Keith+emerson

In 1977, after three years' time off working on various solo projects - which were to have culminated with a trio of solo albums - Emerson, Lake & Palmer reunited to release Works, Vol. 1, a double LP containing the best of the solo works plus a side of group-conceived pieces. All in all, it was the most ambitious and wide-ranging body of music they'd ever released, and was followed by the more modestly proportioned but still successful Works, Vol. 2 in November of that year, and a tour that fall and winter; in keeping with the albums that spawned it, the concerts initially featured a 90-piece orchestra supporting the trio. They weren't able to keep the orchestra for more than a handful of shows before the money ran out, and the group spent the rest of the tour working as a trio to pay off what was owed, but they recognized the importance of those performances with the orchestra…

Returning to the studio after a 14-year layoff, Emerson, Lake & Palmer stripped down their sound and amped up their attack for 1992's Black Moon. Its closest sonic cousin is the mid-'80s album Emerson and Lake recorded with drummer Cozy Powell. Sharp digital electronics replace Keith Emerson's classic analog synthesizer sounds, and the fanciful, classical-influenced prog-rock epics of yore are streamlined into a more accessible mainstream rock format, though some traces of the trio's vintage flash still pop up.

The first true super group of the seventies Emerson, Lake and Palmer were a worldwide phenomenon and rose to prominence as one of the highest grossing acts in the history of rock. This is Emerson Lake and Palmer captured at the very beginning of a legendary career. Filmed at the time when the band had only just recorded their ground breaking first album ELP had to use all of their huge individual creative talents to create a full show.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - The Show That Never Ends (2001) {2CD Set, Snapper Music SMDCD370}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 619 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 203 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 35 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2001 Snapper Music / Eagle Rock | SMD CD 370
Rock / Progressive Rock / Art Rock

Live tracks recorded on the "Then & Now" tour. For those who have ELP's "Then and now" album, "The show that never ends" will sound somewhat familiar. If you remove the "Then" tracks (recorded in 1974) from that album, what you are left with is this album. The fact that both are double CD packages gives an indication of the space which is therefore wasted here, indeed the omission of one short track would have allowed this to be a single disc.

A 7CD box set collecting five remastered ELP performances from 1970 to 1997, culminating in an unreleased concert from Phoenix, Arizona.

Recorded in February of 1978, this performance was only available as a bootleg until the folks at Shout! Factory expertly cleaned it up for an official release by going back to the original tapes and creating one of the best-sounding live ELP records on the market. The two-disc live set captures Emerson, Lake & Palmer at a crucial point in their careers: they were on their final tour, and though things would soon turn sour, these recordings show that on-stage they were still at the peak of their powers. The previous year, they released the two-volume Works, which exemplified the degree to which the three men were moving in different directions by giving each member an LP side to himself. At the end of 1978, they would release the universally reviled Love Beach album to fulfill their contractual obligation and would disband soon after, not performing together again until 1992…

Don't be fooled by the Bee Gees-esque cover photo, Love Beach is not really ELP gone pop. True, many of the songs are more concise and accessible than those on previous albums, and there are a couple of Greg Lake-dominated "romantic" tunes, but those had always been part of the deal. They're still classically rockin' along on "Canario," and half the album is dominated by the 20-minute epic "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman," reminiscent of such long-form ELP classics as "Trilogy."