LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL

I saw ELP in the tour that was registered in the "Now" pat of the "Then & Now" album. It was one of the great emotional moments of my life. And even that the RAH live album was recorded pror to this tour it sounds to my ears less vibrant and musically good than the later live record.

I agree about Palmer's drumming in this album, it's very mechanical and unimpressive. And we all know that Palmer is the only flash of light that burned in this group's late years, so this commentary it's a pretty bad advertisement ro RAH live.

Emerson is a shadow of his glory days. Lake's voice was gone (although in a better way than Steve Walsh's). Palmer is uninspired. So this is a bad live album if you want to know what ELP are capable live. Ah, I can't forget to mention that AWFUL synth sound from Keith's keys, it's so annoying.

The only thing that gave this album two stars is the final couple of tracks. A rare "Pirates" (but ith a less than fantastic drum work) and the usual "Fanfare" mixed with Nice's instrumentals.

BTW if you listen to Carl Palmer's "Live in Europe" you'll notice that he's truly the last of the great prog musicians. In a defying enviroment and as a leader he really resembles that young boy behind the drum kit in the PaaE video.