THE VERY BEST OF EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER

There are several types who buy a "best of" ELP collection. A person who doesn't know prog from frog but just LOVES that weird sound at the end of "Lucky Man." A young person who wants a decent introduction to the creations of a classic band. And then there's people like me who owned a few of their albums back in the 70s, was never a huge fan but occasionally needs an ELP "fix" on the commute to or from work and sees this cd for just eight bucks at Best Buy and figures "why not?" Turns out it's not half bad, literally. In fact, there's only a few boners here in the ghastly "Pirates" and the self-indulgent "Toccata." The rest of it is top-notch. I personally liked the ballads because they were always a relief from the typical top 40 crud that crowded the airwaves around that time. Personally, these guys just got a little too dang noisy for my tastes and their albums were usually a case of too much of a good thing to my ears. But admire them, I did, and this collection of songs reminds me why. "Knife- edge," "Trilogy," "Karn Evil 9" and "Fanfare for the Common Man" are true standouts in prog history. And the aforementioned "Lucky Man" holds up well over the years as the song that brought the Moog to the masses. And, for the price, it's hard to beat.

This was the first exposure I had to Emerson, Lake, & Palmer beyond what I heard on the radio. It ultimately got me into the group, so I suppose this album is good for those uninitiated to progressive rock. That said, this is certainly not the best of this band by any means, but even though it may sucker some people who look for a couple of songs, it can be a great starter album for others. While not an ideal compilation, this release is a good place for someone new to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer to begin, as it has many favorites. The problem is that for the progressive rock fan, what is here is stuff heard on the radio all the time anyway. There is absolutely nothing from Tarkus, and what is from Brain Salad Surgery isn't particularly important. "Pirates" is a great addition to this collection, however, which is a song I always felt was underrated, even if it can be a tad corny. The climax of Pictures at an Exhibition is present, but as with any holistic release, excepts simply cannot do justice. For the right price, this is a great starting point, but it is likely full albums can be had at cheaper prices.

Review Nº 867

"The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a compilation of Emerson, Lake & Palmer that was released in 2001. It's a compilation album with tracks from five of their works, two tracks from their eponymous debut album, two tracks from their third album "Trilogy", four tracks from their fourth album "Brain Salad Surgery", three track from their fifth album "Works Vol. 1" and two tracks from their debut live album "Pictures At An Exhibition". It has also a non-album's track.

"The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" has fourteen tracks. "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. "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 fantastic showcase by all band's members, with particular emphasis to great bass lines. "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. "Trilogy" is from "Trilogy". It's one of the highest moments 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. "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. "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 re- arranged by Emerson. This is a great interpretation by the band. "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 percussion skills. "Still... You Turn Me On" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's the obligatory acoustic number of 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 USA. "Pirates" is from "Works Vol. 1". It was originally written for the soundtrack of a cancelled film version of the Frederick Forsyth's book, "The Dogs Of War". It's melodic, progressive, dynamic, charming and complex. It has a great mix of contemporary classical music with a nice keyboard work and it's sung by Lake with great passion. "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. "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 him. "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 a great cover. "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It's a short and energetic melodic instrumental. It sticks solely to Mussorgsky without co-writing credits from Emerson and Palmer. This is a fast paced piece with bass and percussion supporting Emerson's Hammond. "The Great Gates Of Kiev" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It contains the most solemn moments of the opus, including some organ-toying by Emerson. The culminating climax generates an enthusiastic response from the audience. This is a majestic piece. It exposes the true sense of prog, which is, the classical music mixed with rock.

Conclusion: "The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is one of the many compilation albums of the band and as happened with many of them, it's also a good compilation album of ELP. It revisits some of the best tracks of them that belong to some of their best albums. I'm especially talking about some of the tracks that were taken from their albums, "Emerson, Lake & Palmer", "Pictures At An Exhibition", "Trilogy" and "Brain Salad Surgery". They're all great but with an especial emphasis to their most elaborated tracks, "Knife-Edge", "Toccata", "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 2)", "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" and "The Great Gates Of Kiev". But, even the three tracks from "Works Vol. 1" are all great, especially "Fanfare For The Common Man". Finally, the non-album's track "Peter Gunn" is a nice addition to this compilation too. So, "The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a good compilation album that deserves 3 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)