BEYOND THE BEGINNING

With absolutely brutal sound quality, sloppy live playing, audio/video timing issues, and repeated footage, this DVD doesn't really make up to be a worthwhile journey. I was quite excited when I took this out of the library, and was extremely disappointed at the silly edits of classics - including a 30 second version of 21st Century Schizoid Man. Disc 1 contains footage of King Crimson, The Nice, and The Arthur Brown Band (the band member's previous groups), along with really mediocre footage from 1970 to 1978 of the joint efforts of ELP. The special features of disc 1 are great, but certainly don't make this video worth buying. If it weren't for disc 2, this lacklustre DVD would have received a 1 star from me. The video biography is really the saving grace on this output, and offers some really interesting insight into the process of album-making, touring, et cetera, et cetera. Some footage from Disc 1 is featured a second time on disc 2, for reasons unknown. Die-hard fans will be drooling over the bio, though, so consider renting if you're a casual fan, and consider buying if you're a die hard ELP fan.