Inside Emerson Lake & Palmer 1970-95

Rating:
Summary: I am so tired of adjectives like Pompous and pretentious...
Review: ...Words too often used for prog bands. The same could be said of any punk band, POMPOUS asses PRETENDING to be musicians. Let's face it, either you love ELP or you hate them. If you love them, then you would know that all their first five albums are 5 star albums.If you don't like them, then all their albums are 1 star albums. How could these guys give Tarkus only 3 stars. There is nothing pretentious or pompous about ELP. They were awesome musicians who knew how to compose complicated, yet very exciting music. They were the Bachs and Beethovins of our times. If you aren't into it, don't listen to it, but please stop calling them pompous and pretentious.

Rating:
Summary: Almost Worth Owning - 3.5 stars - But Not Essential
Review: Hoping, like the romantic fool I am, for a real full-length critical assessment of a band I love, but many critics absolutely hated and still use as a whipping boy, I pre-ordered this DVD despite my precarious finances. Was it worth the money and time and angst about spending cash I didn't have? I can't say that this DVD was a complete waste, but it could have been so much better.

First, the good points:

Lots of clips of ELP at their prime.

Discussions of their music by people who are knowledgable and opiniated rock and roll geeks.

Musical discussion by Iain Jennings that illuminates the incredible acheivements of Keith Emerson.

Now the bad points:

This is all to obviously a way of Classic Rock Productions to clear their vaults for a little cash. The length (too short) and limited scope of the critical views (all English) speak to economy in production that hurts this (and the others in the series) right from the start.

No full length songs of ELP (although with many of their tracks, this could be problematic, due to their music's length).

No interviews from the Band. Surely Keith Emerson, at least would have talked. I'd love to see him and Iain Jennings talking music.

Over-cursory assessments of the albums. Only the high points of ELP's albums are discussed, then the albums rated without regard to other music on them.

Did I enjoy Inside Emerson, Lake and Palmer: A Critical View 1970-1995? Not as much as I would have liked, but let me say unequivocally that I'm glad Classic Rock Productions is at least attempting this sort of omnibus critical assesment, and that I'm glad I bought the DVD.


Rating:
Summary: Welcome Back My Friends To The DVD That Suddenly Ends
Review: I am a '70s prog-rock fan. I absolutely love the era and the music it gave. Bands like ELP, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, etc., were doing things so different from everyone else. That is why I was so exited when I heard about this DVD... and then crushed after watching it.

To be fair, as a life-long fan of ELP, I was initially very disappointed by this DVD. But after taking a few days to mull over the pros and cons, I came to the conclusion the it deserved a below-average mark based not on an extremely strong premise, but some very glaring faults.

To begin with, the Amazon description states,

Rating:
Summary: OLDROCKER
Review: THIS IS ANOTHER DVD WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. I LOOK FOR CLASSIC ROCK DVD'S TO BRING BACK THOSE DAYS. I'M NOT REALLY INTERESTED IN WHAT THESE CRITICS OPINION OF ELP IS.I BOUGHT THE DVD TO SEE LIVE PERFORMANCES OF THE GROUP. NONE HERE. I KNOW THE VIDEOS ARE AVAILABLE BECAUSE THERE ARE CUTS HERE FROM THE CONCERTS BUT THEY ARE ONLY SECONDS LONG.THIS APPEARS TO JUST BE A WAY TO SELL MORE DVD'D AND STILL NOT GIVE YOU ANYTHING! VERY DISAPPOINTING!