WELCOME BACK

When I saw the cover of this DVD it was a bit confusing, because it lists a lot of very good songs but it also says that the video is a "Biography" of the band. I didn`t know what to think, because like the "Yesyears" video from YES (which also lists the songs) and Supertramp`s video "The Story ...So Far" (which also lists some songs and it also says it is a "Biography") I didn`t know what to expect. I was waiting to see a format similar to Supertramp`s video (which is more a oncert video than a Biography, in my opinion), but no. This ELP`s video is more similar to "Yesyears" because the songs played live are interrumpted by interviews or commentaries of the band, but also it is not a real "Biography", because the focus of the video is more in telling how the band reunited in 1992. It also has some commentaries from the band about their history, but not in a chronological way or in a detailed way. They also talk about how the use of new technology in the nineties help them to update their sound.

The most interesting parts of this video are the live performances, some shown in an almost complete form, but with some commentaries about them. There are very good performances of songs played on tours in the seventies, particularly some recorded during their "Works Tour" in 1977, with and without the orchestra. Seeing "Tiger in a Spotlight" live in this video confirmed for me the information that I found in the web of how this version (recorded in Memphis) was the same included in their "In Concert" album which was mostly recorded live in Montreal`s Olympic Stadium. From this Montreal concert (played with an orchestra) there are some very good scenes of the band playing "Pirates", "C`est La Vie", Watching Over You", etc. Also they included some songs from their "Black Moon" tour recorded mainly in the Royal Albert Hall in London (and which also seem to be the same versions which were included included in their "Live at the Royal Albert Hall" album).

There are some funny moments in their commentaries and the video is not boring at all. They seem to be enjoying their reunion very much.

I have to say that I don`t like Carl Palmer`s "late eighties-early nineties sound" of his drum kit in this video. It sounds like being played on electric drum pads, not on an acoustic drum kit, as it can be seen in the video. I really never liked this kind of drum kits, which I also played sometimes, because they don`t sound "natural" and the drummers can`t play them with different intensities, like when they play a "normal" drum kit. Palmer was doing the same as Bill Bruford in those years, I think. But Bruford`s drums sounded better, in my opinion.Now in Asia`s Reunion Tour, Palmer`s drum kit sounds better, more "normal" again.