LOVE BEACH

Ah, the obligatory Contractual Obligation Album. For a band on the brink of making it, such albums are often a precursor of things to come - however, at this time, ELP were on the verge of splitting up and, as "Love Beach" proves, their hearts were just not in it.

Greg Lake's short ditties on Side 1 are, with the exception of "For You", complete throwaway garbage. After all, with a solo career looming, who in their right mind would submit their A-grade material to their band's swan-song? Pete Sinfield's lyrics are also somewhat inane and lacking the abstract poetic imagery he usually delivered by the bucketload. Other reviewers here seem to have picked up on "Canario" as being Side 1's only standout track - I do agree but, for a keyboard player of Emerson's calibre, it's little more than a practice piece, especially considering that 15 years later, he'd perform the piano-hands-a-blur "Creole Dance" live in concert.

"Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman" is Keith's attempt at a side-long closing epic. While Emerson's music itself isn't bad, Sinfield's lyrics are so ill-fitting, it's almost unbearable. For example, the bit where the officer learns of his new wife's death comes across as hammy and unemotional so you get the impression the titular character is thinking "Well, my wife's dead but I'm an officer and therefore have more important things to think about"!

Considering the prog classics that are out of print, it's a mystery why the label is still wasting perfectly good polycarbonate plastic and super-purity aluminium on this turkey but, considering some of the positive reviews it's received here, it must have aged better than expected. It really is for completists only.

... and don't even get me started on the cover! :)