ELP - Out Of This World: Live 1970 - 1997

ELP

Out Of This World Live (1970-1997)

(BMG)

7.5/10

By Paul Davies

The lingering memory of three HGV articulated lorries, each denoted by the initials E, L and P and containing the individual live equipment of each band member, bombing down the motorway on route to another huge show, is reflected in this collection of five-concert recordings spread over seven CDs spanning the years 1970 to their final concerts together as Emerson, Lake and Palmer in 1997.

ELP never did things by half as these belting and bombastic concerts reveal, all of which have been previously released except the Union Hall, Phoenix 1997 show. The inclusion of the Phoenix show will almost certainly tease the completists to dig deep and buy. Historically, what this deluxe collection provides is a potted overview of a band in their live element across three decades playing to incalculable crowd numbers at The Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970, to the more intimate and appositely grandiose environs of The Royal Albert Hall in 1992. Obviously, the sonics are uneven across these seven CDs given their era recording provenance. However, the official inclusion of the Phoenix performance balances this compendium as does the mastering by Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham.  

ELP’s ambitious approach to progressive rock music singularly set them apart from the genre that they extravagantly eased into. No keyboard player ever topped Keith Emerson for his extreme exhibition of showmanship whilst playing incredibly intricate brain-bursting passages of music. The California Jam performance is memorable for Emerson spinning in a gyroscope whilst playing a grand piano 50 feet above the crowd as he did throughout their Brain Salad Surgery tour. In many ways, this collection is more than a decent homage to his and Greg Lake's memory who, with the concussive Carl Palmer, held the whole magnificent shebang together with elite level musicianship from another world.

From Disc One’s opening song Barbarian to Disc Seven's final fearsome medley of King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid Man and The Nice's/Bernstein America, this redoubtable release serves as a timely tribute to an unrivalled three-piece phenomenon.