LOVE BEACH

I must confess that when I first saw the cover of this album was almost sure I would hate it, I wasn't wrong. "Love Beach" is not such a terrible album as most fans believe, I'm sure Genesis released worst albums in the 80's and 90's but nothing this bad in the 70's, and at least everybody could expect a tragic album without Gabriel and Hackett, but ELP was complete, so there's no excuse.

The main problem with "Love Beach"? There are many, it's a bad record (not terrible) has a wrong title for a prog album, wrong cover (it's an aberration), released for the wrong reasons and in a wrong moment (with so many wrongs in the same sentence it can't be good).

The band had a contract with Atlantic records and still owed a studio and a live release, so they decided paid their debt with "Love Beach" when their minds was on their solo projects (the live album was "In Concert" 1978 and they disbanded in 1979).

Side A presents more of the same weak ballads you can find in Works II, so there's no need for further comment, and side B is a pompous and self indulgent "Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman", I believe they tried to do something of a concept similar to Gilbert & Sullivan's "HMS Pinaforte" (even though the music has no relation), but without any success, this multi part epic is absolutely boring and lasts forever, I almost clapped my hands when it ended.

The only track I really enjoy is "Canario", a short song based in Joaquin Rodrigo's Concert for Guitar and Orchestra "Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre", which is played with absolute talent and strength by the band, a beautiful song that deserves to be surrounded by better tracks.

If this album would have been released by another band in the 90's, probably would be considered acceptable, but by ELP in the 70's is unacceptable. One star for Canario, the rest of the album is not terrible but pretty forgettable.

Don't buy it unless you're an ELP die hard fan and you need this album to complete your collection.