BEYOND THE BEGINNING

This two DVD set is a disappointment. It has some high points but the general quality of the footage is poor. Fans have long awaited this DVD because of the footage from Cal Jam in 1974. This concert footage chronicled the band at their high point, when they headlined the three day concert for a quarter of a million people. Unfortunately, the ABC footage was damaged from what I understand and the producer of the DVD did not do a good job in restoration. In addition, the DVD momentarily stops between tracks. ELP fans may be able to overlook the excerpted Tocatta from the concert and cut of one verse from Karnevil #9 First Impression Part Two, which I understand was done for the original ABC broadcast. But most will come away feeling unsatisfied. Compared to How the West was Won, the Led Zep chronicle, this DVD pales. How the West Was Won had one DVD of an early concert of the band at the Royal Albert Hall and then clips that spanned the band's career on a second DVD, which were professionally mastered.

The other DVD has clips that span the band's career from Take a Pebble at the Beat Club, a German TV program, to Budapest in 1997. The irony is that you also get two tracks from the Cal Jam concert on this DVD, and the Lucky Man is actually of better quality here than on the concert footage, which points to the producer for this mishap of a DVD.

Highlights of side one include: Fanfare for the Common Man, which the band recorded in the cold and snow at Olympic Stadium, although the picture and music are out of sync; the original video did not have ths problem. The Pirates clip is probably an excerpt from the video Live in Montreal. The Tarkus from the Royal Albert, which shows Emerson having the problems that led to his need for wrist surgery, is probably also avaible on the Live from the Royal Albert Hall DVD. The various and sundry tv clips from the beat club to the Oscar Peterson Show to Tiger in the Spotlight on Euro Pop Rock are interesting, but the excerpted snipet from the Isle of Wight is unconscinable as are the many cuts and edits in the footage granting this DVD a 2.0 although many fans will see at as a must have.

PS The liner notes are not only silly but even wrong. The clock change that the producer cites in the Fanfare video is because there are two clocks, one behind the band and one on the other side of the stadium. It is not an indication that the band had spent the whole day filming this video.