Tracks
- Eruption
- Stones of Years
- Iconoclast
- Mass
- Manticore
- Battlefield
- Aquatarkus
- Jeremy Bender
- Bitches Crystal
- The Only Way (Hymn)
- Infinite Space (Conclusion)
- A Time and a Place
- Are You Ready Eddy?
Tarkus is an extravagant/fanciful album. The music is progressive rock. The band devotes the first half of the album, Eruption to Aquatarkus, to a fanciful story of Tarkus, a futuristic armor-plated armadillo-like war machine that battles several enemies until it is defeated by the Manticore and resurrected as the Aquatarkus, an aquatic version of itself. The song is apparently a commentary on the futility of war. The remainder of the album are self-contained songs.
This album demonstrates excellently all the vital elements of a prog rock album. First, there is a concept song which extends close to or more than twenty minutes. Second, the song is a mix of instrumental and lyrical parts, both of which tell the story. Third, the concept topics are fanciful, surreal or allegorical stories which reflect on human nature. Fourth, the commentary is equivalent to a an philosophical essay written for a freshman Intro to Philosophy class. Fifth, the instrumental parts must be over-indulgent demonstrations of the musicians' abilities.
A problem with prog rock is that there is a very fine line between a compelling story and sheer nonsense. If any of the elements mentioned above veers into the absurd the whole concept is ruined. Another problem is that even the best prog rock bands have a hard time avoiding an absurd concept song or album.
This is a decent album. The Tarkus concept doesn't work for me and the instrumental parts aren't all that interesting. I also don't find much interest in the second half of the album. I do think this is worth hearing and worth being on the 1001 Albums list because it really is a textbook example of prog rock music in it's finest(?) form.
All the songs are decent, but there really aren't any stand outs.
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
No comments:
Post a Comment