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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: 3 stars
Summary: Not the best show
Review: They don't play the best songs, for example "From the begining" he plays only acoustic, he stop when the keyboard should begin.
Lake has no more voice. Olmost nothing fron Brian Salad Surgery, they play a little and when the good part begin they stop.
Not a good concert but not too bad, I know that there is not too much available from them, that is why I purchesed it, the other looks to be bad.
Do not buy it if you expect too much.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Definitely definitive
Review: This DVD captures the expansive career of this supergroup trio in one concert. All three performers live up to their resumes and give it their all. Carl Palmer is impeccable and precise, proving why he is tops on many drummer's "favorite" lists. Keith Emerson delivers all the goods that made him the legend he is. Unfortunately, you can see how his carpal tunnel syndrome acts up on occasion as he frantically shakes his left hand to bring back the feeling to it (As a fellow sufferer, it happened to stick out to me). Greg Lake is adequate in his role (although you can catch Carl making irritated faces at Greg when he doesn't pick up on a tempo or drive the beat as Carl wants it).

As a DVD, the camera work and sound is perfectly fine. I might want to hear the vocals out front a bit but, lately, most live mixes that I've heard for ANY genre can't provide that so it's no surprise that it came out the way it did. Crisp visuals and some nice virtuoso hand shots when Keith or Carl are doing some inhuman things.

Pick this up if you're a long time fan like me or if you're a novice who just wants to see what all the fuss was about.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Being an ELP - Fan is great.
Review: Wherever and whenever ELP appears on scene is a rosy day for the audience.
Great DVD about one of their three concerts in 1992 in London Royal Albert Hall.
When Carl Palmer gave the comment to the legendary concert of Montreal Olympic Stadium of 1977:
- It just worked this night -,
it worked also in 1992.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Close But No Cigar
Review: Yes and ELP were 2 of my favorite groups of the early 70s. Having seen ELP twice in '74 and '77 (Yes, I've seen 4 times), I have to say this is somewhat of a lackluster performance. The dynamics of their earlier performances just isn't there. Not that there aren't any good moments. Rondo is a real knockout with Keith revisiting the good old days of abusing his Hammond organ.
Greg's voice seems somewhat strained but still retaining it's richness. But what do you expect, the guy's nearing 50. Even the ever durable Paul McCartney is starting get a little ragged.
As a drummer myself, Carl was of course one my favorite drummers of the 70s and still is. However, his solo during Pictures is a bit of a disappointment. He just doesn't whizz around the drumset like he used to. He spends more time playing cymbals and gongs than he does playing the drums.
All and all it's still fun seeing these guys performing again and this dvd is best thing to get from them. But if you want to see them in their prime, check out the Montreal concert dvd available on their website. Picture and sound has a bit to be desired, but the energy of their performance really comes out. Even Carl has a 10 min solo on that beautiful custom steel drumset he used to have (He ended up selling it to Ringo). And OH if they could only just restore the California Jam footage! You get the picture!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: OK performance; decent sampling of tunes; AWFUL camera work
Review: Yes, I was a big ELP fan back in the 70's, and I was excited to get this DVD in the hope of bringing back memories of when I saw them in person decades ago. Overall, I was a bit underwhelmed by this disc.

Although never extraordinary in terms of stage presence, I must say that the band members exhibited some pretty tight playing at this performance, which took place in 1996 at the Royal Albert Hall (London). They did an especially good job with "Welcome Back" and "Pirates," and I was pleasantly surprised by their rendition of the classic theme from Prokofiev's "Romeo & Juliet." Although I consider "Tarkus" (one of my all-time favorite LP's) and "Pictures at an Exhibition" to be absolute masterpieces, this show presents only excerpted versions of both. Typical of live performances, yes; however, I'm always left a little disappointed. One major blemish to the show was Keith Emerson's theatrics of pounding, jumping on, then tipping over, one of his keyboards near the end (sooo 70's). Lots of noise. Maybe he hung out with Keith Moon when he was younger, but I wasn't impressed. Besides, this wasted valuable time that could have been used for another song or two.

What weighed most heavily in my rating was my total annoyance with the poor camera direction in this production. For example, Emerson was true to form with his trademark arms-apart keyboard stance between stacks of synthesizers. Why then was there so much close-up filming of just his face? I mean, REALLY close-up! Same with Carl Palmer: too many camera views angling between cymbal stands or over tom-toms, with only his head in view. Somehow, the director failed to understand that watching a keyboardist or drummer means focusing on the hands and arms. Too bad. I felt cheated out of some incredible drumming. Also, see how many OTHER cameramen you can count sneaking around between the amps.

Bottom line: it's an acceptable performance, but I wouldn't recommend this disc to anyone but a serious ELP fan.


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