SONGS OF A LIFETIME

Greg Lake doesn't really need any introduction. The only two reasons I see for you not to know him are A) If you've lived in a cave for the last 40 years; B) You're a beginner in the Prog World.

First, Greg Lake was the vocalist/bassist of King Crimson and then of Emerson Lake & Palmer, both bands are pillars to what Prog Rock would be in the 70's. After ELP broke up in 1978 he basically did? very little, in the music scene. He released 2 solo albums in 80's (81 & 83), participated in the ELP (this time as Emerson, Lake & Powell) come back in 86 and again with the original ELP line up in 92. Since then he has released sporadic live albums here and there.

In 2012 Greg was writing his biography and the idea of a new tour appeared to him. The one that he would be alone on stage singing the songs that he considered crucial to his career and telling the stories of his musical life. So far so good, it would be probably a great DVD and a great experience on stage, but all in all, as a live album, it doesn't work at all.

Musically speaking, what's the point of having a great musician like Greg live, with a playback in the background? And what's worse, the versions on the playback are the ones from the 90's ELP comeback, not the originals. And it's kind of a shame having Prog classics like '21st Century Schizoid Man', 'Epitaph/The Court Of The Crimson King' and 'I Talk To The Wind' by King Crimson and 'Trilogy' and 'Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression Part 2' by Emerson, Lake & Palmer played that way with such bad and fake arrangements.

While Greg tells his stories, they are all great and very, very interesting, but by the second time you listen to it, they're all boring and old already. Like I said, for you to go to the concert or even watch a DVD that would be great. But to release a CD from it? I don't get it.

Greg sings basically his solo songs from ELP times like 'From The Beginning', 'Still? You Turn Me On', 'C'est La Vie' and of course, 'Lucky Man'. He also plays a few classics such as 'Heartbreak Hotel' by Elvis Presley and 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away' by The Beatles. The set also includes the inexplicable presence of 'Touch And Go' from the Emerson, Lake & Powell (1986) album. If he wanted to play something from that album it could have been 'The Miracle' instead. Other good songs (and fairly pop ones) like 'A Time And A Place', 'The Sheriff' or 'Benny The Bouncer' were forgotten. In conclusion, don't get me wrong, Greg Lake is one of the most humble and good guys on Prog World. But we're talking about music here, and even if he still has a powerful voice, Songs From A Lifetime (2013) doesn't go anywhere. If you're not a hardcore fan, or if you weren't in the one of the shows? avoid it.

What we have here is a one-man show, combining Greg performing some of his most well- known songs (with a backing track) along with stories of things that have happened in his life. So, we hear about the Beatles, and when he saw Elvis in concert and so forth. The one thing I did learn from this was that the artist behind 'Court of the Crimson King' died only three days after he presented the artwork to the band, at the age of 21. There is no doubting Greg's musical ability or his stunning voice, but is this really the best way to hear him? Rick Wakeman has been performing a similar show, on and off, for some ten years or more where he tells stories and plays the piano. The major difference there is that Rick is providing new interpretations of songs, with no backing music whatsoever, whereas here we have instances such as on "From The Beginning" where there is quite an extended keyboard solo yet at that point all Greg does is play chords as that was his part in that section of the song.

I have always enjoyed Greg's performances with ELP (and I loved it when he fronted Asia, I just wish that they had recorded a studio album together), but he hasn't done a great deal outside that and definitely comes across better in the band environment. This has been billed as 'Songs of a Lifetime' but the most recent song here is the mighty "Touch and Go" from the Emerson Lake & Powell album in 1985, so what happened in the last 28 years? Greg also performs some covers that were important to him in his musical life, such as "Heartbreak Hotel" yet while it is interesting to hear Greg's version I would much rather hear more ELP. The stories are fairly lengthy, which means that the album doesn't benefit from repeated plays either.

All in all I would rather play the compilation of his that was issued a few years ago, 'From The Beginning', but although I can't see myself returning to it very often he still has a wonderful voice..

Not nearly as bad as you might expect and preferable to the Manticore Hall CD that Lake did with Emerson , this comes from a solo tour that has no band and uses a backing track (gulp!). Lake sings very well though and his voice is seemingly stronger than it was in the 90's although obviously not having the same range of ELP's early days. You get a pleasing mix of covers of ELP , King Crimson , Beatles and even an Elvis song . His recollection of seeing Elvis in Vegas 'Tribute To The King' is a treasure in itself ( he can tell a good story!) as well as interesting recollections and anecdotes about Lucky Man and The Beatles. His version of You've Got To Hide Your Love Away is lovely and demonstrates perfectly Lake's ability to deliver a ballad. The backing track of course on some of the rockier songs is not ideal like KE9 but its okay. Will only be purchased by fans I guess but the stories and anecdotes hopefully will be of interest to everyone.