WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS

This one is unfortunately holding too much of Brain Salad Surgery , which is by far the album that I prefer least in their classic period. Let's take vinyl side by vinyl side.

Disc1 side 1 reminds me too much of BSS and offer nothing particularly new to the studio versions. Side2 has one of my fave ELP track and because of that I am of couse leniant , but it is fun to compare the live and studio versions. I do get pissed off at the track being cut in two and on top of it on two different discs.

Disc 2 is by far my favorite because it is the one holding all of the interest. Take A Pebble is another fave of mine and transforming it into meddleys mainly showcasing Lake's voice is a major plus. Side 2 starts with good improv from Emerson but he is his usual bombastic self. The end of Pebble (I really am pissed off at the way they did the tracks selection - they could've cheated a bit) and then the Ragtime meddleys is of limited interest but seems to work well live.

Disc 3 is entirely taken up by Karn Evil 9 and I thought it was too long on the studio album (29 min) but here they add another six minutes (actually I never cared to find out where they did) to The Tune That Never Ends .

Not a bad live album at all but too bad they did so much of their previous album as it did not much for me. Too bad that two albums are greatly ignored: Pictures (no tracks) and Trilogy (Hoedown and the forgettable Sheriff).

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