Emerson, Lake & Palmer Album: “King Biscuit Flower Hour: Greatest Hits Live”

This is the definitive ELP live collection. Some reviewers have noted that the 1974 stuff (Hoedown, Still...You Turn Me On, Lucky Man, Karn Evil 9) sounds a lot like the material on "Welcome Back My Friends..." Well, that's not surprising considering that it sounds like the EXACT same stuff. Don't think so? Play "Still..." and "Lucky Man" from both albums on two stereos at once and see if there are any differences. The Lake vocals are exactly alike, including the way he sings the same wrong lyrics to the "Still..." and how some fan in the audience yells, "Blah blah blah CRAZY!" at the beginning of "Lucky Man". It's the SAME performance. "Hoedown" and "Karn Evil 9" sound a little different because in "Welcome Back My Friends," Emerson's keys are made much louder than anythings else (thanks to the "mix"). These versions on "King Biscuit" are difinitive because you can hear Lake's vocal, bass and guitar and Palmer's drums so much better. As to Karn Evil 9, and if there is any doubt as to whether the two versions are the same, listen to the way Lake sings, "But I gave you life!...To do what was right!" on Impression 3. It's the same performance, but at least in my opinion, it sounds better than it does on "Welcome Back."

Aside from all of this, there are striking definitive versions of "Fanfare" and "Pirates" here that truly make the album worth buying, even without the orchestra (which was just a little over the top anyway). The Lake vocals "Ces't La Vie" and "Watching Over You" are made fantastic by losing the superfluous orchestral arrangements. Everything from the three volumes of "Works" is played with the utmost musicianship by E,l&P. And, the CD-ROM part is kind of fun too. If you only have one ELP live album, let this be it. The only really important performance that isn't here is Tarkus (running a full 27 minutes on "Welcome Back"), but everything else is fully intact.

Simply another memorable archive performance(actually two performances)culled from the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio vaults.Disc one is a 14 track audio gem of a concert that ELP did in Wheeling,West Virginia on Nov.12,1977.Haven't heard some of these tunes in years as it's ALWAYS great to check out cuts like "C'est La Vie","Pirates","Fanfare For The Common Man","Still,You Turn Me On" and the unforgetable "Lucky Man".Hmm,I notice they didn't include "Karn Evil 9".But then again,I saw the band twice during the '90's and at least one of those times,I'm SURE they left that tune off the setlist as well.Rest assure,this is an incredible gig just the same.Disc two is a two track CD with a thirty-plus minute version of "Karn Evil 9" that took place in Tulsa,OK in early 1974.Then there's a 'Fully Interactive(MAC/PC Compatible)' track which is said to have vintage concert clips and an interview.I haven't seen it yet because my system has been acting up lately.Would make a nice gift for any old timer fan.

WARNING: ONLY 10 OF THE TRACKS ARE "NEW" MATERIAL. REMAINDER IS FROM WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS.

This is a 2 CD set taken from King Biscuit shows from 1974 and 1977. The first CD is 78 minutes long and second CD is 35 minutes of music, plus enhanced CD features.

The first 10 tracks on the first CD come from a show in 1977. The remaining 4 tracks CD 1 and all of CD 2 come from 1974 and are the exact same performances as on Welcome Back My Friends (which was taken from the 1974 King Biscuit Anahiem show).

The sound on the 1977 shows is good, but not excellent. The sound for the 1974 material is fair. I am not an LP snob, but I think it was better on the original LP. This is supposed to have 24 bit remastering, but that is hard to hear any improvements.

CD 2 has Enhanced features that are supposed to include some interviews, pictures and video. I couldn't play it on my computer. In order to play it, you had to set up the display for very low resolution, 600 x 480. My video card didn't have that option. Maybe if I played with my computer some, I could figure out how to play it, but I didn't want to waste my time. The readme file gave instructions for making it work on Windows 95.

The 1977 material comes from the latter part of the Works tour. For that tour, Emerson, Lake and Palmer started out being backed by a full orchestra and choir. It was a financial (and I think artistic) flop. Some of the material with the orchestra can be found on Works Live.

The material on this CD comes after they ditched the orchestra. I think that the performances are better without the orchestra (there were only a few songs where the orchestra added anything of value, and in many cases, the orchestra made the songs worse).

The song selection from 1977 is poor, because this is supposed to be a "greatest hits live" album. Many of these live tracks are similar to the original studio albums, but only worse because the sound quality is not as good and you have screaming in the background. Peter Gunn, Cest LaVie, etc. are played not much different live than on the Works albums.

I was never a big fan of Pirates. It has some good parts to it, but overall, I find it tedious and ponderous. It is a lot like what would be in a musical comedy, like something Gilbert and Sullivan would do. (Emerson would go even more for the musical route with Officer and A Gentleman on Love Beach). Just play Pirates and then follow it with Karn Evel 9.

Fanfare for the Common Man is now an overplayed track. It is on every single live album Keith Emerson or Emerson, Lake and Palmer have released since 1977. The best version is still the original studio one on Works vol 1. (and I usually prefer live music)

I have followed Emerson and Lake from the days of the Nice and King Crimson (I once listend to Palmer's Atomic Rooster but wasn't impressed). If you don't have the best of these guys, you should get those first before buying this. For The Nice, go for the Sweden Tapes, Elegy and Vivacatious. For King Crimson, almost anything. For Emerson, Lake and Palmer, the great Brain Salad Surgery and Welcom Back.

unfortunatley, the sound quality is not great on this recording, but its not bad. the playing by elp is top notch, as always. if you love elp, this recording will make your eyes water. ( it did mine). karn evil 9 is whole, and it is great. maybe even better than the original recording. this version of pirates while lacking the symphony orchestra is very well done. and the rest is very good. long live Emerson Lake and Palmer!