LIVE AT NASSAU COLISEUM '78

After the Works tour with orchestra which left them in near bankruptcy, ELP toured again as a pure trio to recover some money. While their creativity was already going down as Works II had shown and Love Beach would continue showing later in the same year, their musicianship for playing their older material was still in top form, and this can be considered as the last of ELP's tours under the "prog masters status". I liked the orchestra backup but as a trio they are more raw and you get to appreciate their interpretational skills even more.

To those many who complain about all ELP studio albums having too much weak material, this is a good compilation of many of their best songs (ok we also miss many of them, KE9 to mention just one, but there is only limited space in a double CD). And while the sound quality of this live recording surely does not surpass the studio tracks, it is better than that in Welcome Back My Friends and it compensates by amazing us of how good these guys could play (and sing in Lake's case) and how dense they could sound being just a live trio.

The show starts with a row of classics, an energetic Hoedown, Tarkus and the 2 parts of Take A Pebble sandwitching the 1st movement of Piano Concerto and a short Mapple Leaf Rag. By now you have already a smile from ear to ear and it's just one 3rd the album. Next we have Lake's section with C'Est La Vie and Lucky Man, and then Pictures At An Exhibition in much the same format as in In Concert / Works Live but without the orchestra. Great stuff, they nail it.

Disc 2 starts with the weakest track Tiger In A Spotlight, never enjoyed this one but then it's just 4 min in a double CD. Watching Over You is not one of their best songs either but a decent enough ballad.

Then it comes to Palmer's section with a short and fast introduction of Tank followed by the unavoidable drum solo and The Enemy God.

They then deliver a fast version of Nutrocker and the album ends with the full 4th side of Works I but in reverse order, first the great Pirates in full glory and finally Fanfare For The Common Man with quite a lot of Keith's synth improvisation (I would have prefered that they kept the opposite sequence, as I think Pirates fits more as an ending, but that's not serious).

I know that many will scream at me giving 5 stars to this album but I'm an ELP fan and I think that this one deserves them, for sure with this one you can not complain about having Jeremy Benders, Are You Ready Eddies or Benny The Bouncers.