08-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071110193850/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/emersonlakepalmer/albums/album/117327/review/6068126/tarkus |archive-date=2007-11-10 |url-status=dead}} On the other hand, Chris Welch at Melody Maker heaped praise, describing the title suite as "dramatic, probing, explosive, full of theatre and convincing grandeur."{{cite magazine|title=Tarkus: An Offer of ELP|magazine=Melody Maker|date=5 June 1971|url=https://gottahearemall.com/on-this-day-june-14tarkus-erupts/|access-date=21 June 2024}}

François Couture, in a retrospective review for AllMusic, said that Tarkus is "a very solid album, especially to the ears of prog rock fans – no Greg Lake acoustic ballads, no lengthy jazz interludes". Couture concluded, "More accomplished than the trio's first album, but not quite as polished as Brain Salad Surgery, Tarkus is nevertheless a must-have." Paul Stump's 1997 History of Progressive Rock praised the album's title track but criticized the "enervatingly portentous lyrics" and the traditional form of the solos (beginning and ending on downbeats, using blues voicings). He also said the two comedy songs ("Jeremy Bender" and "Are you Ready Eddie?") "have aged embarrassingly."{{cite book |last=Stump |first=Paul |title=The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock |date=1997 |publisher=Quartet Books Limited |isbn=0-7043-8036-6 |page=99}}

Emerson said that Tarkus was one of his favourite albums, "not least because the title track has taken on a life of its own".

In 2015, Sean Murphy of PopMatters ranked Tarkus the 21st best classic progressive rock album of all time.{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/25-best-progressive-rock-albums-2495470374.html |first=Sean |last=Murphy |date=16 November 2015 |website=PopMatters|title=The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums |access-date=9 March 2020}}

In 1993, the album was digitally remastered by Joseph M. Palmaccio and released by Victory Music in Europe and Rhino Records in North America. This was followed by two remasters by the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab in 1994{{Cite web|url=http://www.goodwinshighend.com/music/mfsl_gold_cd.htm|title=Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab complete Gold CD UltraDisc and UltraDisc II discography|website=Goodwinshighend.com}} that are currently out of print.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bsnpubs.com/la/mofi/mofi.html|title=Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Album Discography|website=Bsnpubs.com}}

In August 2012, Tarkus was reissued by Sony Music and released in a 3 CD pack, containing a stereo mix from the Palmaccio master, a stereo mix in the form of an alternate version of the album, and a 5.1 surround sound mix by Steven Wilson. The set also contains previously unreleased tracks recorded during the sessions.{{cite web|url=http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/showthread.php?16499-Emerson-Lake-amp-Palmer-TARKUS-DVD-A |title=Emerson Lake & Palmer – TARKUS [DVD-A]|website=Quadraphonicquad.com|date=23 August 2012 }}

Tarkus was reissued on record as a 12" picture disc by BMG as part of Record Store Day on 12 June 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/13444|title=RSD '21 Special Release: Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus|website=Recordstoreday.com}}

{{unref-section|date=January 2025}}

{{track listing

| all_lyrics = Greg Lake

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Tarkus"
I. "Eruption" (Emerson) (2:43)
II. "Stones of Years" (Emerson) (3:43)
III. "Iconoclast" (Emerson) (1:16)
IV. "Mass" (Emerson) (3:15)
V. "Manticore" (Emerson) (1:54)
VI. "Battlefield" (Lake) (4:13)
VII. "Aquatarkus

| note1 = Emerson) (3:55

| music1 = Keith Emerson, Greg Lake

| length1 = 20:59

}}

{{track listing

| total_length = 18:06

| headline = Side two

| title1 = Jeremy Bender

| music1 = Emerson

| length1 = 1:44

| title2 = Bitches Crystal

| music2 = Emerson

| length2 = 3:58

| title3 = The Only Way (Hymn)

| music3 = Emerson

| length3 = 3:51

| title4 = Infinite Space (Conclusion)

| music4 = Emerson, Carl Palmer

| length4 = 3:19

| title5 = A Time and a Place

| music5 = Emerson, Lake, Palmer

| length5 = 3:01

| title6 = Are You Ready, Eddy?

| music6 = Emerson, Lake, Palmer

| length6 = 2:13

}}

{{track listing

| headline = 2010 Japan SHM-CD reissue bonus tracks

| title8 = Prelude and Fugue

| writer8 = Friedrich Gulda / Performed by Keith Emerson on piano

| length8 = 3:17

| total_length = 21:23

}}

{{track listing

| headline = CD 2 – The Alternate Tarkus New 2012 Stereo Mixes

| title1 = Tarkus"

• "Eruption" (Emerson)
• "Stones of Years" (Emerson, Lake)
• "Iconoclast" (Emerson)
• "Mass" (Emerson, Lake)
• "Manticore" (Emerson)
• "Battlefield" (Lake)
• "Aquatarkus" (Emerson)

| writer1 = Emerson, Lake

| length1 = 20:46

| title2 = Jeremy Bender

| writer2 = Emerson, Lake

| length2 = 1:57

| title3 = Bitches Crystal

| writer3 = Emerson, Lake

| length3 = 3:59

| title4 = The Only Way (Hymn)

| writer4 = Emerson, Lake

| length4 = 3:47

| title5 = Infinite Space (Conclusion)

| writer5 = Emerson, Palmer

| length5 = 3:23

| title6 = A Time and a Place

| writer6 = Emerson, Lake, Palmer

| length6 = 3:03

| title7 = Are You Ready, Eddy?

| writer7 = Emerson, Lake, Palmer

| length7 = 2:12

}}

{{track listing

| headline = Bonus tracks

| title8 = Oh, My Father

| writer8 = Lake

| length8 = 4:07

| title9 = Unknown Ballad

| note9 = "Just a Dream" by Spontaneous Combustion

| writer9 = Gary Margetts, Mike Rowe

| length9 = 3:04

| title10 = Mass (Alternate take)

| writer10 = Emerson, Lake

| length10 = 4:30

}}

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

• Keith Emerson – Hammond organ, pipe organ at St. Mark's Church, piano, celesta, Moog modular synthesizer, Minimoog
• Greg Lake – vocals, bass guitar, electric and acoustic guitar
• Carl Palmer – drums, assorted percussion{{cite AV media notes|title=Tarkus|publisher=Island Records|id=ILPS 9155|year=1971}}

Production

• Greg Lake – production for E. G. Records
• Eddy "Are You Ready" Offord – engineer
• William Neal – paintings (C.C.S. Assoc.)

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{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=Canada|award=Gold|relyear=1971|certyear=1971|certref={{cite magazine|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/RPM/70s/1971/RPM-1971-11-13.pdf|access-date=June 6, 2024|title=Kinney Certifies five albums to lead rice|magazine=RPM|date=December 13, 1971|page=2}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United Kingdom|award=Gold|relyear=1971|certyear=1971|certref={{cite magazine|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Sounds/IDX/Sounds-1971-11-06-IDX-3.pdf|access-date=June 6, 2024|title=Emerson, Lake, Palmer - special concerts|magazine=Sounds|date=November 6, 1971|page=3}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry |region=United States |artist=Lake Emerson & Palmer|title=Tarkus|award=Gold|type=album |relyear=1971}}

{{Certification Table Bottom |nosales=true}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite magazine |last=Dome |first=Malcolm |year=2011 |title=Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Tarkus |journal=Classic Rock Presents Prog| issue=17}}
• {{cite book

|last = Macan

|first = Edward

|title = Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture

|url = https://archive.org/details/rockingclassicse0000maca

|url-access = registration

|year = 1997

|publisher = Oxford University Press

|isbn = 0-19-509887-0 }}

{{Refend}}

• {{Cite thesis |type=M.A. |title=The Compositional Style of Keith Emerson in Tarkus (1971) for the Rock Music Trio Emerson Lake and Palmer |url=http://scholars.indstate.edu/handle/10484/3914

|last=Ford |first=Peter T. |date=August 1994 |publisher=Indiana State University |access-date=7 January 2015 |oclc=812040625 }}

{{Emerson, Lake & Palmer}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Emerson, Lake & Palmer albums

Category:1971 albums

Category:Cotillion Records albums

Category:Atlantic Records albums

Category:Island Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Greg Lake