NICE [AKA: EVERYTHING AS NICE AS MOTHER MAKES IT]

The US version came out with a different cover and not any better than this one. The contents on the disc however was just the same on both side of the Atlantic and unremarkable but at least it did not contain any reworking of classic music that I dread so much.

The opening track is a revisting of the theme of one of their non-album single (that you can easily find as a bonus track when buying a recent remastered copy of the debut album) and the very psychic touches are still there , but it is easy to compare how much the band had evolved by this time.The Hardin cover Hang On To A Dream definitely put a lid on my expectations of this band as the vocal departement was so very average (to the point of adding a children's choir) and this explains why so much of their later music was instrumental. Diary stiil has a few traces of psychadelia and the last track of the first side is a lenghty work out withimprovisations limited to Emerson's solo KB .

The second side has two lenghty tracks , yet another version of Blue Rondo (but not quite as good as the original version) but still holds some interest mainly on the bass works and a Dylan cover She Belongs To Me which leave no real traces in your mind as the needle lifts off the disc. For a twelve min track , this tells that there is a problem.

For confirmed Emerson fans!