KEITH EMERSON - GLENN HUGHES - MARC BONILLA. BOYS CLUB - LIVE FROM CALIFORNIA

I fell upon this by "luck" (this remains to be seen whether good or bad) in the shelves of my library, and seeing that my weekly pile was a little weak-ly, I threw this on it for good measure. Lordy lordy Lord ?. Uuuuhhh?. I mean Emersony emerson Emerson!!!! ;o)))) I wasn't all that impressed when I first saw it and I figured it would good for laughs. NOT EVEN that!!! OK, hang on, this "thing" isn't catastrophic either?. Just the crystallization of three biggies meeting and maybe having fun, while trying to rake in the dough. Soooo we got Emerson on keys, strangely backed by Roth on keys as well?.. we've also got Bonilla on guitars?.. but strangely backed Wallace on guitars as well?.. and we got Hughes on vocals , but not bass?.. I'd rather have wished it the other way, since I personally think that Hughes is one of the most over-rated singers around and I much prefer him on bass. The good thing is that we don't hear him much, which is just as well. Oh yeah, before I forget: two bassists, but only one drummer?.. go figure!!!

Obviously the material used that night came from the three "tenors"' repertoire and a few covers. Without going too much over the Bonilla stuff, let's see what Emerson brought: Copland's Hoedown, Tchaikovsky's Nutrocker and the big Tarkus, which will probably hold the most interest. On the cover front, Procol's Shade Of Pale is the first number where we hear Hughes singing and he does an apt job, but then again I'm known to be pretty good art that song in the shower as well. There is also the Allman Bros' Dreams, a rather pleasant surprise, but ultimately not reaching the ABB classic level, Hughes being the worst perpetrator. The trio composed a special track, an awful 90's track, obviously impulsed by Hughes' eternal funk influences? it sticks out like a sore thumb from the rest of the concert.

Emerson intrudes on piano on Bonilla's White Noise, but let's get to Tarkus: well done, but considering the number of musicians (8) on stage, it's not that great a feat, so with Keith getting some back up, two basses to do Greg's job on bass and Glen trying to come to Greg waist in the vocal dept (and failing badly), the pressure is on the sole drummer Joe Travers, and would you guess it?!?!.... he's in over his head as to playing down pat the way Carl did it, but he's hardly ridiculous either. Overall you'd better not expect too much of this version of the armoureddilldo exploits. ;o)p)))))

Well of course everyone is entitled to make a living and such encounters are normal in a musician's life, but was there a need to immortalize this tour?? I guess some thought there was, but I won't disagree too much either?. I wasn't expecting much, and I got a little more than I expected, but I'm, glad I rented this album, cos I'd be embarrassed of putting it on my trade list. Jus t kidding Keith and Mark, but this is anything but essential.