COME AND SEE THE SHOW: THE BEST OF EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

This is not a terrible collection of ELP songs, but it is certainly not the best representation of what this band has to offer. Overall this CD leans heavily towards Greg Lake's contributions to the band's repertoire. Lake's songs tend to be more pop oriented, compared to the more lengthy tracks that usually make up an ELP LP. Still ... there is a lot on here that might turn you on, to qoute from the ever so suave Senor Lake himself.

Some nice choice inclusions on this collection include Knife Edge, a song that shows ELP on their first album taking on the new cynical, almost gothic, hard-edged heavy early 70s sound of such bands as the new Gillan led Deep Purple, Alicer Cooper and Black Sabbath. Emerson adds further to the gothic sound of the song by adding a Bach derived organ solo in the middle section. Also Tank, another gem from their first album, displays a style unique to ELP that combines rock, jazz, psychedelic soundtracks and 60s exotic instrumentals. Toccata and Karn Evil 9 are also great choices for an ELP collection, with the latter being one of the finest examples of thematic development within a rock song.

The icing on the cake for this collection is Lake's sarcastic faux-Christmas song about Father Christmas. Easily one of the more clever songs that ever had the names Lake-Sinfield attached to it.

This album does not get into some of the deeper music that ELP has to offer, but instead contains a lot of Greg Lake's more accessible tunes, as well as some well chosen cuts that better show what ELP was capable of.

Review Nº 795

"Come And See The Show: The Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a compilation album of Emerson, Lake & Palmer that was released in 2008. It has three tracks from their eponymous debut studio album, two tracks from their third studio album "Trilogy", four tracks from their fourth studio album "Brain Salad Surgery", one track from their fifth studio album "Works Vol. 1", one track from their sixth studio album "Works Vol. 2" and one track from their debut live album "Pictures At An Exhibition". It has also a track never released on any of their studio albums, "Peter Gunn".

So, "Come And See The Show: The Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" has fourteen tracks. "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 2)" is a track from "Brain Salad Surgery". "Karn Evil 9" is a great opus. It's divided into three movements or impressions. Here we have only the "First Impression Part 2". It's an instrumental track featuring Emerson on piano sounding like jazz and Palmer's drumming showing his percussive great skills. "Lucky Man" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's a ballad for acoustic guitar. It's a song with acoustic guitar, beautiful singing and a great synthesizer solo towards the end. It's one of the best songs written by Lake. It became as one of the band's most commercial and accessible tracks in their career. "From The Beginning" is from "Trilogy". It's a beautiful acoustic song featuring Lake on vocals and guitar with some participation of Emerson in the end of the track. It's a song with a simple structure. We can say this is one of the best compositions written by Lake for the band. "Knife-Edge" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's based on the first movement of Leos Janacek's "Sinfonietta" classical piece. This is another piece with a great showcase by all band's members, with particular emphasis to great bass lines. "Hoedown" is from "Trilogy". It's a highest moment on that album, one of their best and most beautiful compositions. It's largely an instrumental piece much over piano in the beginning, heavily influenced by the classical music. In the middle, the music blasts with all instruments playing in continuo. This is an amazing track. "Jerusalem" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's a classical British church hymn. This is a band's arrangement of Charles Hubert Parry's hymn, based on the prologue of William Blake's poem "Milton". This is a great version of the original piece. "C'Est La Vie" is from "Works Vol. 1". This is a well known acoustic song. It's probably the most similar in style to Lake's ballads on their earlier albums. I like it, especially of the amazing voice of Lake. "Still... You Turn Me On" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". This is the obligatory acoustic number on that album. It's a Lake's classic acoustic ballad in the vein of "Lucky Man" and "From The Beginning". It's one of Lake's best ballads. A big radio hit in U.S.A. "Tank" is from "Emerson. Lake & Palmer". It has a Palmer's small but beautiful studio drum solo. Basically, the piece showcases Palmer's unique drumming style and features one of the few drum solos on a studio album. It also marks the first appearance of the Emerson's famous Moog synthesizer. "Fanfare For The Common Man" is from "Works Vol. 1". It's a great interpretation of a classical piece of Aaron Copland re-arranged for rock. Copland's original is great and ELP didn't make a bad job on the arrangements. Synths are heavily used, especially in the later sections. It sounds like early ELP, being experimental and heroic. "Toccata" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". This is an instrumental track based on the fourth movement of Alberto Ginastera's "1st Piano Concert". This is a modern classical piece created by an Argentinean composer and rearranged by Emerson. This is a great interpretation by the band, really. This is a live version. "Peter Gunn" is a non-album's track. 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 the song on their live album "Emerson, Lake & Palmer in Concert". This is a live version and is really a great cover. "Nutrocker" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It's a jazz variation of a Tchaikovsky theme. This is a showcase of the band's disposition to light things up after an extended, demanding display of serious music. It's a re-elaborated version of a "Nutcracker" section, yey another example of the trio's interest in exploring the roots of the chamber music and translates it into a rock context. This is a live version. "I Believe In Father Christmas" is from "Works Vol. 2". It's a nice song, one of the best moments on that album. It's a ballad based on a Sergei Prokofiev's theme with good arrangements and ironic controversial lyrics about the negative effects of the commercial Christmas.

Conclusion: "Come And See The Show: The Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is another good compilation album of ELP. It has some of the best tracks recorded on some of their best albums, the albums that belong to their best and most progressive phase and the albums that belong to the golden era of the band. We may say that all those tracks are great in their own way. But, in addition, we can also say that the four tracks that don't belong to those albums are also good. I sincerely like especially of "Fanfare For The Common Man", but even "C'Est La Vie" and "I Believe In Father Christmas" are nice too. Finally, the ELP's version of "Peter Gunn" is a nice cover too. So, 3 stars for this compilation.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)