Emerson, Lake & Palmer: “Stone of Years” (1971)
A trimmed-down version of the song that kept the solo fully intact but still managed to shed a few stone.
Kronomyth 2.1: Had you talked to the winds of time, then you’d know that the waters rhyme.
This is an edited version of the album track that, I kid you not, is like eighty percent organ solo. Usually, record labels cut out the solos on singles, making Stone of Years a rare, wonderful exception. And, yes, I have no idea where the other stones went. The B side is Time and a Place (you have to wonder if the people who pressed this record even owned a copy of Tarkus), which may be as close as Emerson, Lake & Palmer have come to sounding like Deep Purple. I don’t recall hearing either track on the radio, although you did hear “Are You Ready Eddy?” on the radio sometimes, back in the day when stations owned entire libraries of albums.
Original 7-inch single version
A1. Stone of Years (Keith Emerson/Greg Lake) (2:44)
B1. Time and a Place (Keith Emerson/Greg Lake/Carl Palmer) (2:58)
The Plastic
Released on 7-inch single in August 1971 in the US (Cotillion, 44131) and Japan (Atlantic, P-1087A) with regional picture sleeve. Also released as promotional 7-inch single in 1971 in the US (Cotillion, 44131) feat. A mono on flip. (*First appeared in 8/21/71 issue of Billboard.)
- Re-issued on 7-inch single in 1973 in Argentina (Music Hall, 40.002).
