Tarkus - Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Tarkus (20:59) takes up the first side of the original 1971 album of the same name, a name invented by Emerson. The albium was ELP's second studio album. The Tarkus track divides into seven parts of between 1:16 and 4.13 minutes - Eruption, Stones of Years, Iconoclast, Mass, Manticore, Battlefield (by Lake only, the rest being either by Emerson or Emerson and Lake). Three parts have lyrics (Stones, Mass and Battlefield). Emerson composed his parts in just six days on an upright piano at his London home. The band then rehearsed it for another six days, then recorded it. Emerson used a bit of Prokofiev to form a bridge between the two part of Eruption, which is in difficult 5/4 time.