Truly impressed - ELP: Out of this World
In the way back time, late 1970's to be more specific, I was just developing an ear for music, and one track that was played occasionally on the airwaves was by this band called ELP. I didn't know the name of the track, but I loved it. Ripping synthesizers, catchy groove, and just stupifying lyrics.
Later, I learnt that the track was by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, the album was "Brain Salad Surgery" and the track was Karn Evil 9 pt. 2.
Thus began a lifelong passion for progressive rock, branching into all the usual suspects. But a deep love for ELP was always at the core.
The past few days (mid November 2021) Amazon Music has been offering as something I might enjoy a relatively new release by ELP. Titled "Out of this World: Live (1970 - 1997)" I had ignored it because quite frankly I have pretty much all the commercially released material by ELP, and even a few cagey bootlegs of their concerts. I mean, what could possibly be new? And why should I invest time in listening?
Wow, was I wrong. I am currently about half way through this more than 3 hours of live recordings, from their first concert in 1970 at the Isle of Wight to their final performance at Phoenix's Union Hall in 1997, with a smattering of other notable venues in between.
An example, instead of a snippet of their performance of "Pictures at an Exhibition" (an adaptation of the masterpiece by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, worth a listen as well) what is presented is the full piece in its 10 movements, a glorious 33 minutes of audio bliss.
This is good enough that I will certainly BUY a copy, just to support the families of the artists.