Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer LP

Originally released in 1970, the debut album from the then-newly formed supergroup combined musicianship and showmanship in a glowing ball of energy. The keyboard-dominated instrumentals and romantic ballads clearly showcased each of the three members' individual talents and demonstrated the variety of influences each artist brought with them to the band.

This album, which reached the Top 20 in America and got to number four in England, showcased the group at its least pretentious and most musicianly...there is a lot of impressive musicianship here. 'Take a Pebble' might have passed for a Moody Blues track of the era but for the fact that none of the Moody Blues' keyboard men could solo like Keith Emerson. Even here, in a relatively balanced collection of material, the album shows the beginnings of a dark, savage, imposingly gothic edge that had scarcely been seen before in so-called 'art rock,' mostly courtesy of Emerson's larger-than-life organ and synthesizer attacks.