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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elp___brain_salad_surgery.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''Come inside, the show's about the start.'']]
''Brain Salad Surgery'' is the fourth studio album by Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer, released on December 7, 1973. The first half of the album consists of shorter and more straightforward songs (save for the seven-minute instrumental "Toccata") that are unrelated to each other. The second half is the nearly 30-minute "Karn Evil 9" suite that tells an AfterTheEnd story depicting a futuristic carnival show and a RobotWar.
!! Musicians:
* Keith Emerson: Keyboards, computer voice
* Greg Lake: Lead vocals: Lead vocals, bass, electric and acoustic guitars
* Carl Palmer: Drums, percussion
!! Track list:
[[AC:Side One]]
# "Jerusalem" (2:44)
# "Toccata" (7:23)
# "Still... You Turn Me On" (2:53)
# "Benny the Bouncer" (2:24)
# "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression - Part 1" (8:43)
[[AC: Side Two - "Karn Evil 9" continued]]
# "1st Impression - Part 2" (4:47)
# "2nd Impression" (7:07)
# "3rd Impression" (9:03)
!! Come and see the tropes:
* AfterTheEnd: The setting of the "Karn Evil 9" suite is a bleak future in which humanity was largely wiped out, with the narrator holding out for someone to save what's left of it. Some surviving artifacts of humanity's past are preserved in a carnival exhibition.
* AIIsACrapshoot: "Karn Evil 9: Third Impression" has this as a theme, as it describes a war between mankind and machines. It's not clear who wins, but the song ends with a computer (actually Keith Emerson's voice processed through his synthesizers, although it sounds more than a bit like a Series/{{D|octorWho}}alek) saying it "let [humanity] live" and boasting, "[[BadassBoast I am perfect. What are you?]]".
* BlackComedy: "Benny the Bouncer" is about a bouncer named Benny who is cut into pieces and brutally killed by Savage Sid. In contrast, the piece is sung by Lake in a ridiculous, heavy accent, while accompanied by Emerson on a honky-tonk piano, giving an impression of being upbeat and silly.
* BreatherEpisode: Gentle acoustic song "Still... You Turn Me On" and BlackComedy song "Benny the Bouncer" are sandwiched between the epic and chaotic "Toccata" and the AfterTheEnd "Karn Evil 9" suite.
* ComputerVoice: Keith Emerson's only vocal contribution in the band's discography is his voice being processed through a synthesizer to be the voice of the computer in "Karn Evil 9: Third Impression".
* CoverVersion: "Jerusalem" is an adaptation of Creator/WilliamBlake's poem, which was made into a hymn by Hubert Parry.
* CreatingLifeIsBad: Humans in "Karn Evil 9" gave the computer life. The computer used it to turn against humanity, declaring itself the superior being.
* EpicRocking:
** The nearly 30-minute "Karn Evil 9" suite was too long to fit on one side of the LP, so the first impression was split in two with the side break in between.
** Toccata (7:23) counts as well.
* {{Instrumentals}}:
** "Toccata", which is also by far the longest of the first four tracks.
** "Karn Evil 9: Second Impression" divides the two halves of the story.
* TheFreakshow: "Karn Evil 9: First Impression" is about a carnival exhibition displaying the disturbing remains of humanity from before the apocalypse.
* FunWithHomophones: "Karn Evil" sounds like "carnival".
* HumansAreBastards: The carnival exhibition does not display the best of humanity.
--> "Left behind the bars, rows of Bishops' heads in jars\\
And a bomb inside a car\\
Spectacular! Spectacular!"
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: "Karn Evil 9: First Impression - Part 2" picks up where "Part 1" left off and is the first track on side two.
--> "'''Welcome back my friends''' to the show that never ends."
* LongestSongGoesLast: The third impression is the longest on both the "Karn Evil 9" suite (if only because the first was broken up) and the album.
* NoodleImplements: The second half of "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression" features vague descriptions of the strange acts in "the show that never ends", including "supersonic [[BeastlyBloodsports fighting cocks]]", a display of "bishops' heads in jars", a "gypsy queen" performing "on the guillotine" while covered in Vaseline, a performance of Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band", and an act involving "[[BestialityIsDepraved seven virgins and a mule]]".
* RobotWar: The war between the humans and the computer depicted in "Karn Evil 9: Third Impression".
* RockMeAmadeus: "Toccata" is an adaptation of the fourth movement of Alberto Ginastera's first piano concerto.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: The computer was created to help the humans win a war, only for the computer to turn against them in a war of its own.
* WhamLine: The final lines imply that the machines no longer need humans and the humans can only stand in horror as the computer defeats them.
--> '''Human''': But I gave you life\\
'''Computer''': What else can you do?\\
'''Human''': To do what is right\\
'''Computer''': [[BadassBoast I'm perfect]]. [[ArmorPiercingQuestion Are you?]]
----
[[caption-width-right:300:''Come inside, the show's about the start.'']]
''Brain Salad Surgery'' is the fourth studio album by Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer, released on December 7, 1973. The first half of the album consists of shorter and more straightforward songs (save for the seven-minute instrumental "Toccata") that are unrelated to each other. The second half is the nearly 30-minute "Karn Evil 9" suite that tells an AfterTheEnd story depicting a futuristic carnival show and a RobotWar.
!! Musicians:
* Keith Emerson: Keyboards, computer voice
* Greg Lake: Lead vocals: Lead vocals, bass, electric and acoustic guitars
* Carl Palmer: Drums, percussion
!! Track list:
[[AC:Side One]]
# "Jerusalem" (2:44)
# "Toccata" (7:23)
# "Still... You Turn Me On" (2:53)
# "Benny the Bouncer" (2:24)
# "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression - Part 1" (8:43)
[[AC: Side Two - "Karn Evil 9" continued]]
# "1st Impression - Part 2" (4:47)
# "2nd Impression" (7:07)
# "3rd Impression" (9:03)
!! Come and see the tropes:
* AfterTheEnd: The setting of the "Karn Evil 9" suite is a bleak future in which humanity was largely wiped out, with the narrator holding out for someone to save what's left of it. Some surviving artifacts of humanity's past are preserved in a carnival exhibition.
* AIIsACrapshoot: "Karn Evil 9: Third Impression" has this as a theme, as it describes a war between mankind and machines. It's not clear who wins, but the song ends with a computer (actually Keith Emerson's voice processed through his synthesizers, although it sounds more than a bit like a Series/{{D|octorWho}}alek) saying it "let [humanity] live" and boasting, "[[BadassBoast I am perfect. What are you?]]".
* BlackComedy: "Benny the Bouncer" is about a bouncer named Benny who is cut into pieces and brutally killed by Savage Sid. In contrast, the piece is sung by Lake in a ridiculous, heavy accent, while accompanied by Emerson on a honky-tonk piano, giving an impression of being upbeat and silly.
* BreatherEpisode: Gentle acoustic song "Still... You Turn Me On" and BlackComedy song "Benny the Bouncer" are sandwiched between the epic and chaotic "Toccata" and the AfterTheEnd "Karn Evil 9" suite.
* ComputerVoice: Keith Emerson's only vocal contribution in the band's discography is his voice being processed through a synthesizer to be the voice of the computer in "Karn Evil 9: Third Impression".
* CoverVersion: "Jerusalem" is an adaptation of Creator/WilliamBlake's poem, which was made into a hymn by Hubert Parry.
* CreatingLifeIsBad: Humans in "Karn Evil 9" gave the computer life. The computer used it to turn against humanity, declaring itself the superior being.
* EpicRocking:
** The nearly 30-minute "Karn Evil 9" suite was too long to fit on one side of the LP, so the first impression was split in two with the side break in between.
** Toccata (7:23) counts as well.
* {{Instrumentals}}:
** "Toccata", which is also by far the longest of the first four tracks.
** "Karn Evil 9: Second Impression" divides the two halves of the story.
* TheFreakshow: "Karn Evil 9: First Impression" is about a carnival exhibition displaying the disturbing remains of humanity from before the apocalypse.
* FunWithHomophones: "Karn Evil" sounds like "carnival".
* HumansAreBastards: The carnival exhibition does not display the best of humanity.
--> "Left behind the bars, rows of Bishops' heads in jars\\
And a bomb inside a car\\
Spectacular! Spectacular!"
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: "Karn Evil 9: First Impression - Part 2" picks up where "Part 1" left off and is the first track on side two.
--> "'''Welcome back my friends''' to the show that never ends."
* LongestSongGoesLast: The third impression is the longest on both the "Karn Evil 9" suite (if only because the first was broken up) and the album.
* NoodleImplements: The second half of "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression" features vague descriptions of the strange acts in "the show that never ends", including "supersonic [[BeastlyBloodsports fighting cocks]]", a display of "bishops' heads in jars", a "gypsy queen" performing "on the guillotine" while covered in Vaseline, a performance of Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band", and an act involving "[[BestialityIsDepraved seven virgins and a mule]]".
* RobotWar: The war between the humans and the computer depicted in "Karn Evil 9: Third Impression".
* RockMeAmadeus: "Toccata" is an adaptation of the fourth movement of Alberto Ginastera's first piano concerto.
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: The computer was created to help the humans win a war, only for the computer to turn against them in a war of its own.
* WhamLine: The final lines imply that the machines no longer need humans and the humans can only stand in horror as the computer defeats them.
--> '''Human''': But I gave you life\\
'''Computer''': What else can you do?\\
'''Human''': To do what is right\\
'''Computer''': [[BadassBoast I'm perfect]]. [[ArmorPiercingQuestion Are you?]]
----
