LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL (DVD)

This is the first time I had seen ELP in action. For years I had only the vinyl and CD's to imagine what these three great musicians looked like when playing a live gig. So when I got hold of a copy of this concert (on VHS) to mark their 25th Anniversay, I was excited and rightly so.

KEITH EMERSON (Keyboards); GREG LAKE (guitars,vocals) and CARL PALMER (Percussion) really excelled themselves, despite being somewhat older in age, than when many of their albums were released. They all provided an energetic performance that belied their years and would leave many younger musicians gasping.

The highlights of this recording: virtuoso keyboard playiing - I was amazed to see how well KEITH EMERSON performed despite an obvious problem with his wrists. His performance shines on "Creole Dance" and then the playing of the keyboards upside down and back to front on the "Finale "medley. This with his onstage antics in the finale provided a memorable performance from this great musician.

GREG LAKE provided great guitar playing, particulary accoustic, and vocals. His standout performance was "In the Beginning" - solo accoustic. His voice did not quite reach the range of earlier years, but it is still readily identifiable. His performance both vocally and instrumentally in "Pictures at an Exhibition" - outstanding.

CARL PALMER played energetically through out and a drum solo showed his versatility with all percussion instruments and tempo/timing complexities that is ELP's unique prog rock signature.

I would rate performance and production of the DVD/VHS as 5 stars. The fact that it seemed all over very quickly confirmed my opinion that this was an exciting concert to watch - I wished I had been there. I have given it 4 stars as I am not entirely sure that "Pirates" was a good choice, when there were other great tracks, perhaps better known, that could have been performed, "Trilogy" for example. That is a minor distraction and I thoroughly recommend this visual feast to ELP fans and those prog fans like myself who did not get a chance to see them live.