This Day in Music
Prog legends do a little surgery, a legendary singer-songwriter is born, and one of the all-time best songs comes out of the trash heap on this day in music.
Releases
1973: Progressive rock supergroup Emerson Lake and Palmer, release their fourth studio album, “Brain Salad Surgery.”
Swiss artist E. R. Giger, who would later become famous for designing the creatures in the Alien movies, designed the disturbingly beautiful cover, an airbrushed image that blends a woman with a machine in the Biochemical art style.
Reviews were vastly mixed, with AllMusic rating it 4.5/5.0 stars, and Robert Christgau rating it C-. Nonetheless, it is a stunning work that combines rock, jazz, and classical music, and is considered among the best albums in prog-rock history.
The record features a 29-minute suite, titled “Karn Evil 9,” broken down into three impressions, with First Impression further broken down into two parts. The most famous song from the release is “Karn Evil 9: First Impression-Part 2,” (welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends...) however, two other songs, “Still...You Turn Me On,” and the band’s rendition of the traditional English hymn, “Jerusalem,” (words by William Blake from his poem And Did Those Feet in Ancient Time / music by Sir Hubert Parry written a century later) are also very popular.
“Brain Salad Surgery” reached No. 2 on the UK Albums list, No. 11 on the Billboard 200, and No. 10 in Canada, all rare achievements for a prog album. (Ed.: It’s a glorious tribute to pomp and pretention, and thoroughly enjoyable!)
1979: Led Zeppelin releases the single, “Fool in the Rain,” from the album, “In Through the Out Door.” Featuring a heavy half-time rolling-triplet shuffle by John Bonham on drums, and a Samba-inspired mid-song break, it was highly regarded by fans and critics alike. It reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1963: Minneapolis quartet The Trashmen see their single, “Surfin’ Bird,” enter the Billboard Hot 100, where it would eventually peak at No. 4. Combining two previous R&B songs, “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” and “The Bird’s the Word,” both by The Rivingtons, it became what this author considers one of the five-best songs in the history of Rock and Roll.
People
1949: Legendary American singer, songwriter, pianist, and actor, Tom Waits, is born in Whittier, California. Happy 76th Birthday, Tom!
Pictured: From L to R: Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.
