TO THE POWER OF THREE

In the eighties there was a wave of reunion of seventies progressive rock bands. First of all Robert Fripp showed up with a new King Crimson, then Asia appeared and they managed to release one of the most successful debuts ever. Later on Yes was revamped by the talents of Trevor Rabin and ended up in the charts. In 1985 it was time for a reunion of the famous trio Emerson, Lake and Palmer but at the time, Carl Palmer was playing the drums in Asia. That's why ELP became Emerson, Lake and Powell because Cozy Powell replaced Palmer behind the drum kit. After the disappointing sales of the debut album, Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer rejoined forces but now, Greg Lake wasn't around. Keith Emerson was introduced to the talented singer/bassist Robert Berry who just left GTR. Soon they decided to form a band with Sue Shifrin. Although things didn't work out with Shifrin, one of her compositions ended up on the debut album of 3. "Chains" became one of the FM rockers of the album. This isn't a bad rock song but quite similar to the music of many AOR acts of that era. Half of the album consists of enjoyable tunes like that. The other half of the album sounds more or less progressive. The prog tracks are sounding very bombastic and overblown especially "Talkin' bout which was initially written for GTR. "Desde La Vida" is the highlight of the album. It's a splendid complex epic in which the musicians show their amazing skills. The band recorded another epic like that for a second album. Too bad it was never finished and "Last ride into the sun" ended up on a Robert Berry compilation album. This debut album would have benefited from its inclusion. Like it is now, there's too less prog here. The piano based hymn "On my way home" is the only track that's typical for ELP. Even if it's simplified, it's worth of checking out and a must have for ELP fans. There definitely is some good song writing contributed by Berry on radio friendly tracks like "Lover to lover" , "Runaway" and "You do or you don't" but I don't get excited by hearing it. At the time of release this album wasn't promoted and ended up in the sales bin very soon. I don't think a lot of prog fans will regret it...