THE BEST OF EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

"The best of Emerson Lake and Palmer live" contains only selected tracks from the 1998 album "Then and now". The rather ambiguous title does not mean that these are the best live recordings but that the tracks are, in the compiler's view, ELP's best songs.

The track selections and sequencing are both sloppy and haphazard. Five of the tracks are from the 1974 Cal Jam concert, the rest are from 1997/8. They are however mixed together with no discernible logic. There are two flaws in this. Firstly, the 1974 recordings are of bootleg quality, while those from 1997/8 are of a high quality. Secondly, Lake's voice changed so much in the intervening period, that it sounds like there are two different lead vocalists at work here.

The 1974 recordings are actually just taken from two tracks. "Karn evil 9's" first (part 2 only) and third impressions are joined together, while the "Take a pebble" medley incorporates several other Lake songs plus Emerson's Piano improvisations.

All the other tracks are from the comparatively recent recordings. All the longer tracks from these recordings are however ruthlessly omitted, leaving only the short, generally lighter numbers such as "Hoedown", "Knife edge", and "From the beginning".

In short, go for the infinitely superior "Then and now", and you'll get everything here, plus a whole lot more.

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