Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad at all, September 20, 2000
This record really grows on you. It has excellent songs and performances; i recommend it for ELP fans. Of course you will not hear the old magnificent songs they wrote, but this cd is worth every dollar.
|
|
|
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Probably the Best Album by ELP!!!, January 2, 2006
I had heard this album after their classic works. What a pity!
You should start your acquaintance with ELP from this album. Here they do it better. Smash drum beats by Palmer, dynamic keyboards playing by Emerson, emotional singing by Lake.
Of course, old fan needs 30 minutes long opuses, voice... of young Greg Lake (could anybody sing in 1992 as he sang in 1970? Pavarotti probably, but we are not in the opera, we are listening to the voice of an old rocker), depressive new "Tocatta-2", low quality recording. Do you need them?
As for me, no. I need good music. And you would get it. The first 5 songs - real classics by ELP. Rock songs ("Black Moon", "Paper Blood"), ballad "Affairs of the Heart" (reminds "Still... You Turn Me On"; co-written with Downes of Asia), great (really great!) epic insrumental by Emerson-Palmer "Romeo and Juliet" (based on the theme from Prokofiev`s ballet; scene "Montecci and Capuletti"; probably the best instrumental by Emerson), another ballad "Farwell to Arms" with epic Moog solo in style of "Lucky Man". Well, album got little pop music and AOR touch, but you could beleive, if Emerson, Lake and Palmer are playing for you melodic songs - it is a high quality professional work. Music full of energy and optimism. Listen to this album as to continuation of their last record of the 1970s - "Love Beach"!
What a pity, where were no sequel to "Black Moon". The most interesting part of the next album (1994) - "In the Hot Seat" are the new version of Mussorgsky`s "Pictures..." and the cover of Dylan`s "Man in the Long Black Coat". And the mood of the album is quite dark.
Still... We are waiting for the new studio CD by ELP.
P.S. If you`d like to hear more music by Emerson and Palmer in such optimistic polished style with a little touch of pop music - try album "To the Power of Three" (1988) by Three (Emerson, Berry and Palmer).
The problem of majority of the fans is the following - once they like some albums by the performer - then they think the band must do the same music till death. Deep Purple must record "Smoke on the Water"-2, 3, 4, Mike Oldfield - "Tubular Bells"-5,6,7,8, ELP - "Tocatta"-9, 10, 11.
All other music - bull...t. By the way, if band would try to imitate good old sound - such fans would say that the older records were much better. If band tries to do something new - verdict of such fans is the same.
For me it seems simply boring.
So relax - and listen to good music (but try to find it for fair price)!
|
|
|
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
You like Black Moon? You're kidding, right?, September 9, 2006
You'd have to be really deaf to like this album. I put it to you that if this exact album were done, not by legendary rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but composed, performed, recorded and produced, as is, by three no-name British rockers, no record company would even think of signing it. And if some insane record company run by monkeys did sign it, EVERY copy sold would find a permanent place either on a shelf in a used CD store, or the trash.
This album is simply pitiful. Keith Emerson and Greg Lake used up a potentially great ELP repertoire on the Emerson, Lake & Powell album in '86, and, it seems, just didn't have any good ideas left for this album. Instead of epic rockers like The Score or The Miracle, you get trite bulls**t like Black Moon and Paper Blood. Instead of fun songs like Step Aside, you get embarassing songs like Better Days. Instead of powerful ballads like Lay Down Your Guns, you get laughable attempts like Affairs of the Heart and Footprints in the Snow. And, not that it needs to be said, the material on this album doesn't hold a candle on classic ELP fare. Paper Blood's first verse actually suggests that it's a better song than Knife Edge; it's not. Changing States is forgettable Karate Kid music, and the one good track, Romeo and Juliet, is just that: good. When compared to the simply excellent ELP adaptations of the past: Hoedown, Toccata (my personal favourite), The Barbarian, Pictures at an Exhibition, etc. it doesn't even come close!
The songs really speak for themselves.
If that isn't bad enough, Greg Lake lost his singing voice with age. It's not just different, it's bad! It sounds simply bad! For some people, for some reason, this album alone isn't evidence enough. For those who can't tell the difference, have a listen to Still.... You Turn Me On. Either the studio version or a live version from the 70's will do. Then, immediately after the song is over, play the live version from Live at Royal Albert Hall. Repeat as necessary. If you don't hear the difference in quality, get your hearing checked. Greg Lake's decline in singing ability is the most compelling anti-smoking argument I've ever heard.
Do yourself a favour and save your money. Seriously. Just say no to Black Moon.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
by Emerson, Lake & Palmer 
