Customer Reviews

Emerson Plays Emerson

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally, Keith Emerson's long-promised album of (primarily) piano solos has been released! Emerson has often been critically slammed for his overbearing, ultra-fast, and garish synthesizer and Hammond Organ solos with Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. This CD should hold his talents in a new light. His wonderful piano playing has often been featured in a band context (Take a Pebble, Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression, etc.)but rarely in a solo context. Now he's making up for lost time. This CD features 22 pieces in that unmistakeable Emerson style. Some of them have been released in one form or another (Honky Tonk Train Blues, The Dreamer, Hammer it Out to name a few)and others are familiar from his concerts with ELP (For Kevin, Creole Dance, Close to Home). Much of the rest is new to my ears at least, and ranks as highly as any of the pieces mentioned above. He draws largely from torch jazz and classical phrasing and chord changes, and the result is absolute beauty. Among the "new" tracks that really hit me are the subtle Vagrant, Solitudinous, A Blade of Grass (a b-side for a Black Moon single)and Nilu's Dream to name a few. Some of the other tunes display his love for blues and ragtime, such as Roll'n Jelly and B&W Blues. I give this album 4 stars because, for me at least, it is sometimes jarring to listen to the shift in styles like he does here. For instance, following classically-themed pieces like A Blade of Grass and Outgoing Tide with the trio version of Summertime is like watching a few frames of Die Hard in the middle of a Merchant-Ivory film. Still, this should more than satisfy ELP fans and piano lovers. Hopefully Keith will make this aspect of his work his primary focus. Hey Keith, where's that Piano Concerto #2?

Those of us who were secretly hoping that Keith Emerson would mature into a leading Jazz pianist will surely enjoy this album. Approaching sixty, his awesome technique still intact and with nothing left to prove in the rock field, he has free rein, here, to play the music he loves. The result is a kind of safari through 20th century piano music, taking in impressionism ("Broken Bough"), the driving, percussive "Creole Dance" by Ginastera, ragtime, stride, barrel-house and boogie-woogie, with nods to Jelly Roll Morton and Gershwin, all delivered in Emerson's own unmistakable style. His big technique adapts itself effortlessly to lush, filmic themes such as "Outgoing Tide" and "The Dreamer", the tricky time-changes of "Hammer it Out" as well as more introspective pieces like "Vagrant", "Solitudinous" and "Nilu's Dream", which are Romantic with a capital 'r'. No aimless noodling here; most of the tunes are only two or three minutes long and none of them outstays its welcome. This conciseness and intensity, plus the crisp digital recording which fully captures the rich sonorities of the Steinway, make for a fine record all round. At over sixty minutes, there is plenty to pick and choose from and the final piano duel with Oscar Peterson on "Honky Tonk Train Blues" rounds it off nicely.

a great cd , not just ELP fans should pick
this up, but anyone into piano, worth it alone
for the oscar peterson / emerson duo on honky tonk train blues,
from a tv appearence in 1976, creole dance is great also,
tracks range from blues to jazz to classical & over 60 mins
playing time.

Good things come to those who wait. Keith has not been releasing music with regularity, to say the least, in the 90's and later. And while it is true that some of the tracks on this collection are available on other recordings, this is a great way to experience the unique Emerson talent. You won't hear any screaming synthesizers here. Instead, you just get piano, piano, and more piano. This collection has a little jazz, a little new age, a little of everything. Even if you just like "piano music", and not necessarily the Keith Emerson style, you'll probably enjoy this, without even knowing who it is.

Some die hard fans (myself included, when I first listened the albun) will certainly miss the tons of synthesizers that have been Keith's tool of trade for so many years. This album, however, hides some very intersting pieces (personally I recommend "Blade Of Grass" and "For Kevin") and points to a new direction in his career. If you buy this album looking for the ferocious sinth's riffs that were the keystone of "Tarkus" or "Brain Salad Surgery" you will certainly be disappointed. Keith is somehow more romantic, more balanced in his music. It is pretty obvious he's listening a lot of Jazz CDs. The genius is there, alright, but the music holds no vestige of the exibitionist that stabed organs in ELP's shows. None of us is getting any younger but Keith, like every genius, shows that you can always recycle yourself and find new brilliant ways of expression.

I love Keith and this is a must album for anyone that admires his talent. It is one thing to keep ones interest with synthesizers, organ, and production techniques but he proved a good point by doing an album with minimal instrumentation. This album I feel, bares his artistry and brings you to the root of his awesome talent. Keith, perhaps you read my critique' on the Honky album and decided to take my idea. If you did, you owe me a beverage or two. Thanks, Al.

You know K.E. from The Nice? You know K.E. from Emerson, Lake & Palmer? You know K.E. from at least a couple of movie scores hes done? If you answer YES to all of this questions or at least most of them, then you konow what K.E. is all about and what he is capable of... Now with his performance in this recording he's showing the world -better yet, he's reminding the world- his passion for classical music, from which he draws his marvelous skills, without compromising on elaborate arrengements and steping out of the limelight of art-rock and/or progressive-rock. The playing is superb, that's why he IS still the wizard of the keyboards in the rock music scene.

To those readers who are NOT familiar with K.E. life long work this recording IS NOT for you or where you should start listening tho him, instead I recomend you should start where most of K.E. true fans started: Listening to ELP's FIRST album, then if you like what you hear follow his recordings in cronological secuence, going back in time to The Nice every once in a while, and then and only then, you come back to "Emerson Plays Emerson" for a full enjoyable experience of this output.

I know that I didn't say anything about the songs in particular, but that's just it, my humble opinion IS NOT about the songlist, IS ABOUT THE ARTIST and the work contained herein.

To me this is an excellent excursion into the remarkable career regarding the activity of K.Emerson as a musician. Since the early sixties He passed through interesting collaborations, as long as He became the most famous keyboards' wizard within the Progressive scene in the UK. it's difficult to choose a particular track here, but I think of his most recent tracks, whose production is very good..instead the old ones are weak from this point of view..it neverminds, this album can follow you, through your car travels all over the world, because it's very relaxing and of course very well performed too!!

Good listen!!

If you were going to buy one Emerson solo CD that says it all, then you've found it. Everything on this CD is worth listening to, but it's definitely for piano lovers. It shines.

This is fine set of recordings, which is well worth getting before it becomes unavailable. Apart from "Close to Home" which does appear to have some effects added to original the Piano sound, this is Keith Emerson playing his own grand Piano.

So if you like solo Piano (although there are a couple of Jazz Trio tracks as well), in a variety of different styles this is well worth buying. My favourite track is the duet with Oscar Peterson on Honky Tonk Train Blues.

Keiths own sleevenotes give a little insight into each track and the whole CD shows what a great talent the man is.