FIVE BRIDGES SUITE

The opening minutes of classical music is a very nice and pretty much sets the standard here. A mix of classical music and the magic music of Keith Emerson. Yes, that guy who later joined Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The seeds of most of their output can be found on this album, in my view. The Five Bridges album is a tribute to Newcastle, England. Only God knows why. The music is truly symphonic with a mix of classical instruments and moog. It has a lot of good pieces which fascinate me and keep my interest high. Songs like the whole 5 Bridges Suite (spread out on 4 tracks), Intermezzo Karelia Suite and Country Pie.

All of the original album is really classical music merged with Keith Emerson's rock. Unlike the dismal attempts from the Dutch band Ekseption, The Nice manage to merge these two styles. Mainly because Keith Emerson knows what he is doing. What he is doing is putting his personal touches to every tone on the album. For example Intermezzo Karelia Suite could be a mess of classical music and some rock. Not a chance with Keith Emerson around....... The result is nine minutes of Keith Emerson improvisations over classical music. Which makes a superb track !

Regarding The Nice versus ELP........... I regard Five Bridges as the forewarning of things to come (ELP). I believe (source is the Keith Emerson biography) that this album was recorded through the first week of ELP's being. But ELP was never this classical music focused as Five Bridges is. There are eleven minutes here of pure classic music. Which is a pretty decent percentage of the total album.

Most of all; Five Bridges is weird and wonderful. It has some superb tunes. It is really an album to enjoy. Give it your full attention and you will enjoy it. Listen without prejudice.

The CD version comes with five bonus tracks. All of them well known The Nice standards. They enhance the album greatly...... but my review is only based on the original album consisting of Fantasia 1st Bridge / 2nd Bridge, Chorale 3rd Bridge, High Level Fugue 4th Bridge, Finale 5th Bridge, Intermezzo, 'Karelia Suite', Pathetique Symphony No.6. 3rd Movement, Country Pie/Brandenburg Concerto No.6 and One Of Those People (3:09) .

4 stars.

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