The Return of the Manticore is a 4-disc retrospective on the career of the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It was released in 1993, and features several new recordings of previously released songs, most notably a studio recording of "Pictures at an Exhibition," presented in Dolby Surround Sound. Also, a live recording of Dave Brubeck's Rondo features on disc 2; the track, although performed by ELP in concert from the band's inception (as it had been by Keith Emerson's previous band The Nice), was previously unreleased on any live or studio album by ELP.
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive-rock music.
Well, I'm going against the common view on this one. It seems everyone here finds the song Tarkus a huge masterpiece, while side 2 disappoints. I couldn't disagree more about the second side.
Set 1: "Stomping Encore" - Gaelic Park N.Y. Sep. 1st 1971 - The Stratasphere vs. The Spectre." This set and its companion, the eight-CD volume two, display all the strengths that made Emerson, Lake & Palmer one of the world's most popular bands during the '70s, and the weakness that comes with a trio's attempt to play complicated music. Keith Emerson was a virtuoso keyboard player, Greg Lake supplied a pleasant voice and flair for writing melodic songs, and Carl Palmer played drums as though he would perish if he stopped. But the group lacked the depth of fellow progressive rock bands, such as Yes and King Crimson. Those groups supplied multiple lead instrumentalists – Yes with their guitar/keyboard tandem and Crimson with their venerable guitarist, Robert Fripp, and a series of cohorts who played saxophone, violin, or second guitar.
Set 3: "Celestial Doggie: The Lobster Quadrille" - Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA - July 28th 1972. This set and its companion, the eight-CD volume two, display all the strengths that made Emerson, Lake & Palmer one of the world's most popular bands during the '70s, and the weakness that comes with a trio's attempt to play complicated music. Keith Emerson was a virtuoso keyboard player, Greg Lake supplied a pleasant voice and flair for writing melodic songs, and Carl Palmer played drums as though he would perish if he stopped. But the group lacked the depth of fellow progressive rock bands, such as Yes and King Crimson. Those groups supplied multiple lead instrumentalists – Yes with their guitar/keyboard tandem and Crimson with their venerable guitarist, Robert Fripp, and a series of cohorts who played saxophone, violin, or second guitar.