Tarkusa) Eruptionb) Stones Of Yearsc) Iconoclastd) Masse) Manticoref)
Bitches Crystal
Nutrocker
From The Beginning
Hoedown
Trilogy
Track Listings (17) - Disc #2
The Endless Enigma, Part One
Fugue
The Endless Enigma, Part Two
Jerusalem
Toccata
Still ... You Turn Me On
Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression - Part 1
Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression - Part 2
Jeremy Bender / The Sheriff (medley)
I Believe In Father Christmas
C'est La Vie
Fanfare For The Common Man
Honky Tonk Train Blues
Canario
Peter Gunn
Black Moon
Paper Blood
A comprehensive, career-spanning collection from one of progressive rock's most popular groups. — On 2 CDs crammed with nearly 160 minutes of music! — The fully remastered 28-song set, compiled with ELP's participation, br... more »ings together their biggest hits, including "Lucky Man," "From The Beginning," "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression - Part 2" and "I Believe In Father Christmas," as well as other must-have recordings drawn from all of the albums they released in their '70s heyday--their self-titled debut (1970), Tarkus (1971), Trilogy (1972), Pictures At An Exhibition (1972), Brain Salad Surgery (1973), Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends (1974), Works, Vol. 1 & Works, Vol. 2 (both 1977), Love Beach (1978) and Emerson Lake & Palmer In Concert (aka Works Live) (1979)--and the reunion album Black Moon (1992).
Comes with a fully-illustrated booklet containing color photos, detailed liner notes and complete track info.« less
A comprehensive, career-spanning collection from one of progressive rock's most popular groups.
On 2 CDs crammed with nearly 160 minutes of music!
The fully remastered 28-song set, compiled with ELP's participation, brings together their biggest hits, including "Lucky Man," "From The Beginning," "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression - Part 2" and "I Believe In Father Christmas," as well as other must-have recordings drawn from all of the albums they released in their '70s heyday--their self-titled debut (1970), Tarkus (1971), Trilogy (1972), Pictures At An Exhibition (1972), Brain Salad Surgery (1973), Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends (1974), Works, Vol. 1 & Works, Vol. 2 (both 1977), Love Beach (1978) and Emerson Lake & Palmer In Concert (aka Works Live) (1979)--and the reunion album Black Moon (1992).
Comes with a fully-illustrated booklet containing color photos, detailed liner notes and complete track info.
"Something is horribly wrong with the mixing of the Brain Salad Surgery tracks on disc two. They sound atrocious. I don't understand how this was missed by Shout Factory. If these songs were the right mixes, I would have given a higher rating, but this foul up is unforgivable. You may be better off to search for the older Rhino releases. I don't know if this will be remedied when Shout Factory re-releases Brain Salad Surgery later this year. I for one will wait to read reviews on whether the proper mixes are on there or not."
Be Careful!
Vincent G. Marino | Staten Island, New York USA | 01/31/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"They used the wrong version of "Jerusalem." It's the same bizarro remix with extra percussion and a different lead vocal from Greg that Sanctuary used on their reissue of "Brain Salad Surgery." Same with "Toccata," "Still You Turn Me On, and "Karn Evil 9 First Impression." Hopefully, once Shout! Factory reissues the full ELP catalog, they'll use the correct masters."
Is it just me or....?
Brian Wilson | Earth | 04/02/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Dittos on what everyone says about the collection- I am a BIG fan, but... The mastering on Karn Evil 9 is diasterous! The kick drum is brought up way too far in the mix and has a distracting tubby sound that is noticeable even in the Amazon demo stream. This is not the band's fault, but my favorite song has been rendered very irritating now!"
Best Comp Thus Far Except For...
Bruce Padgett | 02/03/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"As previously noted, the usage of the wrong masters on the "Brain Salad Surgery" material. Oy vey. Also, "Fanfare For the Common Man" was butchered during the edit. If the lackluster "Canario" had been cut, the full "Fanfare" could have been squeezed in.
Additionally, the booklet's essay completely overlooks Emerson and Lake's short-lived trio with Cozy Powell, as well as the group "3", which Emerson and Palmer formed with Robert Berry for an even briefer period.
Otherwise, the music is magnificent. Of course."
+ 1/2 stars..."Come Inside the Show's About to Start!"
Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 03/31/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I bought ELP's self-titled debut when I was in college. And despite the near universal bashing of the band in the rock press, they became one of my favorite bands and I continued to buy each new release through 1978's last studio album LOVE BEACH. [Yes, they did regroup in 1992 for BLACK MOON, but it wasn't up to the standards of their seminal work of the Seventies.] I didn't upgrade any of their individual albums to CD, but in 1993 I purchased the 4-disc THE RETURN OF THE MANTICORE. With that box set now out of print, Shout! Factory's THE ESSENTIAL EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER makes for an excellent introduction to one of the great prog rock bands of the Seventies. [Note: Another great ELP anthology is 1992's THE ATLANTIC YEARS (which I have on two cassettes), but it also is out of print.]
Essentially, this new release is a distillation of MANTICORE. The only tracks not on the previous box set are "Canario" from LOVE BEACH and the previously unreleased live medley: "Jeremy Bender/The Sheriff." Other differences include ESSENTIAL using a 5:43 edit of "Fanfare for the Common Man" (instead of the 9:40 version from the album WORKS VOLUME 1 used on MANTICORE). Also, ESSENTIALS uses the studio version of "Take a Pebble," where MANTICORE used the live version from WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS....
Overall, this two-disc collection contains two-and-a-half hours of music over 28 remastered tracks, containing nearly all of the essentials like "Knife-Edge," "Lucky Man," "From the Beginning," "Still...You Turn Me On" and "Karn Evil 9." If you can't afford to spring for their first four studio albums (EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER; TARKUS; TRILOGY and BRAIN SALAD SURGERY), this is an excellent introduction to one of the Seventies' more progressive bands. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED"