Tarkus the otter lived in a big rubber ring of shite water in the days when it took seven minutes fifty three seconds of monotone nurdling to get to the first mumbled line about wardrobe preferences by which time the twat at the back in the split-kneed loons had gone out through the broken exit door he’d sneaked in through to do a one handed roll-up.
24 February 2017
GOK WAN ACOLYTE
I think the late Mr Emerson says more than we ever could do on this subject:
“To everyone, it represented what we were doing in that studio. The next day on my drive up from Sussex the imagery of the armadillo kept hitting me. It had to have a name. Something guttural. It had to begin with the letter ‘T’ and end with a flourish. “Tarka the Otter” may have come into it, but this armadillo needed a science fiction kind of name that represented Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in reverse. Some mutilation of the species caused by radiation … ‘Tarkus’!”
24 February 2017
jarg alan
Although I confess to liking the first 3 elp albums, it has to be said that side 2 of Tarkus is a mess. But…… ‘Ham or Cheese’ says one of them in a funny voice at the end of Are You Ready Eddy….. was this an early baguette dilemma?
24 February 2017
liquid len
All this talk of armadillos reminds me of the underground comics I used to read in the early 70s. Flights of fancy. Tripping the light fantastic.
Supposedly drawn by Captain Beefheart but I doubt the veracity of that.
26 February 2017
paul f
Possibly my favourite cover of my older brother’s extensive record collection when I was growing up. Closely followed by Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick” newspaper and their pop-up gatefold for “Stand Up”. The latter two records are however infinitely preferable to Tarkus once you drop the needle.
Bobby Pinnace
Tarkus the otter lived in a big rubber ring of shite water in the days when it took seven minutes fifty three seconds of monotone nurdling to get to the first mumbled line about wardrobe preferences by which time the twat at the back in the split-kneed loons had gone out through the broken exit door he’d sneaked in through to do a one handed roll-up.
24 February 2017
GOK WAN ACOLYTE
I think the late Mr Emerson says more than we ever could do on this subject:
“To everyone, it represented what we were doing in that studio. The next day on my drive up from Sussex the imagery of the armadillo kept hitting me. It had to have a name. Something guttural. It had to begin with the letter ‘T’ and end with a flourish. “Tarka the Otter” may have come into it, but this armadillo needed a science fiction kind of name that represented Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in reverse. Some mutilation of the species caused by radiation … ‘Tarkus’!”
24 February 2017
jarg alan
Although I confess to liking the first 3 elp albums, it has to be said that side 2 of Tarkus is a mess. But…… ‘Ham or Cheese’ says one of them in a funny voice at the end of Are You Ready Eddy….. was this an early baguette dilemma?
24 February 2017
liquid len
All this talk of armadillos reminds me of the underground comics I used to read in the early 70s. Flights of fancy. Tripping the light fantastic.
Stuff like this.
Supposedly drawn by Captain Beefheart but I doubt the veracity of that.
26 February 2017
paul f
Possibly my favourite cover of my older brother’s extensive record collection when I was growing up. Closely followed by Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick” newspaper and their pop-up gatefold for “Stand Up”. The latter two records are however infinitely preferable to Tarkus once you drop the needle.
27 February 2017