WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS

One of the best live albums from the 1970s, originally released as a 3-LP set. This was recorded on the tour for Brain Salad Surgery. Unfortunately, the sound quality is not much of an improvement over Pictures At An Exhibition. But the performance is probably better and features mostly songs from their studio albums. My biggest complaint is that they don't include enough songs from Trilogy, which I always thought was their best studio album.

"Hoedown" and "Jerusalem" are not much different to the studio versions. The version of "Toccata" is better than the one on BSS. Some parts of "Tarkus" are better than the album version, but other parts not as good. The 'Battlefield' guitar solo is great. This includes Lake doing Crimson's "Epitaph" on chorused guitar. I like the echoed vocals. The crowd eventually recognizes the song and applauds. 'Aquatarkus' is extended to allow some Moog soloing.

"Take A Peddle" is in two parts. The first part is a great version of the song. After Emerson's piano section, Lake goes into "Still...You Turn Me On" on acoustic guitar. Then he does "Lucky Man" with some echoed vocals. "Piano Improvisations" is not the kind of thing you want to hear every day. Nice but nothing special. Starts off classical but later goes jazzy with Lake and Palmer joining in over halfway through. "Jeremy Bender/The Sheriff" is a nice mix of the two songs. The transition between the two is flawless. "Karn Evil 9" is fairly similar to the studio version. Includes a solo spot for Palmer.

The CD version is preferable because none of the music gets cut off. Apart from missing some key songs from their albums, this would almost be all the ELP most would need. This trio was at a peak here, and they never came close to it again. Great classic live album. 4 stars.