IN THE HOT SEAT

During the recording of this album there were some tensions among members of the band (Emerson and Lake specifically) and Keith had some medical problems with his right hand. This produced a similar situation to Yes' recording of Union but, in my opinion, this one turned out to be better accomplished.

Hand of Truth is a good prog piece with a well performed instrumental section and Lake with his changed voice shows that he is still a great singer. This is my favorite piece of the album. 3.75

Daddy is another nice song, not as proggy but has some interesting piano and guitar ideas and that is about it. 2.75

One by One has a great intro ala classic ELP, Lake sings powerfully and the keys are pretty decent (some times sounding like arena rock...). 3.00

Heart on Ice is a forgettable ballad with some nice piano playing and decent vocals (I am not talking about lyrics here). 2.25

Thin Line is another of my favorites of this album with good keyboard work reminiscent of early ELP and fairly decent vocals. 3.25

Man In the Long Black coat is Emerson's first Bob Dylan adaptation since the days with The Nice (My Back Pages, Country Pie, She Belongs To Me) and its pretty good, it has a nice dark mood and Lake's vocals are the highlight. 3.25

Change is a bit catchy with some interesting ideas but not really well accomplished. 2.75

Give Me a Reason to Stay is a song I never imagined ELP would play (or even think playing)... this isn't really a prog song (or something close to prog) is more like a nice pop ballad. 2.25

Gone Too Soon is a Lake solo song because neither Emerson and Palmer play here. The style is closer to the ELP sound than Give Me a Reason to Stay but it is still far from it leaning more to AOR than to prog. 2.50

Street War is a synth-pop catchy fast paced song. It is fun to listen but rather forgettable 2.75

At the end this is just a good but rather forgettable album and a bit more than for collectors only. I was totally disappointed by Palmer's participation here, Emerson has his moments and Lake showed that although his voice changed he still is a very talented singer although I disliked most of the lyrics.Total: 2.85

But I have to consider the bonus track: an outstanding studio version of Pictures at an Exhibition with a choir, which is one of the best versions of this prog classic ever recorded. This makes me wonder if Emerson could do this with his wounded hand and Palmer performed so well on this...Why the hell didn't they play like this on the rest of the album?!!!!!!

Total including bonus track(which had less weight than the rest of the tracks because of its bonus nature): 3.25

At the end it is worth buying because of the nice songs and the superb Pictures at an Exhibition.... I might have been a bit biased because this was one of my first prog albums and it has some sentimental value for me but I tried to be as objective as possible...

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