Then & Now

Emerson Lake & Palmer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 24, 1998)
• Original Release Date: November 17, 1998
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Eagle Entertainment
• ASIN: B00000G1NB
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,957 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Toccata

2. Take a Pebble Excerpts: Still...You Turn Me On/Lucky Man/Piano ...

3. Karn Evil 9: First Impression, Pt. 2/Third Impression

4. A Time and a Place

5. Piano Concerto No. 1: Third Movement

6. From the Beginning

Disc: 2

1. Karn Evil 9:First Impression, Pt. 2

2. Tiger in the Spotlight

3. Hoedown

4. Touch and Go

5. Knife Edge

6. Bitches Crystal

7. Honky Tonk Train Blues

8. Take a Pebble

9. Lucky Man

10. Fanfare for the Common Man/Blue Rondo a La Turk

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some moments of brilliance, but not enough, August 11, 2001

By 

Laon (moon-lit Surry Hills) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Then & Now (Audio CD)

From my point of view the main interest in this collection was going to be the "Then" material. Not out of nostaligia, but simply because in the 70s ELP were a great band: awesomely creative, risk-taking, energetic but humanised by Lake's acoustic playing and pure-and-powerful tenor voice (as it then was). Odd, in a way, that they were so reviled during the punk revolution: the virtuosity may have been unfashionable, but the speed thrills, the noise, and the occasional humour were very much part of that spirit.

And the 1974 "Then" material doesn't disappoint; it includes probably the best versions of Karn Evil 9 Part 3 released, for accuracy, energy and conviction. It's also possibly the only one in which Emerson's "voice of the computer" interjections sound genuinely dangerous rather than slightly silly.

Unlike the previous reviewer (who writes a fair review) I don't have a problem with the sound of the 70s recording: good enough is good enough, in my book. What I do have a problem with is the selection. For example we get Carl Palmer's drum solo from _Toccata_, without getting _Toccata_ itself. A fade in to a drum solo, fading out at the end, is not a smart decision, no matter how good the drum solo might be.

And we only get the last half of _Take a Pebble_. It starts at Lake's mid-song acoustic break, for _Still, You Turn me On_ and _Lucky Man_, for which Lake is in fine form both vocally and on guitar. Though I miss the classical-influenced acoustic guitar solo from the original studio version. The track moves on to Emerson's piano improvisations, which are also excellent, and interesting to compare to the improvisations on the _Welcome Back My Friends_ live set, recorded a year earlier. Then we get one verse of _Take a Pebble_, on to the finish.

That "half a song" seems more than a little careless. I'd readily swap getting the whole song for Carl's drum solo. In fact, ideally we'd have got the whole of _Toccatta_ AND all of of _Take a Pebble_, and if something had to go, we could easily have shed some of the "Now" material.

The "Now" performances are inferior at every level. Emerson is intent in showing he can still play fast, which he certainly can; but at the speed he chooses he murders his Piano Concerto 1 movement 3, giving it a high-speed run without expression or feeling. Honky Tonk Train Blues likewise sacrifices everything else in favour of speed. Emerson's speed can be exhilarating, but only if there's also a feeling of control, that we're still getting music and not just a downhill race.

Another problem is that Lake's songs have been re-arranged to minimise or eliminate what used to be opportunities to shine on guitar. And that's odd. A voice can go with age, if it's not looked after, but why shouldn't Lake have got _better_ on his instrument, after 30 years?

Palmer also disappoints. There's a drum sound that dominates a lot of very boring music made in the 80s: that style where the drummer does little but come in with a deep "WHACK!" just a moment behind the beat, to sort of kick the song along. It was quite effective when the style was first developed (I think that Nick Mason may have originated the style in the mid-70s, or at least that Pink Floyd was one of the very first bands to use it, from _Obscured by Clouds_ onwards.) At the time it had a pleasantly laid-back, marijuana feel to it. Then it became a cliche, an integral part of the sound of every boring 80s big-hair stadium act, who went through the 80s and 90s putting out ghastly ballads while pretending to RAWK! also chanting a lot of tedious Rock Anthems, As If Punk (among other things) Never Happened. That plodding drummer's cliche has infected Carl's drumming too, turning an inventive percussionist into a minimalist, and threatening to drag otherwise interesting songs into a MOR morass.

Still, there are compensations. Lake manages the vocals on the 90s shortened version of _Take a Pebble_ well enough; it's not as interesting a voice now it's roughened, but it's passable, and he improves for _Lucky Man_. I like the last section best, with Emerson storming his way through _Fanfare_, _Blue Rondo a la Turk_ (where Emerson includes references to the original, Mozart's _Rondo a la Turque_, in places where Brubeck's "blue" version doesn't), America and so on, on the way quoting bits of Shostakovich, Ginastera, himself (Abbadon's Bolero), Bernstein and any number of other people. It's not quite great music (and I agree with the previous reviewer on Emerson's choice of synth sound: it undermines a lot of what he plays) but it IS a lot of fun.

My 3-star rating is mostly for the "Then" material, and even that is flawed by poor selection. The "Now" stuff would be lucky to get two stars. I'm probably being kind, awarding 3 stars to the whole. So this is one for serious fans only. There are some rewards here, but it's not a good place to begin acquaintance with ELP.

Cheers!

Laon

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The fires still burn!! ELP hasn't lost a thing!!, March 7, 1999

By 

Eric Scott <[e-mail]> (Loma Linda, California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Then & Now (Audio CD)

Emerson, Lake & Palmer consider themselves to be primarily a "live-performance" band, which probably accounts for the number of live albums they've released through the years (6). "Then & Now" shows that even in their later years, the trio has lost little of their energy. The CD cover art harks back to the band's "Brain Salad Surgery" days with a nicely-rendered Giger-esque painting. The "Then" portion on CD#1 contains material that differs little from the group's 1974 "Welcome Back My Friends..." release, save that the "Toccata" track on the current CD features only Carl Palmer's percussion solo and leaves out the rest of the song. The track is unfortunately abortive and should have been either expanded or left off. More satisfying is the "Now" portion of the CD, which yields live performances of "A Time and a Place," "From the Beginning" and "Bitches Crystal" that have never been released on any of the band's live CDs. These tracks alone are worth the price of the CD. "Then & Now" also features a complete live version of "Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression, Part 2" that has been sadly missing from the groups' other recent live releases, and it's nice to hear it once again. On the down side, some numbers -- particularly "Knife Edge" -- have been performed so many times before on previous live albums that the inclusion of this track seems utterly unnecessary, and seems intended to fill space rather than to contribute anything new or different. This is a pity, in that so little of ELP's recent studio material (particularly from their "Black Moon" release, but not forgetting their "In the Hot Seat" CD) has made it to live albums. Granted that the fans want to hear the classics, nevertheless some of the more recent studio material is equally exciting and deserves to be released live. Unfortunately the band has recently disbanded, so the possibility of this is more remote than ever. In any event, the two final tracks of "Then & Now" -- "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "21st Century Schizoid Man" -- manage to capture all of the power, drive and virtuosity that have been the hallmarks of this band since the early 1970s. "Fanfare" in particular showcases Emerson and Palmer at the top of their respective games. Though not without flaws, this album is a must for any ELP fan!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Stocking you with the same Stuffing", May 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Then & Now (Audio CD)

Then & Now is re-hashed material from ELP that we've already heard before. It contains 2 cds of live music. The 1st is 2/3s filled with the California Jam concert from the seventies then 1 1/3 disks of good material recently recorded (but nothing new). The sound recording from the 70s is muddled and on both CDs at the end of each song the sound is faded out. This really takes away from the excitment that really could have been. My advice if you only want one live ELP CD set, go with the King Buscuit set that one also has CD-Rom interactive videos and pictures.