jingles.

Emerson's new meisterwork, "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman," is more interesting than "Pirates" was, but only because its composer has elected to work out the timbre changes on his keyboards rather than employ an elephantine orchestra again. Melodically, the tune is as vague as it is pompous; harmonically, it's a heap of sterile romantic clichés. That you can hear echoes of the ELP of old simply means that Emerson hasn't learned—or borrowed—a new riff in five years. Once more, Sinfield's lyrics are a grotesque embarrassment, probably accounting for Lake's wooden demeanor. (RS 286)

MICHAEL BLOOM