TO THE POWER OF THREE

It is interesting that when Carl Palmer missed out on an ELP album, the other two simply replaced the name Palmer with Powell, creating Emerson Lake and Powell. When Greg Lake however had his sabbatical and Robert Berry was brought in, they didn't become Emerson Berry and Palmer, they simply became "3". This was not a particularly smart move in marketing terms for two reasons.

A) because it was far from obvious that Emerson and Palmer were involved in the project and

B) the use of a number for the band name. Don't look for the band on this site under the letter T, it's not there. Retailers too did not know whether to file it under the number 3, the letter T, or indeed under ELP.

The album poses something of a quandary musically too. For the most part, it doesn't sound like an ELP album, or for that matter a prog rock album. Emerson and Palmer are, perhaps surprisingly, given supporting roles as Berry dominates proceedings.

The music is mostly AOR pop rock, along the lines of Journey or Styx. It appears the trio were perhaps trying to "do an Asia", and break into the commercial market with a hit single or two. That market was and is however saturated, and it was going to take something special to set 3 apart from the many other similar bands. Unfortunately, this is where the plan fell down. The music, especially in terms of the song writing, is at best average and often downright weak. Tracks such as "Lover to lover", "You do or you don't", and "Runaway" are pop rock drivel, which could have been recorded by any of thousands of Hairspray Heaven bands. There's also a rather pointless cover of the Byrds classic, "Eight miles high", which manages to sanitise the song into a basic pop number.

There are a couple of redeeming features however. "Desde la Vida" is a decent piece of prog in three parts. Even here though, the impression is that Emerson is playing well within himself. The closing track "On my way home" is a more satisfactory anthemic piece, with a marching rhythm not unlike "Romeo and Juliet" from "Black moon".

While Berry is clearly an accomplished singer, the general weakness of the material render his performance nondescript. Emerson's occasion forays to the front are welcome and recognisable in terms of sound, but there's little here to compare with the prowess he once showed.

A disappointing album, with little to set it apart from the pack, and only a passing nod to prog rock.

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