WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS

If you were there when this live album was released, you would never forget the great memories this triple LPs album has brought in your walks of life. Yes, it was the time when rock music was the music of that era and ELP was one of the icons that we kept waiting "what's nexy?" every day. At that time I was not actually favoring live record due to sound quality. I t became worse because I could only afford to purchase the cassette version - so you can imagine, buying a cassette of live album from a complex music like ELP. But, I did enjoy this album by ELP very much for mainly two reasons: first the live vibes - not through the crowd's applaud by the host who opened the show "Ladies and gentlemen .. Welcome Back My Friends To the Show That Never Ends . Emerson Lake and Palmer!" oh . what a rocking intro man! Second, I like the music performed live especially my all-time favorite and the best song by ELP: "Karn Evil 9".

Right after that rocking intro by the host, the band kicks the show with an energetic "Hoedown" followed with melancholic yet wonderful "Jerusalem" followed with the band's earthshaking and explorative track "Toccata". Oh man .. at that time I cannot imagine how other bands would compete against ELP in terms of experimentation with a song like "Toccata"? It's gonna be very hard. It's experimental, it's dynamic, complex but it's so excellent in composition especially the sound exploration. I like the "boiling water" sounds produsced by Keith's keyboard. "Tarkus" is another excellent track performed dynamically with Greg Lake powerful vocal.

As I mentioned above, one of the reasons that I like this live album is the inclusion of my all-time ELP favorite track: "Karn Evil 9". Performed its entirety, this track consumes approx 35 minutes duration featuring : a) 1st Impression (Includes Percussion Solo (Con Brio), b) 2nd Impression, c) 3rd Impression. I enjoy the energy and passion projected by the band through this live performance especially this track. Despite the poor audio quality, this track is performed much better, more lively, more dynamic compared to the studio version.

Overall, it's a highly recommended classic live album if you are not a fanatic audiophile - because the audio quality of this album is poor. I don't mind. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW