Emerson, Lake & Palmer: The Anthology. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10

They were the Kings of all they surveyed, the supergroup’s supergroup, along with King Crimson, they could be arguably be seen as the fathers of Progressive Rock and their back catalogue is one that is steeped in the absolute, the pinnacle to which many tried so very hard to match but only a few, Pink Floyd between 73-79, Genesis between Foxtrot and Wind and Wuthering and Supertramp with Crime of the Century and Breakfast and America could equal during the 70s heyday of Progressive Rock.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the name just conjures up images of musical intrigue, of passionate enlightenment and the daring to take music to a whole new level, to give it not just a story to play with but to give it the feeling of epic, of ambition and grand scale. The Beatles toyed with it on Sgt. Pepper, The Small Faces gave beautiful intention on Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake but it was arguably E.L.P. that caught the genre in its infancy and gave all those that followed, including The Who and Meatloaf/Jim Steinman, the script of what be as they brought out several albums on the run which were high-flying, intensely flamboyant and creatively so cool they could make an iceberg hang its head in shame for not being cold enough.

With the untimely passing of Keith Emerson, the music perhaps lives on with greater meaning, and it is no surprise that an collection of the band’s works should appear, the difference though between a hastily arranged best of or compilation and Emerson, Lake & Palmer: The Anthology is one in which so much thought and grace seems to have gone into the producing the music that it really stands out as distinctive and powerful. From the packaging to the music, the sleeve notes to the feeling of self expression and straight thinking progression from cause to effect, the anthology, whilst missing what could be considered notable highs along the way, captures the sound of the band in all their pomp and ceremony with devastating and honourable effect.

Across the three discs, and regardless of whether it is in the form of songs such as Lucky Man, Tarkus, Battlefield, The Great Gates of Kiev, Still…You Turn Me On, the heart pounding Fanfare for the Common Man, Tank or Affairs of The Heart, the listener is given almost everything they could ask for in an evening’s entertainment in the home; the quality was always there, the beast of the sound just never able to be contained in one full load, now at least is free to breathe Progressive fire into the hearts of the faithful and the unenlightened once more.

A timely reminder of what E.L.P. brought to the post 60s groove, Emerson, Lake & Palmer: The Anthology is an album that sits in exquisite splendour.

Ian D. Hall