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Emerson Lake & Palmer - Live at the Royal Albert Hall

Emerson Lake & Palmer - Live at the Royal Albert Hall

List Price: $24.99
Your Price: $22.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Atlast a worthy document of ELP
Review: I saw this tour performed at the always wonderful theatre in the wood,Wolf Trap,in Virginia and was very pleased to see this performance pressed into CD so imagine my added delight to see it released as a DVD.
BTW: They played Wolf Trap again!!! a few summers ago and their performances were even better that time.
Greg Lake must have quit smoking because he went for and hit notes he obviously could NOT reach ( and knew it) with this 1992 tour.
All that said this is "the" DVD to have and to appreciate. I'm having a blast introducing younger friends to ELP's level of virtuosity which, they are all the 1st to agree, is sadly "absent" anything passing for musicianship today ( Dave Mathews & Pat Metheny Group accepted). Anyone who witnessed any of ELP's mega-performances in their prime will wince like I did wondering out loud why oh why ELP, at the height of their craftsman talents and virtuosity, "failed" to have professionally produced and filmed a Concert Hall performance with full symphony orchestra ( the way Martin Scorsesse brilliantly directed "The Last Waltz") instead of the fiasco "Works" tour with orchestra that fell apart halfway through the tour and damn near bankrupted the band.
With that in mind true ELP afficiandoes will also wince at the
" in-the-moment" random camera scramble shooting gallery style which the editor had to make some structure out of. Those who know the pieces by heart will ALL want to just scream at the tube " No, you bloody twits, camera 2,camera 2
on Emerson's hands. Not the close-up of Lake who's playing is not the featuree here. You're fired!!!"
I mean I can forgive the 1st Brit twits on bad acid whom have absolutely ruined, for all time, the original document of ELP debuting "Pictures at an Exhibition" live, but you'd think a 1992 Royal Albert Hall performance would've been more expertly handled. Shame on the Brit-twit production crew for their apparent slip-shoddiness of the shoot and editing. No excuse this time lads. Now there may never be another oppurtunity lads. It would have been nice to finally see some actual professional film "production" at work in the 1990's, but there it is.
Past my rant over what might've been I'm glad for the truly grand document of "Lucky Man" ( with the original Moog epilogue" ) "Pirates" and the Emerson solo of "Creole Dance" alone made the DVD worth it. The "Pictures at an Exhibition" medley deserved to be done, but a far more classy choice would've been alive performance of "Hoedown", the full 1st Impression of "Karn Eval 9" segueing directly into the actual original song "Brain Salad Surgery" that could then sugue into the SciFi-story of the 3rd Impression. Add a full symphony orchestra to all that and that would've been "the" Last word definition of an ELP "Tour de Force" for one of the MOST instrumentally innovative band of craftsman virtuosity.
I'd often imagined how much more an ELP concert would take flight if they had an equally craftsman guitar virtuoso... say a Steve Howe , Steve Hacket , of even a Pat Metheny. Unfortunately a concert we will never get, but for now there's atleast a solid record of what was always there to begin with.... that talent of pure craftsman musicianship not seen or heard since.
Oh well, perhaps there will be some young muscians who will want more than just Blimp Bisquit,Britney, and already played out & exhausted rap and pick up challenge of where bands such as ELP pioneered and take us into a 21st century rennaissance of new musician
I live for that day.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Sound & Picture Sadly Lacking
Review: I'm sorry to say that this is the worst DVD for sound & picture quality that I own. ELP sound as if they were recorded in a [bathroom]. It still amazes me how some engineers can get it so, so right and yet others are completly clueless. I am aware that the Albert Hall is not the finest venue for great sound (rock) but when you listen to The Moody Blues & The Who DVD's, both recorded there, then you can see and hear the difference. I liked the material that they chose for concert but that is all. One last suggestion to all sound engineers, Use the Sting DVD, 'All This Time', as a bench-mark. You wont go far wrong.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Finally, an ELP show on video!
Review: I've been a fan of ELP since 1974, when I first heard "Brain Salad Surgery". It blew my mind. I was in the 8th grade at that time. Kind of hard to believe an 8th grader could appreciate that kind of music, eh? Well, I did, and still do.
I have to admit I haven't listened to ELP much at all in the past 20 years or so. The other day I was in the video store to rent some movies, and saw this DVD, and I grabbed it instantly. I was not disappointed. Keith, Greg and Carl are in top form. They are every bit as amazing here as they were when I saw them live in 1975, levitating piano and all, at one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Emerson is still up to his old tricks here. He's the Jimi Hendrix of keyboards: doing backflips, jumping up and down on, and abusing his shreiking Hammond organ, until he finally tips it over on top of himself and plays Bach on it backwards!! Pretty amazing for a 52 year old geezer. Over the top, yes, but then so was Jimi. ELP have always had quite a bit of theatrics in their performances.

As for the music, Emerson's playing is just as jaw-dropping as ever. Palmer's drumming is as precise and intense as it always was. Lake does a good job but seems to have trouble with his voice hitting some notes and doesn't seem (to me) to be having as much fun as the others. The selection of tunes is good, I just wish "Hoedown" would have been on here. Great version of "Pirates" without all the orchestration cluttering things up. The reason I give it four stars instead of five is the camera work is not very good in places, showing close-ups of Keith's face when he's playing amazing lines on the keys, come on! It's like films of Hendrix where he is playing incredible stuff on the guitar and they are just filming his face. Drives me nuts. Also, I heard several noticable glitches in the audio, which other than that is quite good (could have just been a bad copy). I had it blasting through my home theatre system and it sounded great. I'm thinking I need to add "Welcome Back My Friends..." (a great live album) to my CD collection now, I miss listening to this stuff.

I would highly recommend this DVD for any ELP fan or fan of classically based rock, and I plan on purchasing it for my collection.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Finally, an ELP show on video!
Review: I've been a fan of ELP since 1974, when I first heard "Brain Salad Surgery". It blew my mind. I was in the 8th grade at that time. Kind of hard to believe an 8th grader could appreciate that kind of music, eh? Well, I did, and still do.
I have to admit I haven't listened to ELP much at all in the past 20 years or so. The other day I was in the video store to rent some movies, and saw this DVD, and I grabbed it instantly. I was not disappointed. Keith, Greg and Carl are in top form. They are every bit as amazing here as they were when I saw them live in 1975, levitating piano and all, at one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Emerson is still up to his old tricks here. He's the Jimi Hendrix of keyboards: doing backflips, jumping up and down on, and abusing his shreiking Hammond organ, until he finally tips it over on top of himself and plays Bach on it backwards!! Pretty amazing for a 52 year old geezer. Over the top, yes, but then so was Jimi. ELP have always had quite a bit of theatrics in their performances.

As for the music, Emerson's playing is just as jaw-dropping as ever. Palmer's drumming is as precise and intense as it always was. Lake does a good job but seems to have trouble with his voice hitting some notes and doesn't seem (to me) to be having as much fun as the others. The selection of tunes is good, I just wish "Hoedown" would have been on here. Great version of "Pirates" without all the orchestration cluttering things up. The reason I give it four stars instead of five is the camera work is not very good in places, showing close-ups of Keith's face when he's playing amazing lines on the keys, come on! It's like films of Hendrix where he is playing incredible stuff on the guitar and they are just filming his face. Drives me nuts. Also, I heard several noticable glitches in the audio, which other than that is quite good (could have just been a bad copy). I had it blasting through my home theatre system and it sounded great. I'm thinking I need to add "Welcome Back My Friends..." (a great live album) to my CD collection now, I miss listening to this stuff.

I would highly recommend this DVD for any ELP fan or fan of classically based rock, and I plan on purchasing it for my collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good overview on ELP
Review: If you like ELP this is a must, as well as most of their video or DVD material.
The three of them are top dogs, but Keith Emerson has BALLS and composition in his playing; he is an inspiration to watch, like other great performers... Hendrix, Fripp, Howe, Wakeman, jarret. etc.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better Late Than Never
Review: It's about time this video was released in the USA. Recorded in October 1992 while ELP was touring in support of "Black Moon", the lads are clearly showing the effects of a 15 year layoff (Emerson shaking his wrist between solos because of a worsening nerve problem that ultimately required surgery, Lake's voice a shadow of its 70's greatness, Palmer more circumscribed in his support after playing too much corporate rock with Asia), but each one still has more musical talent in their little fingers than most people do in their entire body. Worth the money alone for the band-only performance of "Pirates". Criticizing Emerson for the obligatory organ assault is like taking the sun to task for rising in the east and setting in the west every day. Besides, it's fun watching him play Bach backwards. For truly bad camera work, check out the "Pictures at an Exhibition" DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Finally an ELP's show on DVD!
Review: It's very hard to find good material on this band, one of my favourites. I've read in some of the other comments that this is not a good performance, Lake's voice is not what it was, the selections were not the best, bla, bla. I had the chance to see the band live in Buenos Aires in 1997 (the same show) and all I have to tell is that they sounded terrific, perhaps my opinion is not as impartial as it should be, because the emotion of seeing them could overweight strictly technical reasons, but the profesionality and performance literally blew our heads.
If you are an ELP's fan don't doubt a sec and buy it. I don't know if we could have more oportunities to enjoy them live!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It was worth watching but ultimately disappointing
Review: Keith Emerson really makes the band. If it were not for his antics and hunting knife wielding, leather-clad persona, then the show would have been a bit lifeless. I love his playing the organ backwards... but who was the jerk who [took] his hat? I hope the guy returned it or gets what's coming to him by the ELP gods.
It seemed Greg's microphone could have been louder since sometimes you could not really tell he had begun singing in certain parts...the engineers could've remedied that but did not.
I saw ELP in Phoenix in '97 or '98, whenever it was...what a show! I just wish they would do it again sometime.
Overall a good DVD but it needed to have the ENTIRE concert contained in it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Definitely, The Show that Never Ends...
Review: Make sure you listen to the Dolby 5.1 soundtrack and the sound will be awesome.

All I can think is that the other reviewers who didn't like the sound must have had a 2.0 Stereo Soundtrack.

I saw ELP live several times before, this sounded as good as sitting in the front row... if not better...

I'd give it five stars, but I just wanted it to be much longer and have more selections, but worth the price of admission in my book...

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: The vocal sound on this concert DVD is terrible. Greg Lake sounds like he is singing into a tin can. What Happened? Very dissapointing.


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