King Biscuit Flower Hour presents: Emerson Lake & Palmer [Enhanced, Live]

Emerson Lake & Palmer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 26, 1997)
• Original Release Date: August 26, 1997
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced, Live
• Label: King Biscuit Flower
• ASIN: B000005EJ6
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,309 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Peter Gunn Theme

2. Tiger in a Spotlight

3. C'Est la Vie

4. Piano Improvisation

5. Maple Leaf Rag

6. Drum Solo

7. The Enemy God [Dances with the Black Spirit]

8. Watching Over You

9. Pirates

10. Fanfare for the Common Man

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Karn Evil 9

2. Fully Interactive [Mac/PC Compatible]

Editorial Reviews

This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1997 release. Includes a bonus CD-Rom disc fully interactive (Mac/PC compatible) which features interviews, rare photos, never before seen concert footage and music videos.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection of ELP live material from the '70's, October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: King Biscuit Flower Hour presents: Emerson Lake & Palmer (Audio CD)

This album features two separate King Biscuit performances, one from 1974, the other from 1977 (the Works tour minus orchestra). The '74 performance sounds a lot like "Welcome Back My Friends..." and may have come from that same tour. Both performances are full of energy and showcase ELP at their best. The sound quality and mix on both are pretty good. If you are looking for an ELP live CD with both BSS and Works material on it, or if you want to get only one ELP live set, then this is the one to get. (If you already have "Welcome Back My Friends.." and "Works Live", you can consider these as alternate takes of the same material which are every bit as good as the ones you are used to). The keyboard arrangement of "The Enemy God" is wonderful; this piece really cooks. I also enjoyed Greg Lake's "C'est La Vie"; the studio version on Works sounded kinda muddy, but this live version sparkles. The Piano Improvisations from the '77 concert are basically the piano parts from the 1st movement of "Piano Concerto #1". The Piano Improvisations from the '74 concert are similar to the ones from "Welcome Back My Friends...", except, unfortunately, they are faded out just as Keith gets to the ragtime part. Fanfare for the Common Man is wonderful; it's full of energy, and played differently from their other performances of it, which has become an ELP trademark. (Some bands have a favorite song that they play differently every time; for the Allman Brothers band, it was "HotLanta", for ELP, it's "Fanfare for the Common Man"). And, of course, don't forget the interactive part of the CD that you can run on your computer, with pictures and interviews!

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely fantastic, May 21, 2000

By 

David Hogan "Iron Horse" (Edison, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: King Biscuit Flower Hour presents: Emerson Lake & Palmer (Audio CD)

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.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How much you like it depends on how much you like ELP, July 4, 2002

By 

woburnmusicfan (Woburn, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: King Biscuit Flower Hour presents: Emerson Lake & Palmer (Audio CD)

While I'm a huge prog-rock fan, I've never been able to get into ELP. I've got a couple of albums, and I like scattered songs on them. But they always seemed like three soloists who decided it was more profitable to partner together, rather than a true band. This 2-CD album, which combines two King Biscuit performances from 1974 and 1977, shows the strengths and weaknesses of the band. When they play together, they sound fantastic here. The first movement of "Karn Evil 9" is the most intense I have ever heard ELP, and "Pirates" and "Hoedown" shine. But the three only play together on 7 of the 15 tracks. Emerson plays Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag", and noodles around on a couple of improvisations. Palmer is nowhere to be heard on Lake's four songs, while Emerson gets a brief cameo on two of them; hits "Lucky Man" and "Still...You Turn Me On" are strictly acoustic guitar and vocals. Palmer has a drum solo on the 1st CD, and a 5 minute solo on "Karn Evil 9" that brings the piece to a screeching halt. Lake's pick noise is mixed higher than his bass on the 1977 performances--if you want to know what he's playing, listen for the pick.