THEN AND NOW

This was the second ELP live album that I bought and listened to in the late 90s. The first was Pictures at an Exhibition of course. And the first impression was completely different from what it is now. At that time, I liked the Now Tour '97/'98 concert more, due to the better recording quality and a larger number of diverse songs covering the entire classic period of the band's work. In addition, the 1974 concert was full of improvisations, which at that time seemed too complicated to me.

Probably, combining two concerts in one album wasn't the best idea. Although for fans of the band in my country it was a real gift, considering that the mp3 format was not widespread then, and it was difficult to get discs with such music in Ukraine then. But I ignored the 1974 concert for a long time, and listened more often to the second part of this album.

But over the years, my perception has changed, and now, I think, we can try to make an objective review of these two CDs. It is in the first part, at a concert in 1974, that we are offered real progressive rock in its original form, exactly that signature ELP sound, thanks to which they entered history. The concert opening Toccata with the signature heavy guitar sound of Greg Lake, the enchanting psychedelic synthesizer special effects of Keith Emerson suddenly gives way to the melodic Still... You Turn Me On and Lucky Man, which Greg Lake sings soulfully accompanied by his guitar alone. Then follow 10 minutes of keyboard magic from Keith Emerson. Well, he does not torture his synthesizer, as it happened at concerts, but plays in an almost academic style, complementing his improvisation with excerpts from the classics (the album notes mention Fugue by the 20th century Austrian composer Freidrich Gulda and Little Rock Getaway by jazz pianist Joe Sullivan). I don't know the original, but there are definitely elements of jazz here! Next, Greg Lake performs another soulful song, Take a Rebble, this time accompanied by drums and keyboards. The concert ends with almost half an hour of Karn Evil 9, with Carl Palmer's improvisation on drums, incredibly fast and energetic. I found a video of this concert on YouTube, where the moment when he simultaneously plays the pedals with his feet, hits the timpani, and even strikes the bell, hooking and pulling the rope with his teeth, stands out. Who else has done that? In general, the live performance of this masterpiece of progressive rock looks even better than the studio version, it is longer and more powerful, and gives the musicians more space. If Greg Lake worked on the guitar in the songs, then here Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer compete with each other, and I don't know who won. The concert ends with the theme The Creat Gates of Kiev from their concert Pictures at an Exhibition, which also sounded more large-scale and with excursions into other musical themes. As a resident of Kyiv, I am especially pleased that ELP performed this theme. But in modern transcription, its name is correctly written as Kyiv. The video shows how Keith Emerson, while performing the final chords, along with the piano, was lifted above the stage and turned over several times. It is incredible how he never stumbled or went out of tune!

Excellent concert. I enjoyed listening to it again while writing this review. Maybe there were better ones, I don't know. (But only because of the length. After all, 40 minutes for this kind of music is criminally short.) But it's good that it was released on CD. Many people were able to listen to it at a time when music was not as accessible as it is now. Hopefully, if YouTube works in your country, you can find this performance under the title Emerson, Lake & Palmer -- California Jam (1974)

The second part consists of fragments of concerts from 1997 and 1998, and takes up about 13 minutes on the first CD and the entire second CD. In total, about an hour and a half. Not very convenient if you want to listen to the whole thing. Some of the classic ELP suites are also played in snatches. For example, only a fragment of Karn Evil 9 is played here, and only the final part of the monumental Piano Concerto No. 1 is played. But there are a few surprises. For example, A Time and a Place from Tarkus is performed in a very unusual and solemn way, completely different from the studio version. I also really liked Touch and Go - in this live version it is very juicy compared to the studio recording. And of course, pure pleasure is the mighty Fanfare For The Common Man, which lasts for more than 20 minutes thanks to numerous improvisations and a medley of classical themes and another incredibly killer drum solo. Again and again I am surprised how only three people can create such meaty music? An orchestra is needed here! 21st Century Schizoid Man is also performed very well, fortunately without the manic technogenic special effects that have probably scared more than one generation of music lovers. You can also be convinced of the obvious changes in Greg Lake's voice by listening to Take A Pebble and Lucky Man from the 70s and 90s. For me personally, there is no answer to the question of which version is better. It is also strange why this concert collection doesn't include any numbers from the later albums Black Moon and In The Hot Seat. Probably, something was played during the concerts of the 97/98 tour. But we have to accept it.

After all that has been written, it is extremely difficult to give an adequate assessment of this disc. If only California Jam '74 were assessed, it would get 5 stars from me without the slightest doubt. But the concerts of 97/98 do not reach five stars. Up to four stars, perhaps. Therefore, this entire album gets the same. I think it is fair.