HIGH VOLTAGE

What we have here is a blatant rip off, another try of a record company to get at your money. They try to make dumbasses (like myself) buy this album. How do they do it?

They use the fact that a band (in this case ELP) have just played the High Voltage festival and that a CD with the concert is due - something every ELP fan has been waiting for for eons. Then they create a compilation, aptly name it "High Voltage" and place it on outlet store shelfs. There it is waiting for dumbo Bungalow Bill to come along and take it for what it not is. Ok that's my own foolishness which needs to be punished from time to time.

So, what have we got apart from that. A box which concentrates on the early phase of ELP. There are three songs from the eponymous debut album (The Barbarian, Lucky Man and Take A Pebble), Tarkus in full length and Pictures At An Exhibition in its entirety including Nutrocker. The compilation is completed by Fanfare For The Common Man from Works Vol. 1 and Touch And Go. This last one is a peculiar selection. It is 10 years younger than Fanfare and some 15 years away from the rest. It is not even from ELP but from Emerson, Lake and Powell, even though the liner notes forget about this tiny little detail. And it is light years away from the early masterpieces.

The sound quality is actually quite good, something you'd expect from a remastered 2010 release. The presentation is professional, again something expected from a major label. And still IMO this compilation is as useful as a hole in the head. Fans of ELP certainly have all the early recordings. And for newbies (are there any with regards to ELP?) there are better places to start.

I can only recommend this boxset for people who are somewhat familiar with their works (pun intended) but do not own the first three albums (a rare combination) and want to have Pictures and Tarkus without the somewhat doubtful side 2. But then you'll miss the better parts of the first album.

I'm not joking, and don't call me Shirley.

Here we go with another obsolete cash in recording of the best of ELP. At last count there was a minimum of 14 compilations and of that collection there were at least 2 worth getting being "the Ultimate Collection" and "The Manticore Boxset". Of course these feature everything on this latest compilation and more so are ideal for newbies or for those unfortunate pedestrian proggers who cannot be bothered getting the quintessential 6 seventies albums: namely, "Emerson Lake & Palmer" (debut), "Tarkus", "Brain Salad Surgery", "Trilogy", "Pictures at an Exhibition", and "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends", a triple-live album. These albums will give you just about everything you will ever need apart from one or two from "Works". This year has also seen a box set of live ELP that is wonderful and worth grabbing too called "A Time And A Place."

So what do we have here in this lovely little unashamed cash in on the latest concert tour of High Voltage? Well, it's not all that bad if you are a newbie for a number of reasons. The tracks are not butchered but are given the full treatment without edits and they are remastered so sound quality is A1.

You can take the 20 minute 'Tarkus' test right here as always. No complaints here though I have personally heard this at least 50 times.

You can revel in the full blown concert epic 'Pictures At An Exhibition', all 33:34 minutes of it; this is always stunning music and a good way to obtain the concert if you do not have the original album. But who doesn't own this already? All ELP fans would have this so the album is definitely not designed for existing fans and you would expect fans to be at the concerts to shell out a hundred bucks to see them. So if this Comp was on the merchandise stand at the concert it is unlikely it would sell to fans, who are not completists at least. Certainly the concert had a great sale item of the "High Voltage Live" and THIS is worth grabbing.

'Nutrocker' is here too on the comp which also comes from the "Pictures" concert. So CD 1 is about an hours worth of classic ELP at its best.

Flicking on CD 2 we have the amazingly out of place 'Touch And Go' and I thought the album says ELP not ELP. Hang on a minute let's try that again... I thought the album says Emerson Lake & PALMER not Emerson Lake & POWELL. That's right, the Powell version of this anti- classic is here for no particular reason and it is simply a ridiculous choice. A sheer delight to find the often left off 'The Barbarian' instrumental from the debut, a brilliant piece of music by any standards.

Then the familiar trumpet sounds bring us the quintessential 'Fanfare For The Common Man', perhaps the only reason to get "Works 1" and this version here is the full 9:43 minute unedited version, so I won't trouble the complaints department here.

What's next? Ah, it had to be... the mandatory Lake ballad. Sorry, Mr lake but I am bored witless one minute into it. How many times I have had to endure this tripe, the only great thing about it is the ending with the Emerson synth section. But I would hazard to guess that every dang ELP compilation features this track. Correction, not features, inundates the listener with this track. And don't give me that excuse that it is a single and has to go here, there is a lot better material that could have replaced it such as 'Jerusalem' or a section of 'Karn Evil 9'. In fact that brings me to the question, where the heck IS 'Karn Evil 9'? It's ridiculous that this track is missing. If I had been in charge of this comp set list, 'Karn Evil 9' would have been priority and replaced 'Touch and Go' and 'Lucky Man' as 8 minutes of this classic buries both these tracks. Lastly, but by no means leastly, we have the brilliant 'Take A Pebble' clocking 12:27 and I adore this track so no complaints from me. Absolutely brilliant Lake vocals and Emerson piano drives this along and it is mesmirising from start to finish.

Now this second CD runs for a whopping 36 minutes. You heard me right, 36 minutes on a CD! and they have the audacity to leave out 'Karn Evil 9', 'Trilogy' and 'Pirates' which would have fit on here easily in some form. What gives? What a rip off? Seriously, who are they kidding?

"Love Beach", "Works 2" and "In the Hot Seat" were completely ignored as a strategic move one might suggest, so we are spared having to wade through any of that regurgitated dross. No "Black Moon" material is a surprise though as that wasn't half bad.

So overall this is an amazing compilation of ELP, but why bother? Everyone needs to hear the aforementioned ELP classic albums and there's enough compilations to sink a battle ship so another compilation just does not make sense. A tour CD? Still, no excuse, as a live CD is sufficient. I can understand labels wanting new material but this is just grabbing at the hip pocket of completists and newbies have enough to choose from and much better at that. I am left in a perplexed state looking at this album. It is expensive, well packaged, with nice booklet and a great sound, but purely obsolete. Having said this, it has to get 2 stars at least as the songs are essential, and perhaps some newbies to the band out there may grab this and want more; eventually being led to get hold of some of the best 70s prog albums on the planet.

I (fortunately) wasn't fooled by the name of this compilation and therefore do not own it.

But I know the music which is to be heard, and the music ranges from 2 stars (Touch And Go), 3 stars (Nutrocker, Lucky Man), 4 stars (Fanfare For The Common Man) to 5 stars (Pictures, Tarkus, Take A Pebble, The Barbarian).

Musically, this thing should therefore be somewhere around 5 stars.

But the first big question is: who needs this compilation? Beginners get quite a good impression of some of the best ELP tracks. It is okay, too, that Karn Evil is missing here, which in my opinion isn't the most necessary ELP piece. There also aren't too many compilations which include that many tracks from the early ELP 1970-1971; but: where is Trilogy? Furthermore, there already exists one great compilation with a bigger diversity and some more additional minutes (CD 2 of High Voltage is somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes), Fanfare for the Common Man: The Anthology.

But the thing which annoys me extremely is that the album title could make people who know that ELP played on the High Voltage Festival 2010 buy this record, thinking that this is the matching live CD. If this is a marketing technique (and I do think it is), I call that infuriatingly impudent and rude.

Musical quality: 4.5/5 Compilation quality: 2.5-3/5

Actually this compilation, smelling badly of a rip-off, shouldn't get more than one star. But beginners who want to get to know ELP shouldn't be disappointed as there is some good music to listen to, so I will give 2 stars.