Boy, these guys sure are good at their instruments. As far as this classical-jazz-rock hybrid they are famous for playing....did I mention that these guys are really good at their instruments?? Emerson Lake and Palmer are one of those bands that really benefit from the greatest hits packages, because each of their albums typically had just as many bad songs mixed in with the good ones. I can easily pull about ten songs from their catalogue that are some of the finest pieces of (I'll just label it progressive-rock for expediency) music ever produced, but the rest of their stuff is where we have to simply part as friends. My first introduction to the band was when, at around the tender age of ten, my older brother handed me Pictures At An Exhibition, and told me that ELP was the most mind blowing concert he had ever seen. WOW, I couldn't wait. So I immediately removed the Kiss Alive album from my record player and slapped on Pictures. WTF!? I can honestly say that I am still scarred from that experience. I have come to appreciate what they were trying to do a little more now that I am a "mature" adult, but I still get a little queasy every time I hear it. Shit, I could go on forever about the pros and cons of these guys, but I'll just stick with the DVD review, and leave the ELP discography review to the other poor saps. Mark Prindle handles that lofty task quite admirably - and frigging hilariously, I might add.

Many people think of ELP as the holy trinity of progressive-rock - Keith Emerson is the greatest keyboardist ever - Carl Palmer the world's greatest rock drummer, blah, blah, blah. For the two of you who have actually looked over the rest of my site, you may have noticed that I have a keen fondness for this thing we call progressive-rock. For whatever reason, ELP were never one of the bands to make it into heavy rotation in my 8-track tape player. Don't worry, I have since upgraded to a turntable. I have always preferred Greg Lake's more mainstream, acoustic songs such as "Lucky Man", and "From The Beginning", over all of their other weird shit - aka Emerson's stuff. There are relatively few bands that I really enjoy, who are not primarily guitar driven, which helps to explain my lack of enthusiasm for ELP. Most of their best songs are the ones that Lake plays guitar on, but that is way too infrequent. The good thing about this DVD is that the band sticks mostly to their better songs. This is essentially a best of ELP performance, with a few notable exclusions, such as "Trilogy", "Still...You Turn Me On", and "Jerusalem".

ELP reunited in the early nineties, and produced a new album, Black Moon. In 1997 they embarked on a world tour, which included this performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 7. The show begins with the French-accented announcer teasing the anxious crowd with "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends", just before ELP launches into "Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression Part 2". This is the one ELP epic that they should have played in its entirety - much more so than "Tarkus". With "Karn Evil 9", Emerson finally got it right. All of his flamboyance, virtuosity, and monster sounds were melded together perfectly to form one hell of a kick ass song. Surprisingly, the band even broke out "Touch And Go", from 1987's Emerson, Lake, and Powell album, early on in the set. After that is was a run through of all the good stuff, including  "From The Beginning", "Knife Edge", "Take A Pebble", and "Lucky Man". They closed the set with the full-bloated version of "Tarkus", which was combined with the equally tedious "Pictures At An Exhibition". This gave me plenty of time to go to the bathroom and get a fresh drink before the encore.