AN INTRODUCTION TO... EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

"An Introduction To...Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a compilation album of Emerson, Lake & Palmer released in 2004. It has tracks from almost all their studio albums. The exception is their last studio album "In The Hot Seat". So, it has one track from their debut, one track from "Tarkus", one track from "Trilogy", two tracks from "Brain Salad Surgery", one track from "Works Vol. 1", one track from "Works Vol. 2", one track from "Love Beach", one track from "Black Moon" and one track from their debut live "Pictures At An Exhibition". It has also two tracks only released as live versions.

So, "An Introduction To...Emerson, Lake & Palmer" has twelve tracks. "Introductionary Fanfare" was never released in studio. It's a little curtain raiser penned by Emerson and Palmer to get us on our way as an overture to a live concert. It's a very pleasant overture with the necessary intones to the introduction of the band with the traditional "Ladies & Gentlemen...". It was taken from "Works Live". "Peter Gunn" was never released in studio too. It's an instrumental by the American composer Henry Mancini. The song was written for the television program of the same name. Emerson, Lake & Palmer decided to release a cover of it in their live album "Emerson, Lake & Palmer in Concert". It's a great cover. It was taken from "Works Live" too. "Hoedown" is from "Trilogy". It's an interpretation from the ballet "Rodeo" of Aaron Copland. Instead of violins we have Emerson's Hammond and synthesizers taking the lead. It's a fantastic piece, a perfect way to bring the classical to rock. "Benny The Bouncer" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's a comedic rocker on the same mould of "Are You Ready Eddie?" and "Jeremy Bender/The Sheriff". It's hardly considered a great song. But, it indicates some of their influences and shows they aren't properly frightened to attempt something more vulgar and simple. "The Gambler" is from "Love Beach". It isn't a great song. It's a groovy blues tune that doesn't sounds like ELP. It reminds me some other silly tracks like "Jeremy Bender", "Are You Ready Eddy?", or "Benny The Bouncer". This is certainly no worse than any of those tracks. Still, I never liked this kind of songs on a band like them. "Tiger In A Spootlight" is from "Works Vol. 2". It's a leftover track from "Brain Salad Surgery" sessions. It's a fun rock'n'roll/blues tune with a nice beat and a strange keyboard work. It's interesting, but it doesn't mean anything more than that. "Take A Pebble" is also from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's a beautiful ballad by Lake. It's a magnificent song with powerful vocals by Lake. His singing is simply amazing, with the final line of the verses building on the legacy of King Crimson's "Epitaph", which sounds even better. "Romeo And Juliet" is from "Black Moon". "Romeo And Juliet" is Emerson's arrangement of the superb "Dance Of The Knights" from Sergei Prokofiev's score for the ballet "Romeo And Juliet". It's a classical epic majestic piece full of a bombastic genius and majesty. The synths forward with bold, swagger and utter poise, a modern rock interpretation on Prokofiev's classical piece. This a perfect piece for the bombastic rock of ELP. "Pirates" is from "Works Vol. 1". It was originally written for the soundtrack of a cancelled film version of the Frederick Forsyth's book "The Dogs Of War". It has a great mix of contemporary classical epic music, melodic, progressive, dynamic, charming and complex. Even Lake sings with passion here. It's an epic tale filled with great Emerson, Lake & Palmer's moments and a full orchestra. This was ELP's last great epic and I really love it. It's not one of their best, but it's still great. "The Sage" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It's a Lake's original composition usually mentioned as one of his best. It has some of his best lyrics. It's the only track on that album not contributed by Mussorgsky. It's a gentle and delightful acoustic piece. Some may find it pretentious, but it works well and I don't see why it shouldn't be there. "Jeremy Bender" is from "Tarkus". It's a comedic rocker in the same mould of "Benny The Bouncer". Sincerely, the song is pleasant to listen to, but hardly worthy of an Emerson, Lake & Palmer's album. Sincerely, I'm not a great fan of these kinds of songs, really. It's not bad but it's nor great too. "Jerusalem" is also from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's a classical British church hymn. This is the band's arrangement of Charles Hubert Parry's hymn, based on the prologue of William Blake's poem "Milton". It was the only single taken from that album. This is really a great version of the original piece. This is a version taken from their live album "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends".

Conclusion: "An Introduction To...Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is really a good compilation album of the band. At the first sight it seems to be weaker than most of their compilation albums. However, if we see it more carefully, and especially, according to its name, we can really say that it's a good introduction to the career of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. So let's see it. This is a compilation album were almost all their studio albums are represented with one track, except "Brain Salad Surgery" with two tracks. It has also one track from "Pictures At An Exhibition". Only "In The Hot Seat" isn't represented here. Besides, some are live versions of the band, which are nice. ELP always was a great live band. So, we can say that "An Introduction To...Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a good introduction to the band living up to its name.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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