HIGH VOLTAGE

What we have here is a blatant rip off, another try of a record company to get at your money. They try to make dumbasses (like myself) buy this album. How do they do it?

They use the fact that a band (in this case ELP) have just played the High Voltage festival and that a CD with the concert is due - something every ELP fan has been waiting for for eons. Then they create a compilation, aptly name it "High Voltage" and place it on outlet store shelfs. There it is waiting for dumbo Bungalow Bill to come along and take it for what it not is. Ok that's my own foolishness which needs to be punished from time to time.

So, what have we got apart from that. A box which concentrates on the early phase of ELP. There are three songs from the eponymous debut album (The Barbarian, Lucky Man and Take A Pebble), Tarkus in full length and Pictures At An Exhibition in its entirety including Nutrocker. The compilation is completed by Fanfare For The Common Man from Works Vol. 1 and Touch And Go. This last one is a peculiar selection. It is 10 years younger than Fanfare and some 15 years away from the rest. It is not even from ELP but from Emerson, Lake and Powell, even though the liner notes forget about this tiny little detail. And it is light years away from the early masterpieces.

The sound quality is actually quite good, something you'd expect from a remastered 2010 release. The presentation is professional, again something expected from a major label. And still IMO this compilation is as useful as a hole in the head. Fans of ELP certainly have all the early recordings. And for newbies (are there any with regards to ELP?) there are better places to start.

I can only recommend this boxset for people who are somewhat familiar with their works (pun intended) but do not own the first three albums (a rare combination) and want to have Pictures and Tarkus without the somewhat doubtful side 2. But then you'll miss the better parts of the first album.

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