EMERSON LAKE & PALMER IN CONCERT

This was my first Prog album that got me into ELP's music and Prog music as well. My piano teacher gave it to me, just for fun and primarily because of Pictures Of An Exhibition. I didn't know this is called prog and I was surprised - is this rock music or isn't? Suddenly I became really interested in this music and I still like to look back to it.

The show starts off with Introduction Fanfare which draws the listener's attention and an announcement: Ladies and Gentlemen....The film music adaptation Peter Gunn and the groovy Tiger In The Spotlight are very usual pieces but Emerson gives powerful solos. I didn't like Lake's voice at the first time though. And there is the well-known C'est La Vie, perhaps the best version I've heard, with a touchy orchestral arrangement (conducted by Godfrey Salmon) and Moog passages. The Enemy God is another groovy track, which I later discovered to be a Prokofiev-arrangement. It is strange, it didn't seem classical. Knife Edge is from another Classical piece, quite far from the original version though. With orchestra it sounds even better! Emerson's solo work is a great experience, it's sad I've only heard the last movement. It doesn't hit the measure of the greatest classics like Bartók and Prokofiev, but it's not far from them. All right, beginning of Pictures...this 15 minute version is closer to the original work, but more balanced then the 1971-version. This may be the best record of this weak period of ELP. A good place to start digesting Progressive Rock.