EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER
Out Of This World: Live (1970–1997) BMG
ALL FIVE SHOWS COLLECTED HERE DISPLAY THE BAND’S BRILLIANCE.
Spectacular live celebration of ELP’s career.
Part of the ongoing 50th anniversary celebrations for one of prog’s most illustrious and important bands, this 10-LP/seven-CD set provides a timely reminder of how scintillating and irresistible Emerson, Lake & Palmer always were onstage.
The first of the five concerts here is from the Isle Of Wight Festival in August 1970, where ELP played only their second ever show in front of a mere 600,000 people. It’s a thrilling performance, as these game-changing musicians make a momentous impact even in such a formative part of their story. It’s informative to hear how heavy the music sounds; many forget ELP were as powerful as they were creative.
Four years later, in April ’74, and now established among the biggest live attractions on the planet, ELP co-headlined the now-legendary California Jam with Deep Purple. They were more obviously sophisticated, as experience and confidence allows the trio to gel and play off one another. A pity, though, that listeners have to use their imagination on Piano Improvisations if they want to ‘see’ Emerson seated at his famous flying piano!
In 1977, the band reached their apogee, or nadir (depending on the listener’s viewpoint), on the Works tour, playing with a 70-piece orchestra. This recording is from Montreal in August of that year and while ELP seemed to be out of sync with the prevailing trends of the time, the way they coalesce with the orchestra is a lesson to those who’ve attempted this challenge since. Fanfare For The Common Man and Pictures At An Exhibition underline how close the relationship is between band and orchestra.
Sprint forward 15 years, and in October 1992 ELP played two nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and they’d lost none of their prowess, the material from new album Black Moon working well alongside the classics.
Finally, there’s a show from Phoenix, Arizona in September 1997 on ELP’s last tour. This is the only previously unreleased recording here, and, while not as strong as the other four, nonetheless it has incendiary moments; the climactic medley of King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid Man and The Nice’s America is especially memorable.
It’s intriguing to listen to the way the threesome developed across a period of nearly 40 years. Perhaps the two best recordings are from the Isle Of Wight and on the ’77 tour.
The former because there’s something magnificently raw about the presentation and the latter due to the fact that ELP were at their most opulent. But all five shows display the band’s brilliance.