Keith Emerson Band featuring Marc Bonilla

Marc Bonilla, Keith Emerson, Keith Emerson And the Nice | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 3, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: VARESE FONTANA
• ASIN: B001LOR3JK
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,753 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ignition

2. 1st Presence

3. Last Horizon

4. Miles Away, Pt. 1 (White Widow)

5. Miles Away, Pt. 2 (Black Flame)

6. Sonata

7. Fugue

8. Marche Train

9. Blue Inferno

10. 3rd Presence

11. Prelude to Hope

12. A Place to Hide

13. Miles Away, Pt. 3 (Spirit Rising)

14. Finale

15. The Art of Falling Down

16. Malambo

17. Gametime

18. The Parting

19. The Barbarian [*]

Editorial Reviews

US version of his 2008 album includes one exclusive bonus track: 'The Barbarian' ( a reworking of the classic ELP track). Former ELP/Nice keyboardist and Prog Rock legend is joined on this album by guitarist vocalist Marc Bonilla. .Since the split of ELP, Emerson kept himself busy with soundtracks and live performances but he never returned with a proper band and a Rock set up to the sound that all his fans love. This new version of his band features an explosive combination of the classic EL&P sound and modern progressive hard rock. Emerson's keyboard is flamboyant and explosive more than ever and his songwriting is still top level. Gregg Bissonette (ex David Lee Roth Band and LA super session player) is also part of the band.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars About freakin' time!, February 5, 2009

By 

Cruising with 8-track (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keith Emerson Band featuring Marc Bonilla (Audio CD)

This is an admirable return to form for a keyboard hero who seemed to have lost his creative path for many years (except for the import solo-piano album).

Though you miss the voice of You-Know-Who, new collaborator Marc Bonilla helps our old friend deliver the "retro prog" album we have been waiting for without the creative cross-purposes and confused efforts to be "commercial" or whatever was tearing things asunder in the "Love Beach" (and later, the even-sadder "In the Hot Seat" ) days.

That said, don't get your hopes up for a masterpiece or something that compares to the best ELP Work(s). Though the bulk of it is packaged as a conceptual suite based on the ghost story/legend "The House of Ocean Born Mary," the choppy transitions suggest a lot of it is just random bits cobbled together. Even the better stuff is nothing you haven't heard before, but that type of recycling is true of new albums from the Stones or just about any classic-rock survivors still making albums.

Bonilla has a decent enough John Wetton-style voice, albeit on the flat side, and interesting lyrics. And assuming he's the guy who took the lead and helped our ol' pal get one across the finish line, he's more respectful of what an Emerson album should sound like than the guy who kind of dominated a similar partnership with that "3" album in the '80s.

There's some modern synth programming here and there and a power-chord remake of "The Barbarian" as a "bonus" track at the end, but for the most part I think they went out of their way to make it as old-school Hammond-and-piano sounding as they could and to make up for lost time. They copy the old ELP formula so far as to include a honky-tonk joke song ("Gametime") and the requisite Ginastera instrumental blow-out, "Malambo" (the essential track for those buying a la carte).

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keith is back, February 8, 2009

By 

George T. Goebel "artstaub" (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Keith Emerson Band featuring Marc Bonilla (Audio CD)

The greatest keyboardist on planet earth is back with a new disc that puts the prog back in rock! The Keith Emerson Band with guitarist vocalist Marc Bonilla along with bassist Bob Birch and Gregg Bissonette on percussion, help Keith finally break the ties with ELP. It's hard to think of Emerson in any band without associating him with Greg Lake and Carl Palmer his two former partners who helped change the face of rock music by liberating it from it's blues based origins. Emerson continues on the same path with this new band. Actually he's been playing with them for several years. I had a chance to see them live in 2006 at a small venue in Annapolis Maryland and it was one of the most exciting concerts that I've ever seen. I also had the good fortune to meet the man himself after the show, something that I never would have dreamed possible back in the 70's when ELP played the arenas. On this new disc Keith really delivers. If you like the hammond organ, he gives it to you, if you like the polyphonic moog fanfares, you got it, if you like his trademark muscular bartokian piano solos it's all here backed by the refreshingly crisp hard rock guitar runs of Bonilla and driven by the dependable rhythm team of Birch and Bissonette. Marc Bonilla's singing, a style another viewer here likened to John Whetton works very well in this particular band especially in the concept piece "The House of Ocean Born Mary"which takes up three quarters of the disc. A special treat is a re-visit of "The Barbarian" from ELP's first album. All in all a must have for fans of the great one and progressive rock.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keith Emerson Rules!, February 3, 2009

By 

Gary Reiner (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Keith Emerson Band featuring Marc Bonilla (Audio CD)

This CD (2009) contains all new material, finally, yeah! (except the ELP Barbarian). The music is very good (though often venturing into territory which is familiar sounding) with a nice mixture of piano, Hammond organ, and synthesizers, showcasing Emerson's songwriting/playing skills, his ELP roots, and his current creative inclinations. Marc Bonilla's style -- his guitar playing and vocals -- compliments Emerson's output quite well. Hats off also to Greg Bissonette on drums and percussion and Bob Birch on bass. The overall sound quality of the band is excellent.

The album contains lots of short songs which do work together, but it does seem the short tracks could have been more thoroughly developed for a stronger production (13 of the 20 tracks are in the range of 2 1/2 minutes or less, with 8 of these 13 tracks under 2 minutes each). Just wish that the songs were consistently longer without the short ditties, and that there were more instrumental cuts (maybe next time, and maybe a live CD down the road).