Tank (song)

Tank is an instrumental piece from the British progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer's debut album. Appearing in the middle of side two of the original vinyl disc, the piece showcases Carl Palmer's unique drumming style. It also marks the first appearance of the Moog synthesizer in ELP's catalogue.

Description

The piece starts as a segue from the explosive end to "The Three Fates" with an upbeat drum pattern by Carl Palmer. Greg Lake provides a short bass solo over Palmer's drums . Keith Emerson comes in energetically with a trio of keyboards: two clavinets and a piano. The trio's combined improvisation goes on for about a minute, which then Emerson and Lake trade bars of soloing with Palmer.

Palmer then goes on a long and fast drum solo which lasts for at least three minutes. During the solo, Palmer exhibits all parts of his drum set (which includes tubular bells and a gong). At the end of his drum solo at 4:05 after Palmer's fast snare drum action is phased and panned quickly to the left and right can be heard four very low-pitched drumbeats. This sound is special due to the extremely low frequencies of it.

Emerson plays a riff of F-G-Bb-Ab on the Moog (marking its first appearance on any ELP song), while Lake and Palmer lock in a tight, marching rhythm. Emerson goes on a two-minute improvisation on the Moog which lasts until the song fades out.

1977 Remake

In 1977, ELP released a second version of Tank for the album Works Volume 1. This was slightly faster, featured an orchestra, but dismissed the original's drum solo . This version is performed live on the In Concert/Works Live album featuring a much extended drum solo by Palmer.

Personnel

• Keith Emerson: Clavinet, Piano, Moog Synthesizer
• Greg Lake: Bass Guitar, Guitar (on 1977 release)
• Carl Palmer: drums, percussion