LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL (DVD)

Yoohaa. what a great nostalgia with this great band from the seventies prog! Honestly, I have had the CD format for this live record but it did not really stimulate me to say that it was an excellent show because I merely based on the audio judgment. But with this DVD I can see how great each individual member of ELP plays their role phenomenally. You may complain about the vocal quality of Greg Lake, but that's followed a natural call of human physical quality that erodes with the passages of time. For me, I never complain about vocal quality because I'm sure the singers can do nothing about it. It happens to all singers of great bands of 70s like Steve Walsh, Ian Gillan, Robert Plant, Jon Anderson etc. So in this review I preclude this factor. Indeed, Greg Lake voice is still acceptable - only that he handled it tactfully when the lyrical passages reach high register notes. But it does not disturb the overall music quality of this show.

As in the live cast icon of ELP it has always started with excellent keyboard punches that consciously and subconsciously you get the nuance already. Yes, it blasts off with a rocking yell that welcomes the crowd with "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends .." And continued with the band's legendary and groundbreaking epic "Tarkus" even though it was not performed in its entirety. The first three parts under the epic are quite good to represent the soul of Tarkus epic. The rapid finger punches of Keith Emerson to his Hammond was at a speed of light, combined with solid bass lines by Greg Lake and machine gun and inventive drumming by Carl Palmer are enough to say how excellent the performance was. The floating musical flow of "Stones of Years" rekindles all good memories when the album was launched in very early of seventies. The dynamic structure with wonderful sounds of "Iconoclast" that has characterized the sound of ELP has created another enjoyment pleasure watching the show. The dazzling bass and powerful vocal and melody delivered through the classic "Knife Edge" have made me follow Greg Lake to sing along while watching this DVD.

"From The Beginning" is another legendary track that I love from the band. Unfortunately it's performed purely using acoustic guitar and vocal and removing the ending part with great keyboard and drumming. But it's OK, overall Greg Lake performance was great. "Honky Tonk Train Blues" demonstrates Keith's virtuosity playing his Yamaha piano - great work! The peak of this performance was the "Finale" that comprised Fanfare for The Common Man / America / Rondo where Keith Emerson performed his solo in a crazy way. He turned to an old Hammond organ where he played in acrobatic style performing his solo exploration. A good part was when he fell himself - intentionally - to the crowd and played the organ from the crowd standing point. What an attractive performance.

The overall show performance I give a full five stars. However, set list selection does not really favor me with some songs of their latest Black Moon album. So, I give it a four stars - an excellent addition to any prog music collection. For ELP fans, it's a must owning this DVD. Unlike other prog DVDs, this one has neither bonus track nor extras - just plain show; but it's a rewarding experience. Keep on proggin' .!!

Progressively yours,

GW

Pros: great keyboard playing, entertaining show, great drum solo Cons : Not the best song selection, Poor singing

This is a very good DVD, and it is your chance to see ELP in good shape. I love how good of a showman Emerson is, even when he is middle-aged here. He stabbed a keyboard with knives, set a portable synth of fire, and threw an electric piano to the floor, got off the stage, and played that poor keyboard backwards.

The Keyboard playing is perfect, it amazes me how good of a keyboardist this man is! The drumming is great, Lake's bass/guitar playing is as good as always, but unfortunately, Lake sounds like a blues singer ... he's lost his high range in his voice.

Another complaint has to be the song selection and Tarkus being reduced to a 10 minute medley. Songs like Paper blood are poppy and mediocre, they could have played Karn Evil pt1, or Trilogy instead.

My Grade : B

This is the first time I had seen ELP in action. For years I had only the vinyl and CD's to imagine what these three great musicians looked like when playing a live gig. So when I got hold of a copy of this concert (on VHS) to mark their 25th Anniversay, I was excited and rightly so.

KEITH EMERSON (Keyboards); GREG LAKE (guitars,vocals) and CARL PALMER (Percussion) really excelled themselves, despite being somewhat older in age, than when many of their albums were released. They all provided an energetic performance that belied their years and would leave many younger musicians gasping.

The highlights of this recording: virtuoso keyboard playiing - I was amazed to see how well KEITH EMERSON performed despite an obvious problem with his wrists. His performance shines on "Creole Dance" and then the playing of the keyboards upside down and back to front on the "Finale "medley. This with his onstage antics in the finale provided a memorable performance from this great musician.

GREG LAKE provided great guitar playing, particulary accoustic, and vocals. His standout performance was "In the Beginning" - solo accoustic. His voice did not quite reach the range of earlier years, but it is still readily identifiable. His performance both vocally and instrumentally in "Pictures at an Exhibition" - outstanding.

CARL PALMER played energetically through out and a drum solo showed his versatility with all percussion instruments and tempo/timing complexities that is ELP's unique prog rock signature.

I would rate performance and production of the DVD/VHS as 5 stars. The fact that it seemed all over very quickly confirmed my opinion that this was an exciting concert to watch - I wished I had been there. I have given it 4 stars as I am not entirely sure that "Pirates" was a good choice, when there were other great tracks, perhaps better known, that could have been performed, "Trilogy" for example. That is a minor distraction and I thoroughly recommend this visual feast to ELP fans and those prog fans like myself who did not get a chance to see them live.

The Promenaders

By all accounts, the reunion concert from which this recording is taken was a stunning event. The legendary, and now sadly departed, Alan Freeman introduces the concert before a quick burst of the "Welcome back my friends.." verse from "Karn Evil 9" gets things going.

The "Black moon" album, which was a reasonable effort, was their current release the time and therefore features far more predominantly in the set list than it perhaps would now. "Paper blood", "Romeo and Juliet" and the title track all appear from that album.

The classics are present too of course, although with the concert having been edited down to meet the capacity of a single CD, many are notable by their absence; even "Tarkus" is significantly curtailed (not a hint of "Aquatarkus"). The track is described as a "medley", but in reality it is simply the first half with a brief synthesiser burst. One of the highlights of the entire evening must have been the moog solo at the end of "Lucky man". While the vocal section is supported by thoroughly modern synthesiser sounds, the concluding solo has the precise monotone of the original.

Most of the tracks which are included here are demanding of Lake's vocal talents. ELP fans will therefore not take long to be struck by the way he sings the old songs in a much lower key to their original recordings, to the extent that at times it doesn't even sound like it is the same person who is singing. The change can be quite jarring on the ear initially, but the once you get over that, the talent is still very much in evidence.

The renditions are pretty much facsimiles of the originals, there is no room here for piano improvisations or virtuoso indulgences. Quite why the band chose to resurrect "Pirates" in full, especially without an orchestra, is something of a mystery. The only real treats for the audience are "Creole dance", a piano rendition by Emerson, and the closing medley which takes in "Fanfare for the common man" and a couple of The Nice's best known pieces.

3.5 for sure

Everybody intrested in progressive rock knows who ELP is, or listning at least once one of their albums. This is a DVD with a concert put by the band at Royal Albert Hall in 1996. Is a reunion 25 anniversary concert and all 3 members are in top form delivering some excellent moments here. Even the list of pieces are not totaly great, Paper Blood is almost mediocre but opposite is for me the best moment is the Tarkus Medley, 10 min of energic playing, where Emerson even is in his middle-aged done a fantastic show, his is one of a kind keyboard player, virtuosic and in same time he can be very romantic, top notch. Lake's vocal is good like old times, no big diffrence between now and old material, only his age, beautiful and warm voice. the druming is great keith has plenty passages where he shows us how talented and in same time how versatile musician is. Good DVD, not one of my fav I've seen so far but pleasent most of the time. 3-3.5 stars.

Welcome back!

1992's Black Moon was a great comeback album for ELP and a triumphant return to form after some weaker albums in the late 70's followed by a long period of silence during the 80's (though there was Emerson, Lake & Powell and 3 during that time). Here the band returns to the stage performing a strong set of songs in the famous Royal Albert Hall in London in the wake of Black Moon.

After a brief spoken introduction, the show begins with a snippet of Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression Part 2 (listed on the DVD box simply as Welcome Back in virtue of the classic opening phrase "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends..."). This is really just a snippet and they plunge straight into a rendition of Tarkus which also is much shorter than its studio counterpart. Keith runs around the stage and even into the audience with one of his gadgets creating a noise that was lost on me on the CD version of this concert, but which makes a bit more sense in visual format. There is an energy that can be felt much better on this video than on the CD album of the same concert.

The show then continues with a rocking version of Knife Edge and then Paper Blood from the Black Moon album on which Greg plays the harmonica. The only other number from that album is Romeo And Juliet (based on original music by Prokiev). The latter is especially excellent and I wouldn't have minded hearing further songs from that album live. The CD version of Live At The Royal Albert Hall has a live version of the title track from Black Moon that is absent from this video. There are also some other differences between the two versions. For example, here we get From The Beginning instead of Still... You Turn Me On, and we get Pictures At An Exhibition and Honky Tonk Train Blues which are not present on the CD. Pictures At An Exhibition is excellent here and in my view an improvement over the original live album from the early 70's (though my favourite version of it is the studio recording that was included in the box set Return Of The Manticore and also as a bonus track on In The Hot Seat). Carl plays a drum solo in this one demonstrating his incredible abilities, thankfully not making it too long. Creole Dance is a rapid piano number showcasing Keith's incredible skills on that instrument, while Greg gets to shine on his trademark Lucky Man.

The absolute highlight for me is Pirates which I think sounds better here than it did on Works Vol. 2. This epic composition works much better without the orchestra in my opinion. It has been given a much needed edge here and it is less bombastic. The show closes with a medley taking in Fanfare For The Common Man and some adaptations of Classical works that Keith originally performed with The Nice. Here Keith gets his chance to "murder" his organ with knifes and perform other theatrical "tricks". I've seen it before and frankly find it all a bit silly and unnecessary.

Overall an excellent concert film. Come and see the show!