Customer Reviews

Masters from the Vaults - Emerson, Lake & Palmer

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Emerson Lake Palmer's first album was always my favorite and this video was shot around the time of that first release. With a young Emerson Lake & Palmer in top form performing three songs from that first album, this is now my favorite DVD from ELP.

It appears to be transferred from film (although the aspect ratio is still 4:3). The digitally re-mastered DD 5.1 sound is really very good. That is, as long as you are not comparing it to DVDs recorded with modern technology standards. But I'd rather see an outstanding performance of a young ELP with very good sound than a recent lackluster performance with great sound.

There are some "special effects" that are annoying (typical of concert footage from that era), but they are not nearly as annoying as the effects in the Pictures at an Exhibition DVD.

I've included the track list and liner notes from the DVD.

Track list:
Barbarian (Emerson, Lake, Palmer, Bartok)
Rondo / Bach Improvisations
Drum Solo
Nut Rocker

Take A Pebble (Lake)
Knife Edge (Emerson, Lake, Frasier, Janacek)

Liner Notes from the DVD:

The first true super group of the seventies Emerson, Lake, and Palmer were a world wide phenomenon and rose to prominence as one of the highest grossing acts in the history of rock.

The band was assembled by brining together three young musical geniuses in the form of keyboard wizard Keith Emerson from the Nice along with bassist/vocalist Greg Lake from King Crimson and the legendary Carl Palmer from Atomic Rooster on drums.

This was an outstanding collection of musicians and the band almost instantly shot to worldwide fame on the back of their spectacular first album.

It is that first album which is featured here with ELP jamming and improvising around the core structure of the extended pieces. This is a young Emerson Lake and Palmer captured at the very beginning of a legendary career.

As these pieces were filmed at the time when the band had only just recorded their ground breaking first album ELP had not yet built a large repertoire and therefore had to use all of their huge individual creative talents to create a full show. That's what makes this film so special.

Keith Emerson gives a dazzling display of extensive improvisation including all of the stage tricks, which would make ELP famous and triumphant. In this film the keyboard maestro demonstrates his full range of stunts including playing the organ upside down. Despite the showmanship the music remains rock steady as Emerson flies through a series of breathtaking improvisations based around JS Back's "Well Tempered Clavier".

You'll also find inventive percussions from Carl Palmer including a breathtaking solo spot which amply demonstrates why Palmer would go on to become the most famous rock drummer of all time.

The film is capped by a bravura performance at the mike and both on bass and acoustic guitars by the young Greg Lake.

Taken together these mind blowing individual performances add up to the magic of Emerson Lake and Palmer and make this an essential addition to the collection of any fan of the progressive rock era.

I was surprised to find that this DVD is of ELP's early performnce on Belgium T.V.that has been available as a bootleg product. In a word the DVD is OUTSTANDING. Very good resolution and sound. There's quite a bit of improvisation and EL&P actually seem to be enjoying themselves. They don't appear to take themselve too serious although the music is right on the mark. I have always been more of a fan of the late 70's ELP, but this DVD has swayed me toward their early years. In any event, buy the DVD while you can. The ELP Digest indicates that the DVD was not authorized by ELP.

This disk shows ELP very early in their career. As another reviewer has stated, there are some " effects " that aren't needed, but the performance is awesome. Included is an extra track at the end, and the original version of Take a Pebble with the Dog Named Blue lyrics. The band is in great spirits, and their abilities are well showcased. A must have.
Let's hope there's more " in the vaults". After seeing this disk, there can be no doubt the Emerson is the best rock keyboardist to ever take the stage. I had trouble with the sound, and could only get it to play in 2 channel Dolby. But even that way, the sound is better than most CD quality.

During the early seventies, groups formed out of members of other rock bands that explored avenues of music that combined rock and classical elements. This was progressive rock, best represented by bands such as Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Triumvirat and this trio of Englishmen who go by their last names. Keith Emerson (The Nice), Greg Lake (King Crimson) and Carl Palmer (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown) were lean and hungry in their early years, willing to go off the deep end in their passion for music. This DVD of an old Belgian TV show is a prime example of the group's early work. It is fresh and powerful, without the trappings that later accompanied ELP's success. Brief interviews with the trio show that they had a sense of humor about themselves but not their music: Carl Palmer freely admits he's never held a job apart from drumming and Greg Lake says he'd probably kill himself if he was unable to be a musician. Their performances are powerful and riveting, from Emerson stabbing his synthesizer and riding it like a bucking bronco, to Lake pouring out emotions in his amazing voice, and to Palmer playing so hard that he has to strip off his sweat-soaked shirt. The trio come across like brothers, emotionally interacting onstage and off. The songs are Barbarian, Rondo/Bach Improvisation, Drum Solo, Nut Rocker, Take A Pebble and Knife Edge. Each is performed with a rare blend of power and polish that is enjoyable to watch. Though only about an hour long, the show is a valuable glimpse into a musical genre that unfortunately peaked in the late 70s and faded. There is little in the current music scene to compare with groups like ELP and their ilk. Purchasing this DVD has only whetted our appetite for more, so we will be on the search for similar material. We enjoyed this show and recommend it to anyone who enjoys excellent music, whether ELP fans or not.

In response to the previous reviewer who guessed this may contain the missing songs from the "Pictures at an exhibition" laserdisc it is in fact not that, but their 1971 performance on Belgian Tv ,the ELP management claims this is unauthorized ,so best to grab it quickly .They do claim that they will be releasing a superior version as part of an upcoming ELP career retrospective ,but whether that will contain the entire belgian performance (which is 2 parts each aprox 30 mins ,and has circulated for years on bootleg video)is doubtfull

as an elp fan from the get go, i bought this dvd based on reviews of the a/v quality. it definitely did not disapoint! picture quality is better than the manticore/montreal dvd, and the footage shows a young, enthusiastic and incredibly talented ELP that was already buring white hot. word is, the band does not or did approve of this release. but with the amount of time it takes for 'anything to be released' by them (solo or vault material) why wait! buy it now, and enjoy! it's an absolute brilliant performance by a band that has long been the brunt of many undeserved negative reviews. yet stripped of all the elements that made critics hate the band, it clearly shows that the critics were wrong all along. ELP should be proud of this release.

Rock and Roll Your Eyes was the title of the ONLY ELP concert video (way back when you went to see these concerts in the movie theater before there were VCR's) That film consisted of what is now the DVD Pictures at An Exhibition and this group of "missing" songs. For years I wondered whatever happened to the rest of the film I saw in my youth. Authorized or no, I welcome it's return.

I was also saddened to find out this wasn't an official release, but I'm not sorry I bought it. The quality, sound and video is just wonderful and it's a picture of ELP from a time when they were "Masters of the Stage". The comedic beginning and the interviews are priceless, but the performance is just the ultimate. Keith's improvisations, Greg's vocals and acoustic work, Carl and Greg's camaraderie, their youth, their passion for the music... its all here in this video.

The one tip I'll give you when watching this dvd... this was actually 2 shows that were spliced together to make one dvd.. so if you start from the beginning you can find many times when the boys seem to change shirts in a flash... There's also a spot during Knife Edge when you think Greg has repeated the same verse twice, till you notice he's wearing a different shirt on the second verse... its fun just spotting these little lapses in continuity...

As for this "Masters from the Vaults" DVD, I have nothing to add to Mr. M. A Maupin's excellent review posted in 2004.

But, in 2006, Classic Rock Legends started to release a new series titled "Live Broadcasts: Collector's Rarities".
Among them there's an ELP DVD, which has the very same set list as this one.
I guess they are the same concert but "Live Broadcasts" has DTS audio track.

If anyone can clarify if they are the same concert, and how different DTS sounds, I'd appreciate. I'm waiting for customer review on that one.

And for those who hasn't got "Masters from the Vaults" yet, "Live Broadcasts" my be a better choise.

This product should be seen by all people that really love both music as true art and great musicians. The grade of virtuosity displayed by these three musicians here is "Absolute Gold Standard". I have always loved the first album called simply "Emerson, Lake and Palmer" and mainly two songs one of them is "The Barbarian" and the other one is "Take a pebble". The performance of "The barbarian" in this DVD is superb, very energetic, curiously this song is the first one in the first album and is the mathematical demonstration of the total virtuosity of this group as if they wanted to show since the first time that they weren't here to fool people, as if they wanted to address the following message to the world, "we are serious musicians and we love to play musical instruments". The other performances here are of the same level of quality and the drum solo played by Carl Palmer here is one of the most different ones I have ever seen and listened in my life, his ability and rhythm control capacity are only equalled by Neil Peart from Rush. One thing that jumps to ones eyes is how easy they play such a complex pieces of music and how they were happy those days in playing together. Simply Buy this DVD, play it and enjoy it, you are going to watch real musician's performances and listening to great music.