THE BEST OF EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER

Before getting this I had never heard a note from this trio. Not even one song on classic rock radio. To this day the only ELP song I have ever heard on the radio is "From The Beginning". I was pleasantly surprised when I first listened to this, mainly for the album version of "Tarkus" which blew me away. While it's nice to have the album version of that song, we also get edited versions of "Karn Evil 9" and "Fanfare For The Common Man". Even the comeback single "Black Moon" is an edit. The Christmas song "I Believe In Father Christmas" is included here also.

Another bonus here is an unedited "Trilogy". "C'est La Vie" and "Honky Tonk Train Blues" seem out of place and are hardly amongst the trio's best songs. It's good to have "Knife Edge" here as well. I found out later that the albums were the way to go. But still, it would have been nice to have "The Barbarian" and "Endless Enigma" here. The three ballad's "Lucky Man", "From The Beginning" and "Still...You Turn Me On" seem to be on every ELP compilation.

A good introduction to ELP. The tracklist is similar to any compilation which has the album version of "Tarkus" on it. But with most prog acts, it's better to get the main studio albums. Or even a live album. 3 stars.