Emerson, Lake & Palmer Album: “Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer [Rhino]”

A few years ago, I had never heard of ELP. But after listening to this compilation, I have grown to become one of ELP's greatest fans. It sounds cheesy, but it's true. This Best of... album combines everything that ELP was all about: Greg Lake's ballads, Keith Emerson's progressive themes, classical re-workings and Carl Palmer's God-like playing ability. The first time listening to this, I was swept away by the sound that these three musicians were able to create during the musical-industry-equivalent of the Dark Ages. The profound and unheard of use of the synthesizer at this early stage of progressive music sparked such creativity that cannot be expressed within the 1000 word-count limit. After being an avid ELP fan for the past few years, I still feel that this is the album that led me to the path of progressive rock, which I still feel has always been under appreciated. This album is a must-buy for anyone who is interested in listening to good and innovative music.

Emerson Lake & Palmer's material defies reduction to a single disc, but if a single disc you must have, this is the one to get. The old Atlantic best of released in 1979 only included about 45 minutes worth of material because it had to fit on an LP, and "The Very Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is anything but, wasting time with "Pirates" and "Peter Gunn" and a live version of "C'est la Vie" (why a live version?).

If you're going to give running time over to a long epic, then it really should be "Tarkus," their defining piece from their second album, and this collection does so. Karn Evil 9 isn't really necessary beyond 1st impression part 2 ("Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...") and indeed wears thin when played in its entirety.

You might say that "The Barbarian" from the debut deserves inclusion, and it probably does. You could object that there's nothing from "Pictures at an Exhibition," but with limited space, it's better to defer to a wholly original work like "Tarkus." You might point out there are two or three tracks off "Black Moon" that are stronger than the title track, and you'd be right. You could express disappointment that yet again nothing from the Emerson Lake & Powell album has been included. You might say that "Canario" from "Love Beach" isn't so bad. Personally, I find their honky tonk crap irritating and wouldn't have included "Honky Tonk Train Blues."

But despite all that, this compilation achieves in a single disc both goals a good compilation must achieve. It must include the best known songs, and it must be representative. Considering that Rhino managed to include tracks representing all their different sounds while still covering their greatest hits, this is as perfect a compilation as you could ask.

Those who want to scratch the surface a bit more might try the two-disc Atlantic compilation (now out of print), the import "Ultimate Collection," or the "Return of the Manticore" box set. But really, if you're going to buy the box set or more of the endless series of available compilations, you may as well spend your money on the first four studio albums. They're cheap and they're far stronger than anything else ELP ever released.

The only thing I knew when I bought this album was that there was a really good keyboardist in the band. Boy was I right! Now, I'm a fan and this album impresses me every time I listen to it. Keith Emerson is the keyboardist, and man is he great! His playing is really what this band is about, but that's fine with me. Once you get into this, though, you'll discover the excellent drum work of Carl Palmer and the extremely talented Greg Lake, who plays bass, guitar AND sings! In fact, this is one of the best bands I've heard. "Still...You Turn Me On" is a very funky song and my first favorite here. "Fanfare For the Common Man" is next, a great rendition of Aaron Copeland's piece with great bass and percussion. "Tarkus" is over twenty minutes long, a showcase mostly for Keith, and is great all the way through. Every section is different and impressive in its' own way. "Karn Evil 9 (1st impression part 2)" is another strange song that takes us through the sideshow atractions at a circus. Unusual lyrics abound and there is some pretty furious drumming in this one, too. "Hoedown" is another Copeland cover and sounds great. Very upbeat and fast. Reminds me of an old Becel margarine ad, where they played the original in the background (I think it was Becel anyway) "Trilogy" is weird. It starts off as a touching softer number and then turns into this mutant, keyboard-fest halfway through. Both parts are very good, but sound strange when they are morphed together. "Honky Tonk Train Blues" is a guaranteed toe-tapper. One of the catchiest songs on the album. In fact, it's one of the catchiest songs I have, period! "Lucky Man" is the big hit here. A nice, heartfelt number indeed. I love this album. It is certainly unusual, but it is very impressive and I give it my highest recommendation.

ESSENTIAL ALBUM!!! If you aren't an ELP fan then this is the disc for you. It has all the hits: "Lucky Man", "From the Beginning", "Still...You Turn Me On" & "C'est La Vie". This has two more singles which barely scraped the charts (but still good songs): "I Believe in Father Christmas" & "Black Moon". This disc also contains some of their very best album tracks" "Tarkus", "Knife Edge" & "Trilogy". The only real improvement I would make would be to eliminate "Honky Tonk Train Blues" (which is really a very indicative choice of what they did) & replace it with the live version of "Peter Gunn". That would make this the perfect ELP compilation album. But, don't be confused; this is one band you should really get by the studio album.

I was in a store recently that was playing talentless, computer driven rubbish like Britney Spears, rap, etc. - that was literally tormenting me. As soon as I got home I put this on and instantly felt better. Anyhow, ELP's music is incredible, however the mixing on the vocals here sounds terrible. I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it or maybe I just got a bad copy. The vocals are way too soft and muffled - when I turn the sound up loud enough to hear the vocals properly (yet they still sound muffled), the instrumentals are too loud. So really, I'd give this 5 stars for the music and 1 star for the poor sound quality. Replacing LP's with CD's is the worst thing that could've happened to music.