Twenty years ago, Carl Palmer played a gig at the Astor Theatre (capacity about 180) in Deal, where I lived. Ticket prices were extortionate, and I decided not to go, despite having been a big ELP fan in my teenage years, reasoning that of the three, the songwriting and solo legacy of P was far less impressive and interesting than either E or L. Also, I hate the drum solo with a passion.
A couple of years later, I found this album in a charity sop in the town for a quid. The fact that it appeared to be signed (insert and both discs) by CP himself, didn't seem to convince the shop of its worth as a musical artefact, and I can't claim to have given it a fair airing since buying it.
CD1 consists of Palmer's work with ELP, although there isn't too much from the 'golden period' up to Brain Salad Surgery. Concerto For Percussion is a Joseph Horovitz composition, listenable without ever seeming to have a focus (I'm no aficionado of classical music), with Palmer contributing percussion and a drum solo. I'm not aware of this ever being an ELP production, so not sure why it's on this disc. The Enemy God Dances With The Black Spirits is a Prokofiev piece, which appeared on the Palmer side of Works Vol 1, which sounds like a straight orchestral piece. The Pancha Suite sounds like it owes more to early King Crimson, but also isn't seen on any ELP album, understandably, as it's very ordinary. Bullfrog is from Works Vol 2, a heavily percussive instrumental which doesn't engage, and it's only on Ginastera's Toccata that successful ELP is revisited, Palmer's steel, electronic drum kit complementing Keith Emerson's arrangement, the first piece that I'd say I actively enjoyed so far. Close But Not Touching (Works Vol 2) is a march with a feel of a Saturday evening US Cop theme tune, a bit "big-bandy" for ELP, but OK, while L.A. Nights (Works Vol 1) is similar but less appealing. Canario from the abysmal Love Beach (and I haven't yet got past the cover!) does have a more orthodox ELP feel about it, although in a 'running out of ideas' kind of way.
There's the orchestral version (from Works Vol 1) of the instrumental Tank from the band's debut album. I think it lacks the inspiration of Emerson's harpsichord-type original arrangement, but probably gets on the album as the only writing co-credit Palmer has from the classic ELP period (and that a rather generous one, according to Keith Emerson's autobiography). although this version has the advantage of no drum solo. Two Part Invention in D Minor is a xylophone (?) arrangement of a Bach piece, with no redeeming feature, but the hit single, Copland's Fanfare For The Common Man is always good to hear, even if the full nine minute album piece does go on far too long compared to the single edit. The ELP disc finishes with March Militaire, a tedious ...er... military march by Schubert, also not evident on any ELP album.
CD2 consists of Palmer's earlier and later activities. There's a couple of tracks from The Craig, typical mid-1960s bluesy guitar rock, which were never destined for success (although no worse than many who were), and one from failed Merseybeaters, the Chants, which was Palmer's first paid session. Not awful, but you wouldn't choose to listen again. We get a bit more proggy with Atomic Rooster, and their 1970 piece, Decline And Fall (from their debut album). it's quite a nice psychedelic piece with a whirling Hammond, but a tedious drum solo halfway through. There are a couple of tracks from the one album he did with Carl Palmer's PM, and they're truly awful, tedious plodding US adult oriented rock of the worst kind, and a couple of contributions to Mike Oldfield's 1982 album, neither of which are awful, or particularly good.
Success in the 1980s came to Palmer with supergroup Asia (alongside Yes' Steve Howe, King Crimson alumnus John Wetton and Buggle Geoff Downes), and this compilation contains their biggest hit, the execrable Heat Of The Moment, with two other songs, neither works troubling your sensitive ears, dear listener.
The band 3, were an ill-judged Emerson and Palmer project, with American guitarist/vocalist Robert Berry, and their "epic" Desde La Vida sadly appears here alongside a plodding electropop version of Byrds' Eight Miles High.
There's a live 2000 version of ELP's Hoedown, a welcome tune but not a patch on the original (a short lived project called Qango), and the album ends with Palmer playing with his hero Buddy Rich on Shawnee, a nice piece of big band jazz, and clearly an important piece for Palmer to conclude his anthology, and possibly the highlight of the second disc.
But really, this isn't a great anthology. The ELP pieces are mostly tired ones from the fag-end of their career, and there's only Toccata which gets the juices flowing at all. If you're an ELP obsessive with a penchant for 1980s US AOR you might enjoy it more than I did.
Link to some of the CD2 tracks.
2* - the album has a few moments, but it's a hard listen all the way through
Comments