LIVE AT NASSAU COLISEUM '78

As a fan I was quite excited when it announced they were releasing this all singing dancing remastered 2 cd version of the last real classic ELP gig. By this time ELP were close to pipe and slippers mode with their best days behind them. Coming off the back of the very expensive orchestral tour they needed to recoup their financial losses and so toured late 77 and early 78 just as a 3 peice.

This is bags of fun with still pleny of the edge that made them such a great live band. Starts off with a blazing version of Hoedown and then quickly into Tarkus. This version cuts out some of the orginal sections but extends the Aquartarkus much like then Welcome Back My Friends. This is ELP at their very best. Emersons soloing still brings out goosebumps while Lake and Palmer are as tight as is possible to be. Sheer magic.

Then next four songs represent the acoustic section of the gig bookended by Take A Pebble and sandwiched in between we have Piano Concerto No 1 movement 1 featuring some nice xylophone work from Palmer.Very good.Disc One ends with the shorter version of Pictures At An Exhibition not too dissimilar to that on the Works Live album but no orchestra obviously. The synths owe much to Tomita and helps create a nice atmosphere. Lake's vocals are the feature point of this version. Hard to imagine it without him. The instrumental sections carry loads of energy with each and every one playing as if their life depends on it.

Disc Two concentrates more on the Works stuff opening with Tiger In Spotlight and continuing with Watching Over You. Not exactly classic stuff has to be said although there is nothing wrong with these particular versions. They then blow off the cobwebs for Tank although this is only a short version to lead into Palmers drum solo before going into The Enemy God.Palmer gets to flex his not inconsiderable muscles.Then its into an incredibly fast and energetic version of Nutrocker. I love this to bits. ELP rock!!

The set finishes with what is basically the group side of Works Volume One (but in reverse order). Pirates has long been one of my favourite ELP tracks. Its very hard to improve on the exquisite studio version and this doesn't. Thats not to say its a bad version. Played with plenty of energy and gusto.Enjoyable.

The concert finishes (as its done at any ELP gig for the last 30 odd years) with Fanfare For The Common Man.This version is just a mere 11 minutes compared to the 20 minute versions that appeared in later years and perhaps is better for it. Never reckoned this to be one of ELP best tracks but it does have that excellent hook.

Overall the sound quality is excellent and the packaging is very nice. I could rate this at anything between 2 and 4 stars quite easily.It is better than Works Live so if you want a decent live document of ELP during the Works era this is the one to get.