WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS

This is a nice place to start with ELP because it is all there, or most of it anyway. The bulk of the music is from Brain Salad Surgery and Karnevil #9 is the highlight of the recording. it is lengthened somewhat because the First Impression part two breaks into Palmer's drum solo. I remember reading an interview back in the mid 1970s where Emerson stated that Lake came to him three days before the opening of the tour and said that he could not do Karnevil #9 in the original key. Emo had to transpose the whole thing down. His voice sounds better in the new key but the brightness of the orignal key is lost.

The Tarkus performance is better than the album, as this piece evolved and changed over the course of the band's tenure. The Aqutarkus, though not wholly original, is lengthened bringing the time of this piece to just under half an hour, probably longer if they had played it at the album tempo. Also added is the refrain from King Crimson's Epitaph, which Lake my have penned.

Take a Pebble is a wonderful romp that displays Emerson's virtuosity through a series of improvisations. Several of the bands 'songs' are also highlighted; The folk tunes are performed with Lake alone. Lake screws up the words on Jeremy Bender. Lake was known for forgetting lyrics, which prompted the line, "nurse help me with the verse so I can sing the tune right," in Tiger in the Spotlight, from Works Vol. 2.

This is a clear sounding and well-performed live album that demonstrates what the fuss was about. Though in no way an essential, its documentation of one of progressive rock big acts from the early 1970s makes it a fine edition to any prog collection.