Live At The Albert Hall

his 1992 concert recording coincides with the revitalized group's return to the studio on BLACK MOON. There are a few cuts from that album included here, but the lion's share of the performance is given over to classic songs from ELP's '70s recordings. Several facets of the band's sound are represented here, from the driving rock of "Karn Evil No. 9" to the inventive, idiosyncratic prog excursions of "Knife Edge" and "Tarkus". ELP's passion for rocking up the classics can be heard here in a medley including Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man". Greg Lake's bittersweet folkie balladry is present in the hits "Still...You Turn Me On" and "Lucky Man".
The highlight of the evening, however, must have been "Pirates". While obscure to the casual listener, this epic piece is beloved by hardcore ELP fans for its broad orchestral sweep and vivid narrative of the ups and downs of a group of cutthroat scavengers out on the open seas. Its grand scale perfectly suits and ideally summarizes the most appealing aspects of ELP--ambition, bravura, and an almost 19th-century kind of romanticism.|