Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Black Moon (1992)

After calling it a day during the anti-prog sentiments of 1978, and after the awful Love Beach album, this was the band’s first studio album in 14 years to feature the full lineup of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and, having been a fan of their early work – and mildly pleased with their 1986 Emerson, Lake & Powell release – I waited with some anticipation for its release date. I guess it was fair to say that I was disappointed and happy in equal measure upon obtaining a copy!

Gone were the lengthy instrumental pieces and complex drum/keyboard interplay that made their early compositions sometimes breathtaking in their musical dexterity and in had come a heavily Greg Lake-led approach. Now, I’ve got a lot of time for Greg Lake but, whilst an integral part of ELP, for me it was Emerson and Palmer who held centre stage and really defined their ’sound’ but here it is Lake who largely relegates Emerson and Palmer to something of a backing group.

There are some really good tracks here – Paper Moon in particular is a cracking number, even a bit of Hammond sneaked is there for old time’s sake on a strong composition with Lake in rather ballsy form vocally. But for that, there’s Affairs Of The Heart and Footprints In The Snow which are insipid acoustic Lake numbers and even where there are instrumentals, things are not as great as they once were: Burning Bridges for example has a trademark Emerson keyboard approach but ends up in part sounding like a piece from some 80s film soundtrack.

And to make matters worse, there’s Romeo And Juliet – taken from Prokofiev – which I get the distinct impression was added as a result of a conversation to the effect of “we used to always have a classically influenced piece on an album, let’s think of one and put it on” and it is of very little musical merit.

The most disturbing part for me overall, however, is Carl Palmer’s apparent lack of interest throughout. For a drummer of Palmer’s undoubted ability and flair, he plays it straight here – and I emphasise STRAIGHT – being reduced to a metronome of staggeringly uninspiring proportions!

Not an album I’d recommend to be honest – if you wish to dip your toes in the waters of prog rock and/or ELP, go and get Tarkus and hear them in their prime – give a wide birth to their 1990s Prog-AOR pretensions.

• Carl Palmer – Drums
• Keith Emerson – keyboards
• Gregg Lake – Bass/Vocals

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus (1971)

Whilst prog-rock may today be a dirty word and the kiss of death to any hopes of commercial success, back in the early 1970s it was one of the most popular musical forms and no-one exemplified all that is both good and bad about the genre than Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

Tarkus was the second studio album from ELP who, at the time where phenomenally popular with the album going to number 1 in the UK charts and catapulting the group into the super league.

For my money, Tarkus was a particularly strong album from the group with all three band members giving 100% throughout – something that can’t be said of some of their later efforts. As a drummer, after hearing this album Carl Palmer became my ‘hero’ – and I was fortunate enough to be taught by his brother who was a very gifted player too – and the breadth of his rhythms, fills and syncopations on Tarkus still thrill me to this day.

The album opens with a rather eerie sound effect that builds into the opening Eruption which has an odd time structure and heads off at a ferocious pace with Emerson wringing all he can from the Hammond. From then-on in the tracks blend seamlessly together on what was side 1 of the vinyl release with Gregg Lake providing the odd vocal passage and plenty of complex musical interludes, mostly played very uptempo.

Whilst side 1 provides a ‘concept’ (another dirty word), side 2 contains a varied collection of standalone tracks, the standout for me being the rapid Bitches Sin in 3/4 time with Carl Palmer providing a very jazzy pattern to carry the piece along at break-neck speed.

There are even a couple of ‘comic’ tracks with Jeremy Bender and Are You Ready Eddie? – the latter being a tribute to their sound engineer and is the musical low-point of the album, although I’m sure it seemed like a fun idea at the time!

Whilst ELP would go on to make some really poor albums later in their career and their name become synonymous with overblown self-indulgence, Tarkus was ELP at their greatest and I’d urge anyone to put their preconceptions and anti-prog prejudices to one side temporarily and give this album a listen and I’m sure the undoubted abilities of the musicians involved, if not the music itself, will provide for a rewarding experience!

• Keith Emerson – Keyboards
• Greg Lake – Bass/Vocal
• Carl Palmer – Drums

Asia - Asia (1982)

For many today, the idea of a prog rock group is anathema and therefore a supergroup made up from members of prog rock groups is far from an enticing concept. However, back in the 1980s Asia, formed by ex-Yes guitarist Steve Howe, ex-Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes, ex-King Crimson bassist/vocalist John Wetton and ex-ELP drummer Carl Palmer pulled it off with great aplomb!

This, Asia’s first album, contains some classic tracks and the album proved a real commercial success and has since been certified 4 x platinum! Furthermore, the album doesn’t contain lengthy concepts and overblown solos but rather a neat set of AOR-tinged numbers which, I would imagine, somewhat dismayed prog fans as it wasn’t really what was expected from the musicians involved.

As you would expect the level of musicianship is high with all but Carl Palmer (who seemed to be playing with one arm behind his back compared to in his ELP heyday) turning-in good performances. Well, to be fair so does Palmer but as a drummer myself, and a big fan of his flamboyance with ELP, I find his work on this album a bit flat: although more than adequate for what the songs require.

A number of singles were culled from the album with Heath Of The Moment probably the best known as it scored a number 1 in North America and achieved most airplay at the time. Time And Again and Soul Survivor (see the video clip below and yes, that is Greg Lake on bass/vocals!) are also standout tracks and a little less radio-friendly than most of the other material.

All-in-all a good album if not quite what was expected from Howe and co and it stood the band in good stead for several years to come. If you like your rock melodic, well produced and with the occasional tinge of musical virtuosity then this album is definitely for you!

• John Wetton – Bass/Vocals
• Carl Palmer – Drums
• Steve Howe – Guitars
• Geoffrey Downes – Keyboards