AT THE MOVIES

I have about half of these soundtrack albums stowed away in my vinyl collection, and I don't remember them being this good. Maybe my tastes have changed over the years. I really like Emerson's orchestral arrangements a lot now. You can hear the influence of the twentieth century orchestral compsers on his work, most notably, his old favorites, Ginastera and Bartok.

As for the rock songs peppered around this collection, they are hit or miss. Some are very good, like Playing For Keeps from the film Best Revenge, with Boston's singer Brad Delp, which sounds like it could have come from any of Cairo's albums. Some are so-so, like the cover of Spencer Davis' I'm A Man, played in a kunk style, with Emerson himself straining through the vocals. And some are just plain bad, like the insipid Not So Innocent, from Harmagedon.

If you are looking for the most ELP-like tracks, them go for the soundtrack from Inferno, it's easily the best of all of Emerson's soundtracks. The worst have to be the disco and electronica from Godzilla Final Wars.

But despite the up and down nature of the selections. This is a nice collection to own.