LOVE BEACH

The place once occupied by the vigilante armadillo tank, or the disturbing and controversial female cadaverous image, is suddenly occupied by the smiling, tanned and semi-shirtless musicians. What happened? That is the question that the puzzling cover of "Love Beach" raises. Understanding that evolution is a natural process that occurs in the diverse manifestations of human nature, many times these processes take unthinkable paths, and beyond the legitimate right of E,L&P to take the path they consider pertinent, whether by individual decision, group disagreements, or contractual agreements, it is surprising that the result has been "Love Beach", their seventh album,

On the one hand, simplified and unpretentious developments, from the superficial "All I Want Is You" to the soporific and inconsequential "For You", where a very loquacious Greg Lake seriously assumes the role of lead singer and main figure, and both Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer, keyboardist and percussionist respectively, resign their protagonism and limit themselves to being mere accompanists, something unthinkable given the dynamics of all the band's previous albums.

And, on the other hand, a glimmer of the band's past appears in the outstanding "Canario", an adaptation of the orchestral work "Fantasía para un Gentilhombre" by Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo, in which Emerson raises the level a little, to finally decline again in the long and dreary "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman", which pretends to be an epic suite, but lacks spark and magic, beyond some salvageable notes from Emerson on the piano. Too little for the size of the band.

"Love Beach" was a blow to E,L&P's reputation and, beyond the rumours of how frayed the interpersonal relationships of its members were, the album probably accelerated their separation process, until their reunion more than a decade later.

2/2.5 stars