At the age of 14, ELP were probably my favourite band, despite the beloved John Peel famously describing them as 'a waste of talent and electricity'. Starting with Tarkus, and borrowing everything else I could from friends, I owned a copy of the cheap issue Pictures At An Exhibition, and at Christmas 1974 received this triple live album from bemused parents.
By 1977, it was, of course, almost a capital offence to be in possession of an ELP record with intent to prog, and ELP content was carefully hidden, sold or otherwise ignored. I didn't take any notice of any of the ELP albums after this, so this album marks the final crossing of our paths. Seeing the 2CD issue of it in an HMV sale for less than a fiver in the early 2000s, I judged that it was safe to buy it without fear of stoning by the Cool Police.
So, what do we have here? Arguably the best of ELPs first four studio albums, without the filler, and in many cases equal, if not superior renditions than the earlier studio ones. Opening with a frantic Hoedown, sounding about 50% faster than the version on Trilogy, there are then a couple of tracks from Brain Salad Surgery - an insipid and out of tune rendition of Jerusalem and a manic version of Ginastera's Toccata, to me sounding more coherent that the album version. Then there's the whole of Tarkus, again a faithful version but sounding more atmospheric live than in the studio, with a welcome addition of King Crimson's Epitaph towards the end, and a much extended Aquatarkus. CD1 ends with the Greg Lake spot - the opening bit of Take A Pebble, then shedding the other two for Still...You Turn Me On and Lucky Man, both at least equal to their studio equivalents.
CD2 begins with some Keith Emerson Piano Improvisations around the piano parts of Take A Pebble, a bit self indulgent, but a decent enough listen before drifting back into the conclusion. The one blip in the material is the honky-tonk piano led segue of the awful Jeremy Bender and the slightly better The Sheriff, but the remaining half hour is taken up with a glorious rendition of Karn Evil 9, much less cold than the album version, only blighted by a 4 minutes drum solo in the middle.
I enjoyed listening to this, a good summary of ELP's most productive and successful period. Some have commented that the sound quality isn't the best, but I think the standard of the performance makes up for that. It contains the major works from the first four studio albums, with little of the filler (most of side 2 of Tarkus, much of Trilogy) and is a good starting point.
4* - a great sprawling behemoth of a triple album documenting the excesses of the most reviled of prog dinosaurs. Great stuff!
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