EMERSON LAKE & PALMER IN CONCERT

This must rank as one of my worst concert I ever saw, but I got to visit the Olympic stadium for the same price so all was not lost. I will speak mostly of the concert since I was there in this review and I never owned the record , but everytime I heard it at a friend's house I was slightly annoyed because of the rotten souvenir. OK, sure enough, the concert setting was grandiose enough with the Big O stadium filled to an impressive capacity. By the time they got to this concert , late in the tour (I wonder if the Montreal concert was not the final one of the tour) , they had brought back the Orchestra for a few gigs after having dropped it for themiddle gigs. But clearly the concert organization was shoddy as far as the sound was concerned: Echoes , Feedbacks etc.... All these plagued a concert that was also concentrating (logically) on the later albums, so even the track selection was shoddy also. Adding to the fact that E and L were acting like superstars and not communicating with the public. Nice to hear the Peter Gunn theme, though!

I think that Harmonium was to share the bill with them but there was a fight about who should open so they dropped out . As Harmonium was on top of their game and playing at home and regarding the garbage ELP was putting out at the time , they could have headlined it, without doubt.

For die-hard fans!!!

They welcomed back their friends for one more show to sing of recent Works and twice-told tales the "Knife Edge" might have grown a little dull and "Peter Gunn" unsheathed to small avail but living legends call the enemy god draw forth the "Pictures..." from their proud museum lament that "c'est la vie" for every bard and please the stalwart souls who came to see them. But thinking that the gift might be too poor. The show was double stuffed in ninety three with seven extra songs at double score. That seems to be the one to own (to me).

I don`t think this is crap. The recording was done in a Stadium, so is not very good, because it lacks the acoustics of other venues designed for music concerts. The mixing is also not very good (it was done by Emerson). But I like these live versions of "C`est la Vie", "The Enemy God", "Knife Edge" and "Pictures at an Exhibition". Emerson`s "Piano Concerto" is also good, but the sound of the orchestra is marred by the bad acoustics of the place. "Knife Edge" has a very good orchestra arrangement, the same as "C`est la Vie". The end of "Pictures..." ("The Great Gates of Kiev") was played with a lot of energy. The best version of this concert to buy is obviously "Woks Live". This one L.P. album called "In Concert" is out of print. This concert was recorded during E.L.P.`s last tour of the seventies. They used the orchestra and the chorus for some days, but they had to do finish the tour without the orchestra and the chorus because it was so expensive to be on the road with them.

This ,is pretty well worthless garbage i would not recommend it to anyone. The amazing thing is it starts off with Peter Gunn ,and this track really hits the groove ,it sounds so great and forceful you think your in for something special.Then your left with nothing but dregs ,waste product, it falls apart completely into a long boring methodical exercise.And after the huge applause to ,Peter Gunn, you can here the audience falling asleep,after each following track.

ELP used Montréal as a springboard for what was to be their last ambitious tour with a full orchestra and a convoy of eighteen wheelers. Not even halfway through this extravaganza they ran into finacial problems and had to ditch the orchestra. This album,which includes the orchestra, was released in 1979 possibly to recover some of the losses and basically highlights the show at the Ollympic Stadium in Montréal, Canada in the summer of 1978.

It contains mostly material from Works Vols. I &II as well as excerpts from Pictures at an Exhibition which, although sounding more polished with the orchestra, lacks the rawness and harder edged power of ELPs original 1971 take on Mussorgsky`s masterwork. The only really interesting thing here is the introductory synthed up version of Henry Mancini`s Peter Gunn television theme song which gives the illusion that we`re in for something really spectacular.

More or less the final nail in the coffin for ELP as far as we knew them during the glory years of the seventies. We can only thank God that no material from the catastrophic previous studio album Love Beach was presented here. As much as I like the band and their brief comeback in the 1990`s this album is roadkill going through it`s final coniptions. For die-hard ELP fans only.

Short, lukewarm, "the average of" live collection of songs performed with orchestra at Montreal Olympic stadium, with several easy short runs at the beginning, and some clumsy long runs at the end (especially instant version of "Pictures at an Exhibition"), that are just too little for considering this record of any importance. The tracks are ordered from easy to hard, and tries to get decent classic sound in some songs are unsuccessful. There is different named double CD version from recent time maybe better to try.

For ELP completionists only!

This live album is a further contractually obligated release, from the 'Works' Tour of 1977, the tour with the over-blown budget, complete with 3 semi-trailers worth of gear in tow, and a massive orchestra, but boy, did they draw a crowd !! The album, recorded at Olympic Stadium, Montreal, features only about a half of the entire set, of which a full-length video exits of. Opening with a Synth 'Fanfare', this 51 second intro leads into the 'Peter Gunn' theme - its main feature being the catchy riff that most people are familiar with, but a bit of a 'goofy' choice of song, I think. Emerson and his 'new-found friend' - the Yamaha GX-1 synth, suits the piece perfectly. It has some interesting sounds and effects to it, but ultimately sounds rather 'cheezy'. Still, Keith has his Moog Modular unit present. Phew !! 'Tiger In A Spotlight' is a cool track, but its melodies and key changes have been done many times before, by more 'standard' rock bands. And now for Greg Lake in a spotlight with his lovely 12 string ballad 'C'est La Vie' - a very pretty song actually, with the French vibe helped along by Emerson's Accordion solo. 'The Enemy God' is an ELP treatment of an excerpt from a suite by the classical composer, Prokofiev. This is quite a storming version which has a dramatic feel to it, and halfway through Emerson's Hammond rings through brightly - the first truly impressive song here. Nice to hear a fully orchestrated version of 'Knife Edge', from the wonderful debut album, always an exciting listen. I have to say that Lake's 8-string Bass Guitar has a very 'spikey' tone to it, and the overall sound of the album is quite 'thin'. I admire Palmer's Drums and Percussion playing around this time (probably the best trait of the mis-understood 'Love Beach' album also) but he really stretches out by creating elaborately decorated arrangements for his instruments - quite a busy performer in other words. Side 2 starts with the dramatic end section of Emerson's 'Piano Concerto No 1', not a bad piece of music, but perhaps comes off a little too serious and sophisticated for most prog-heads. The surprise on this album comes in the form of the 2nd half of the 'Pictures at an Exhibition' suite, 15 minutes of awesome Prog, complete with the up-dated equipment the band were using, and the added sonorities of the orchestra. This period wasn't the best time for the band, but I'm glad this recording exists. 3.5 stars.

This was my first Prog album that got me into ELP's music and Prog music as well. My piano teacher gave it to me, just for fun and primarily because of Pictures Of An Exhibition. I didn't know this is called prog and I was surprised - is this rock music or isn't? Suddenly I became really interested in this music and I still like to look back to it.

The show starts off with Introduction Fanfare which draws the listener's attention and an announcement: Ladies and Gentlemen....The film music adaptation Peter Gunn and the groovy Tiger In The Spotlight are very usual pieces but Emerson gives powerful solos. I didn't like Lake's voice at the first time though. And there is the well-known C'est La Vie, perhaps the best version I've heard, with a touchy orchestral arrangement (conducted by Godfrey Salmon) and Moog passages. The Enemy God is another groovy track, which I later discovered to be a Prokofiev-arrangement. It is strange, it didn't seem classical. Knife Edge is from another Classical piece, quite far from the original version though. With orchestra it sounds even better! Emerson's solo work is a great experience, it's sad I've only heard the last movement. It doesn't hit the measure of the greatest classics like Bartók and Prokofiev, but it's not far from them. All right, beginning of Pictures...this 15 minute version is closer to the original work, but more balanced then the 1971-version. This may be the best record of this weak period of ELP. A good place to start digesting Progressive Rock.

Recorded in Montreal's Olympic Stadium, In Concert was basically a contract-fulfilling album since the band had already broken up prior to this 1979 release. There really isn't anything spectacular about this album and for all intents and purposes, one might just consider it a supplement to the two previous live albums ELP released (Pictures at an Exhibition and Welcome Back My Friends...).

Many of the selections are forgettable, but there are still some charming numbers like the cover of Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn, The Enemy God, and Knife Edge. Emerson's piano concerto piece is quite a sleepy affair. The recording is about average.

Again, nothing spectacular. Just an average live album with so-and-so selections from a group that should have known better than to harp this onto their fans. Only the die-hards and collectors need to seek this out. Otherwise, I would recommend getting their re-released and repackaged Works Live, which also contains much junk, but at least has some of the better numbers from the Works tour. Two stars.

I do not recommend that you buy this album. Unless you are a completist, there is no reason to purchase this. Everything on here is on the later expanded release, under the title Works Live. Second, this album has never been remixed. Again, buy the remixed versions on Works Live.

The best thing I can say about this album is that none of the tracks appear on the great ELP album, Welcome Back My Friends.... But there is some value here. The live version of The Enemy God Dances With The Black Spirits is worth hearing, as is the excerpt form Emerson's Piano Concerto No. 1. Other than that, there's some great keyboard work in a speedy version of Pictures At An Exhibition.

And why didn't they include Pirates?

I might have given this three stars, but with a better, longer version available, it's for collectors only.

A live album is by definition fan material. It's got to be something really special to motivate me for more then 3 stars. But this affair from ELP is an insult, even to their most ardent fans.

For a band that filled such huge venues and disposed of such budgets, the recording quality is downright awful, cheap and careless. The performances are possible worse. The Peter Gunn theme is fun of course but you sure have that one already on one or other compilation. The two other pieces I can bear to listen to are C'est La Vie and The Enemy God.

Like most of the albums in my prog vaults, I bought this one as a second hand vinyl at the end of the 80's. Back then, you could buy tons of records because people started to replace their vinyl catalogue by the crappy first generation CD's that were being released back then. Anyone remembers the trashy 1988 CD releases of Pawn Hearts and In The Court?

Anyway, I am digressing, even second-hand it must have cost me around 3 beers (international currency) and even counting how cheap those are around here (you get about 3 Belgian beers for one USA beer), it wasn't even worth that little investment.

In Concert documents both the orchestral and ELP only legs of the Works tour offering a very clear view into what this much discussed, controversial and often criticised final ELP tour of the 70's. It features songs from Work's Vol 1 + 2 performed with and without orchestra. As well as songs stretching back to the very start of the ELP saga.

The album opens with 'Introductory Fanfare' a piece consisting of Emerson playing several synths which leads into the cover of Peter Gunn Theme which has only been played live. This opening duo is played without Orchestra and shows that even though they were criticised at this time they could still produce energetic live music as a three-piece. This is followed by an underwhelming performance of Tiger In The Spotlight, once again performed without orchestra, this is an entertaining song but this version lacks any energy or conviction.

Then orchestral section of the album begins with one of the highlights of the album, a very nicely performed and atmospheric version of C'est La Vie, with Strings backing Greg Lake in the final verse. Next Carl Palmer's piece The Enemy God is very well performed here and once again shows the band still had the ability to produce lots of energy and fantastic music.

Then some of the classic ELP pieces appear, performed with Orchestra and very well arranged, Knife Edge and an absolutely fantastic arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition, seperated by an abridged and slightly out of place edition of Keith Emerson Piano Concerto.

Overall this album could easily be very entertaining and one of the finest Live outputs from the band. But it is really let down by the quality of the recording and mixing. The crowd is completely absent during each track and just appears cheering at the end of each song, which for a live album just sounds fabricated, or like a Radio broadcast recorded straight out of the soundboard without any mixing done to it.

Had this been remastered properly at any point, (which it hasn't the remaster sounds exactly the same but just has more tracks on it) then this could be a must-hear document of the Works tour. But with the sound and often lacklustre performance this is for Collectors only.

The gig in Paris from the Works tour if I am not mistaken.

This forty three minutes long album takes us through some of their best music and it is a good live album. That is, until it dawns on me that these forty three minutes is actually half of the gig in Paris. The whole gig was released as the double album Works Live. And that with a far better sound than the pretty dismal sound on this album I am reviewing here. If in doubt, the Works Live double album is also cheaper than this single CD album. You get ninety minutes on Works Live too and a far superior booklet.

In short; Emerson, Lake and Palmer In Concert is a cheap rip off compared to the Works Live double album. There is one thing I don't like and that is being ripped off.

The music is great here and it is a three stars enjoyment. Forking out hard earned money for this rip off leaves a nasty taste in my mouth and vallet though. Go for the Works Live album instead and don't be as stupid as I was.

2 stars

Actually I'm not a big fan of live records. The possibilities for them to be good is in my opinion smaller than usually. One thing that could go wrong of course is the sound quality. The audience's noise could be a nice background but the music most be heard. My biggest problem though with live record is that I often don't find any particular meaning with them. Often the band just plays the music as on the record, but probably not as good. I often hope that live recordings should be a little bit altered or at least with an almost touchable feeling of living music.

That is some of my problems with this record "Emerson, Lake & Palmer in Concert" from 1979. I would have loved hearing them experiement more or, more prefarably perform something totally new. To just hear old "hits" really don't get me on it, then I'd rather listen to the original Lp's. This music is though essentially good. I have my biggest doubts about the three first tracks "Introductory Fanfare", "Peter Gunn" and "Tiger in a spotlight". It sounds like they are played just as they should be played but without the true feeling. Especially the last of those, a song I otherwise really enjoy, feels a bit "dead" in this version. The rest of the record is great. "C'est La Vie" sounds fantastic, with the acoustic guitar and Lake's strong vocals. "The Enemy God Dances With Black Spirets" then is a fantastic track but the sound isn't so good. The part of the "Piano Concerto No.1" is very fine, I like the melody and all of the fantasies there and this version is perfect, there I don't have to look for the original. Finally the "Pictures....'part" also is very well performed and the feeling is strong and true about this magnificent work of art, which I though rather listen to on the record with the same name.

Even if the music, almost everything is very good, will I give this record a quite low rating. That is because of my general opinion of live records. I don't know any particular reasons to listen to this insted of the studio albums and parts of this record don't feel enough vital. Three stars!