WORKING LIVE VOLUME 1

One thing this album proves is that after all those years in Asia, and those disappointing ELP reunion albums, Carl Palmer can still be a great drummer if he wants to. Another thing this album proves is that ELP songs really need Keith Emerson.

I don't discount the talent of this group. It does take quite a bit of skill for a guitarist to even show a semblance of keeping up with Emerson's amazing keyboard work. And Shaun Baxter does a fair job of it. Also, Dave Marks plays some fine bass lines, sometime even outdoing Greg Lake's work on the same songs, although his solos tend to always lead to generic slap and pop licks.

On this live set, Palmer sticks primarily to the ELP tracks that he had a larger hand in, like Tocatta (without the now-cheesy drum synths) and Tank, and songs from his side of Works. And on it's own, for what it is, it's not bad. But the guitar tone tends to give every song a similar timbre. And that is the main problem with the album.

But at least it shows that Palmer still has a desire to play this type of music.