BEYOND THE BEGINNING

Well I have to remark my sense of tiredness in front of a music puzzle like this, filled in so many different and non-homogeneous fragments (think of "Tarkus" for instance, an extract from the famous performance at their gig in Tokyo dated 1972, which is not useful here in a short version.), but in the same time I'm quite excited about a splendid and simple version of "Take a pebble" (during a German TV show dated 1970), as well as for the immortal "Karn Evil 9" (within disc 2) which always makes me feel so good!. Ok sometimes such famous tunes are a little bit strident in comparison to the raw songs by the "Crazy World of Arthur Brown" and the Nice (promo videos), and it seems that's a kind of forced and unnatural testament in some circumstances!! The quality picture regarding the various gigs is uneven and the several clips- being cut- don't represent the best stuff ever seen, but at the end this is an important historical document and you can forgive the Sanctuary Visual Entertainment production for their insertion concerning for instances the tepid song "Watching Over You" or the recent execution of "Touch And Go" in their live in Budapest (1997), which cannot be regarded as must-have by ELP .instead fine songs like the instrumental "Hoedown" or also "Tank" remind us of a period which won't never come back anymore, as well as an happy period for prog music in general. Emerson nowadays is involved along with D. Kilminster in various gigs all over Europe and at the moment of my review I'm waiting for the show of Live Club in Trezzo-Bergamo (Italy), where He will execute a lot of the famous tunes I've just examined here, moreover being a constant example to be emulated for all the keyboardists like me, fond of this unique style (think also of E. Jobson or the best moments of T. Banks and Rick Wakeman with their progressive bands- Yes and the early Genesis, during the seventies.). The project regarding the reunion of ELP in the early nineties failed in a bad manner, but I'm not concerned about it too much, because the époque of the dinosaurs of progressive rock is finished.so buy this DVD- above all if you're a fan of them- and be happy!!