Emerson, Lake & Palmer ~ Brain Salad Surgery (Deluxe Edition)

Just announced is this 3 CD deluxe edition of ELP’s signature album, “Brain Salad Surgery” to be released at the end of September. But what could they put on 3 CD’s!! Well, looking at the track list on Amazon, seems we are being treated to no less than 5 versions, that’s right, 5 versions of the album. Three are on the 3rd disc. Not sure how they can fit 3 versions of the album on one disc. Maybe a mistake on the posting of the track listing. The second disc at least includes bonus tracks in the form of “Brain Salad Surgery” and “When the Apple Blossoms Bloom In the Windmill Of Your Heart I’ll Be Your Valentine” which were recorded at the same sessions but appeared on the “Works Vol.2” album.

According to the highly informative “Brain Salad Surgery – See The Show “ web site (completely dedicated to just this album) other tracks were recorded at the same sessions. These were “Tiger In the Spotlight” and “Hallowed Be Thy Name” (recorded by the band, but appeared on “Works Vol.1” as part of Greg Lakes solo side). Also, the song “So Far to Fall” was recorded slightly later than the album and also appeared on “Works vol.2”. So there is a case to have included these or at least the first two tracks on this edition to make up a complete “Brain Salad Surgery” sessions package.

Time will tell what will be on this edition. My feeling is that it is a Mark Powell project as he has done a lot of archival work for Universal and also oversaw the “From the Beginning” box set of a year or so ago. That was mastered by Paschal Byrne and the results for me were the best sounding ELP on CD yet. So if he is involved it should sound pretty good.