CARL PALMER

This new live release is part of probably a series of tribute concert to Keith Emerson. There's another that was announced months ago, but we didn't receive any more news about when and if it's going to be released. Carl Palmer band is a trio with bass/drums/guitar, and with the magic of technology, the guitar and bass can play some keyboards notes without sounding too different from the original version. Unlike the previous DVD release, this time there's some keyboard and Hammond organ in some songs with guest Mark Stein, but Mark who also sings doesn't have the beautiful voice of Greg, his tone is a little bit rough, but don't lack energy.

The surround sound on the DVD is useless and you have to crank up to volume to hear something, I switched to the stereo halfway through. I enjoy the song "Romeo and Juliet", maybe because it was a long time ago that I listen to it, I think it's a good song. The song "Take a Pebble" played by the bass player Simon Fitzpatrick is a total success, but I missed Greg's vocals. The dancing parts are a bit awkward for my taste. I don't see what it can add to the show. It is still impressive to see Carl Palmer playing with the same passion as he was in the 70's. Steve Hackett makes his appearance in the song "Fanfare for the Common Man" and in the final song "Nutrocker" who is played with 2 drummers.

We have to listen to the CD, which is another concert, to hear the full version of "Tarkus", this is another highlight of that CD/DVD package. But for some reason, the CD runs out after 45 minutes in the middle of a drum solo... I recommended this live release to the ELP fan who can enjoy ELP music with more guitar and a different sound without losing the spirit of ELP music.

I think that it was in 1980 when saw this album in a record shop (which doesn't exist anymore) and I think that it was the first and only time that I saw it being sold in a record shop in my city, being sold at a very expensive price, as an imported copy from Europe. Of course, I didn't buy it then, but recently I had the chance to finally listen to it.

PM was a band which existed for a year between 1979-1980. Drummer CARL PALMER formed this band with four musicians from the U.S. after EMERSON LAKE AND PALMER split in 1979. Their only album, titled "1 PM", was released in March 1980. When I saw the album in that record shop I thought that it was a Prog Rock album. Well. Thirty six years later I listened to it for the first time...and I was very surprised, because in this album Carl Palmer and his band played and recorded New Wave and Pop Rock music from the early eighties. There are not connections with Palmer's previous Prog Rock musical experiences with ELP at all. I don't know why he decided to follow the new musical trends of that time. And he also did not contribute to the songwriting of the songs in this album (which was done individually by band members Todd Cochran, Barry Finnerty and John Nitzinger ). So, he only plays the drums and percussion in this New Wave / Pop Rock album which sounds a lot influenced by the music of THE CARS (even the lead vocals are very influenced by Ric Ocasek!), THE KNACK, XTC, and others. All the musicians play very well, and the songs also have very good vocals arrangements. But the songs are very similar in musical style. The album was a self-produced project, well done, very professional...but not very interesting for Prog Rock fans.

This album, like JOHN WETTON´s "Caught in the Crossfire" (1980) and YES's "Drama" (1980), sounds more like a preview from ASIA's albums. By 1980, several Prog Rock musicians were looking for a change in musical style and new opportunities to surive in the music industry....also being adviced by some record label executives and producers to record more commercial albums for the new decade.

In youtube there is a video of a TV appearance of PM doing a playback of "Dynamite" in Germany. The band didn't last for too long, and this album is now more a rarity for the most dedicated fans of CARL PALMER and ELP, and it also works more as a preview of ASIA's albums. For collectors / fans only.

It's long overdue for a member to speak up for this idiosyncratic and neglected album. Here we have one of the supposedly egotistical ELP supergroup letting his hair down in a modest event, and producing an unexpectedly hardcore rock performance. Herein lies the problem with its reception on this site, I believe. Those who would investigate this album are likely to be fans of Symphonic Prog, and not necessarily appreciative of this Progressive Metal delivery of ELP's music. Its perplexing assignment to the Crossover Prog sub-genre on Prog Archives will surely have whittled down its audience further.

Whatever, this is simply a great guitar (and of course drums) blast through most of my own favourite ELP pieces - 'The Barbarian', 'Tank', and the particular triumph of this concert - 'Toccata'. 'Canario' is simply a must-hear track, great fun. The guitar work is superlative throughout. Close to five stars for me, the only minor negatives being the recording quality, and Palmer's obligatory 'Drum Solo', which I am sure was great theatre to watch but comes across as simply an exercise in acceleration.

Verdict: recommended to fans of Dream Theater or Epica.

Here's another interpretation of ELP classics songs without the driving force of a keyboard player. Paul Bielatowicz is on guitar, he is with Carl Palmer since 2004, and had played with Neal Morse, Simon Fitzpatrick is the bassist. The two had the task to play some keyboards parts on their own instruments. The result is a heavier version of ELP songs, different because of the new sound of each instruments, but also because each musician didn't try to replicate all the keyboards notes. The sound is not polish like a studio release, but still enjoyable for a live recording. The picture is ok not great and the light show is basic with some animations on a screen in the back. The highlights are the version of "Pictures at an Exhibition" and "Fanfare for The Common Man", the latter including a intense Carl Palmer drum solo. However, i was a bit disappointed to see only a short version of "Tarkus". This is nice music and performance, but maybe i was expecting something more spectacular visually like a ELP show, which is not the case here. The DVD looks more like a intimate show in a little club.

This is Carl Palmer leading his trio (Shaun Baxter, guitar and Dave Marks, bass) through some ELP classics and a drum solo, recorded live in Bilston on 19th July 2001. Given that there is nary a keyboard to be found, let alone vocals, I was more than a little concerned as to how this album would pan out, but I have to confess to being more than just a little pleasantly surprised. Looking at the songs I decided to play the sixth one first (yes, I know that I shouldn't play a live album like that), as I was concerned to hear what they had done to "Toccata". It is one of my favourite ELP numbers, from the mighty 'Brain Salad Surgery' and I was intrigued/dismayed to hear what could be done by Carl without Keith or Greg by his side. But it transpired that there was no need for any concern as the guitar-led version on this album shows just how the music can be adapted (yes, I do realise that "Toccata" is in fact a piece by Ginastera that had been adapted by Emerson).

My faith restored, I then played the album in the correct order, and thoroughly enjoyed "The Barbarian" etc. Of course it would have been too much to ask not to have a drum solo, but given that this is the last song the listener can always turn it off early. Overall an interesting album that any ELP fan will want to seek out ? much better than I could have hoped.

Originally appeared in Feedback #73, Jun 03

On "Working Live Volume 1", Carl Palmer used up all of the best ELP songs that he was particularly associated with, like Tank and Tocatta. Here on Volume 2 he goes after othe ELP classics.

The big problem (besides not having Keith Emerson) is that he cuts down the pieces to something playable by his singerless band. Trilogy skips right over the soft vocal start of the song, and goes right to the heavy instrumental section. Now, I love that part of the song, but without the intro, it loses much of it's power. And Tarkus is absolutely maimed.

If you want to hear a guitar-centric version of Hoedown, I would direct you to The Jon Finn Group for a better rendition than this one. And the jazzy jam J Section never quite takes off.

On the plus side, they do a version of Carmina Burana (yeah, I know how over used that piece is that really rocks. And their version of Fanfare For The Common Man is better than the one chord jam ELP always turned it into.

I'd say this one is for ELP completists only.

One thing this album proves is that after all those years in Asia, and those disappointing ELP reunion albums, Carl Palmer can still be a great drummer if he wants to. Another thing this album proves is that ELP songs really need Keith Emerson.

I don't discount the talent of this group. It does take quite a bit of skill for a guitarist to even show a semblance of keeping up with Emerson's amazing keyboard work. And Shaun Baxter does a fair job of it. Also, Dave Marks plays some fine bass lines, sometime even outdoing Greg Lake's work on the same songs, although his solos tend to always lead to generic slap and pop licks.

On this live set, Palmer sticks primarily to the ELP tracks that he had a larger hand in, like Tocatta (without the now-cheesy drum synths) and Tank, and songs from his side of Works. And on it's own, for what it is, it's not bad. But the guitar tone tends to give every song a similar timbre. And that is the main problem with the album.

But at least it shows that Palmer still has a desire to play this type of music.

How can I judge and album full with ELP music without comparing it to ELP? That's impossible but I think some reviewers tend to show a strange predilection for hearing an ELP-cover band (Palmer plus singer-bassist plus keyboard wizard) than to this strange but unique adventure.

Yes, the guitar player is fillig what would-be Emerson parts with his axe but his job's great! He tries to do this impossible feature by letting the guitar sound like a guitar and this is the high point of his performance. The bassist is good too, although the "Message in a bottle" cover sounds uncomfortable here. But the main event is Palmer's brilliant job on the drums, not only playng his trademark drumming in his classic songs but even improvising a little bit just to sound fresh and alive. He puts in his pack all rock drummers alive today, from his generation or newcomers. He has the fluidness an taste that lacks in Bonham's and the classical training that could make Paice bigger than he stil is. Comparisons with Peart are unnecessary: although the last is member of a band that still has something to say (differently from ELP) he doens't have the balance between technique and soul that makes Palmer unique. Only Andy Ward mixes this extremes as good as him, but Palmer's work and career are far more representative than Ward's.

Actually I never saw this dvd; a friend just send me an audio-only copy from this show and makes me more happy to hear how fresh and youthful Palmer's playing sounds today. Any rock drummer should listen to this album attentively and feel if he's capable of showing the pleasure of playin like Palmer's.

Easy 4 stars. And thanks to the web friends that made this audition possible.

There were some prior attempts to fool the fans with the ''great'' suite of ''Works'' affairs from ELP which were very questionable recordings IMHHO.

This one is not shy of course. If noise and heaviness is your cup of tea, you might taste this one with joy. But you are warned: this is totally indigestible stuff. Some classics of the trio are revisited (as you know already with no keyboards, what a great idea!).

Frankly, we could have missed this one. The ''Working Live, Volume I'' was already a poor performance, and honestly this one is just some carbon copy. I was almost glad to have an emasculated version of ''Tarkus''. A seven minutes disaster to tell the truth.

To provide you with the full picture, I will only add that the closing track ''Fanfare And Drum Solo'' lasts for about sixteen minutes.

I have an enormous respect for Carl as a drummer of the ones you might know about (I even witnessed their ''Welcome Back My Friends.'' tour in '74), but this is really something I can't cope with.

One star. Painful.

Carl already committed a studio album prior (some twenty + years) to this live recording. The least I could say about it was that it was quite an average remembering.

This one is far much worse to tell the truth. Some heavy and uninspired stuff like ''The Enemy.'', some classic ELP tracks revisited without keyboards (something like a Hendrix tune without guitar.) and of course none of the song of his earlier solo work (thank god!).

There are hardly one correct song featured in here. Some cacophony (''L'') and of course a traditional drum solo is included as well (but this one is probably the best out of this live set even if the fade out at the end is not the best idea). Tracks as ''Barbarian'' or ''Tank'' have very little to share with their original counterparts to say the least.

There is nothing to say about the musicians: they play their parts very well, but their interpretation has nothing to do with ELP whatsoever. The people that attended these concerts must have felt quite desperate and fooled to listen to this type of music. Fortunately, I escaped this ''adventure''.

The best thing to do, is to avoid this album.