Track Listing

1. Jerusalem
2. Toccata
3. Still You Turn Me On
4. Benny The Bouncer
5. Karm Evil 9

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #193772 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .13 pounds

Customer Reviews

Great remaster, but no new music despite appearances!!!
A fantastic sound at last due to the new remaster, and nice to have the 5.1 option on disc 3. Biggest problem is that despite appearances, there isn't a note of strictly new music on this album: The claims to unreleased 35th anniversary editions of Karn Evil 9 on disc 2 are more of the same first mixes which we first heard for Jerusalem on the recent box set. They are the same performances we already have, but sound only slightly different. Same goes for the first mix of Toccata. The instrumental backing track to KE 9 part 3 just sounds like the usual version without any vocals on it. The NME flexidisc material and the Apple Blossoms/BSS tracks were all released on the last UK Sanctuary release. So, despite 3 discs, we've heard it all before. It would have been better to track down some early live versions from the German dates of 1973, before the studio versions were recorded, to serve as working comparisons: Shouldn't this be what a definitive anniversary edition is all about: Other bands seem to have found new things to put onto their corresponding deluxe reissues. The usual problems of shoddy proof-reading also raise their ugly heads again: Ginastera spelt incorrectly throughout the booklet essay, the Manticore studio referred to as the Manicure studio(!), and the band members' previous bands listed supposedly respectively, but in the wrong order with Atomic Rooster appearing as Keith's band and The Nice as Carl's. A small point too, but the album title has not been printed in the slot left blank for it on the spine of the cover (compare it to the new Pictures release, which follows the same template and has its title in the slot). Timing on disc 2 is listed as 00.00 minutes, and Toccata is spelt wrongly on disc two's tracklisting. This all-time classic deserves better, but will we ever see another reissue?

ELP - BSS (Deluxe Edition) SACD
5 Stars for Brain Salad Surgery, of course. 1 Star for this remastering on the Deluxe Edition (SACD).

The midrange on this Deluxe Edition has been jacked up with EQ and it is compressed enough so that Lake's vocals now grate a bit, but most difficult to understand is how this sound was considered appropriate for Palmer's drums. When his first beat kicks in with hi-hat in tow around 1:30 into "Jerusalem," I think some folks will probably say to themselves: "You've got to be kidding." The hi-hat was already a rough listen on the Victory but here it has been turned into a metallic pinch. I don't personally think that these EQ moves were a success. The added compression is also really annoying. The whole signal sort of "pumps" as a result. Surely some will rave about more "detail" and "clarity," but in actual A/B comparisons with the old Victory CD, I found this to be utterly "tinny" with way too much added midrange EQ. And I already found the Victory a bit too bright. I still think that despite what I suspect were less than perfect source tapes, the original Atlantic CD mastered by Barry Diament is the best digital version of this album. Some might find it a bit "dull," but in comparison to what? I don't know, I find my ears tolerate 40 minutes of that sound just fine. Adding treble to recordings during remastering seems common in the digital realm, but sometimes over the course of an entire album this added treble can really become annoying. I wonder if people would find the original Atlantic CD "dull" if they cleaned their ears out with some warm sounding vinyl for a few days?

Let us keep in mind that the Victory remastering in 1993 by Joseph Palmaccio was apparently the first time this entire album had been remastered from master tapes. This same mastering was then used by Rhino (ignore the new mastering credit inside, it's just a mistake). Castle also used this mastering after first accidentally issuing a downmix from the Rhino DVD-A. Hence, you have the Victory CD, the Rhino and "corrected" Castle editions all featuring the same mastering by Mr. Palmaccio. The Japanese releases on JVC are not worth discussion (too compressed) other than the fact that they had snazzy packaging. The album was released on CD in Germany on Ariola/Manticore, but while some of the Manticore CDs are hunted by audiophiles (especially the first album as well as Tarkus, and to a certain extent Trilogy -- all of which I agree sound excellent), I didn't find the Manticore CD of BSS to be all that great. Too much treble. Incidentally, I suspect that all of the Japanese mini lp CDs by JVC originate from the Manticore/Ariola sources anyway, if not just the CDs themselves. If you are curious about different digital versions of the ELP catalog, I recommend trying to find those for comparison. The Japanese minis were (sonically) a complete joke and offer nothing of value to the dynamics or tonality of these albums.

But back to this new SACD: The no-noise is thankfully subtle, and will likely not be evident to any but the most obsessive audiophile, but some was surely applied. Consider that the hiss level between this and the Victory are very similar and yet this is compressed and had some added midrange (things that would increase hiss), so you figure it out. I can't stand the stuff and wish there was more reverence for the breath inherent in analog tape amongst many modern mastering engineers, because the sound that occurs when perfectly natural tape hiss is removed via computer is not an improvement to my ears, in fact, it is a major downgrade ... but that's another story.

The much bigger issue at hand will simply be if one thinks the Victory mastering needed to be even brighter and have compression added. If so, you'll like this sound. I found the new release vastly inferior to the Victory, and I still prefer Barry Diament's Atlantic CD mastering for the smoothest sound (particularly on Palmer's cymbals) of them all.

Brain Salad Shambles!!
The other reviewer here has said it all on this re-issue. It's a bit of a mess. A couple of other points. The 3rd disc is a hybrid SACD which includes the 5.1 mix of the album. This is stated as "5.1 STS" on the back of the packaging. Is this a new sound format? Nowhere except on the disc does it state SACD. The 5.1 mix is I believe taken from the DVD-A released by Rhino back in 2000. The timing on this is given as 49.47 which may be due to the fact the original DVD-A release also included "Lucky Man" in 5.1.Not sure if this version does as I don't have an SACD player. As this is a hybrid SACD, the stereo layer can be played on conventional CD players. So why include the first disc as it's the same material.

The remastering is stated as being done by Joseph Palmacio. But this information is taken directly from the last issue on Castle. This new remaster has in fact been done by Paschal Byrne. On disc 2 there are 11 tracks listed but there are in fact 12 as there is a repeat of "Brain Salad Surgery" prior to the "Excerpts" track. Do I need to go on.

This re-issue is hugely disappointing. Universal have done some really good deluxe editions in the past but this, as with "Pictures At An Exhibition" comes across as being rushed, cobbled together and the lack of attention to detail or even the obvious is deplorable. That an album as important within the 70's progressive rock canon as "Brain Salad Surgery" has been treated so poorly is actually depressing. I wonder what ELP themselves think about it all.