CARL PALMER’S ELP LEGACY

Pictures from a tribute concert.

It takes guts to run a band without a keyboard player or vocalist when classic ELP repertoire is the primary focus, but Carl Palmer has plenty of fire in his belly and the chutzpah to front it up. The all-instrumental interpretations are pulled off with gusto and varying degrees of success, with a savage Knife-Edge standing out on the first disc. While there’s no doubting the prowess of bassist Simon Fitzpatrick and guitarist Paul Bielatowicz, who has to do all the heavy lifting, sadly this power trio often miss the tonal range hardwired into the music. In the heat of the moment, it probably works and diehard fans will love it. However, away from the live environment, it’s difficult to avoid making some unfavourable comparisons with the ELP originals.

Some of that deficiency is ameliorated by Vanilla Fudge’s Mark Stein who guests on Hammond organ on a couple of tracks during the concert DVD. Originally intended to celebrate Palmer’s 50 years in the business with Emerson guesting, the keyboardist’s death meant Palmer recast the show as a memorial concert. Though the energy expended on a crowd-pleasing setlist is commendable, the translations sometimes come perilously unstuck. SS