Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends Artist : Lake & Palmer Emerson List Price : $24.98 USD Your Price : $24.98 USD ProductGroup: Music Release Date : 2007-08-07 Studio : Shout Factory Label : Shout Factory Avg. Customer Rating : (8 reviews)
Reviews Customer Reviews for Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends The Biggest Show On Earth Rating: And it was the: "Biggest Show on Earth", three musicians with more raw talent and power than anyone else of their time. I was a fan of ELP from the first album onwards. These three guys were the kings of something that would later be tagged: "Progressive Rock". To most of my friends that were into Grand Funk Railroad and Alice Cooper, the only songs by this band that they could stand were: "Lucky Man" & "From The Begining".
You didn't play: "Tarkus" at a party in 1972 {unless you wanted to clear the room!}
I was one of the 350,000 freaks, that attended California Jam at The Ontario Motor Speedway in 1974. Emerson, Lake and Palmer closed that very long Show following Deep Purple to the massive stage. Everybody remembers that grand piano 25 feet over the stage doing somersaults as Keith bashed away at the keys {most of us thought that we "Flashed" that event into happening!} The computer exploded at the end of: "Karn Evil 9" and fireworks filled the skies at the end. What carried all that into the history books was that some incredible music was played that night by ELP.
This was a three LP set, it was taken from various locations from the 1973-1974 tours of the world. Yes, "Hoedown" is played too fast and "Toccata" needs to be seen, to be believed {Carl Palmer is an Octopus!} But for me, the selection that I have listened to more times than anything else here is: "Piano Improvisations", that provides a little taste of what Keith Emerson can do on any given stage on any night of the week.
Is this music over the top? Is this music too bombastic? Are these musicians a group of show-offs? Yes, they are guilty on all the above charges. And it was well known in the early seventies, that no other band could take a stage after them. No other band could follow this spectacle called: ELP.
This is the band at their pinnacle, and it is captured here on: "Welcome Back". Here is one of the greatest live albums from the 1970's.
Impressive to hear in 1974, and still sounds like no other in 2008.
Four Stars !!!
Customer Reviews for Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends Cd Not much better then the Rhino Records release, but still great Rating: There are some who liked this Shout Factory remaster better then the Rhino Records version, but I didn't hear any significant improvement. I have the original Rhino / Wea CD release and this one, and they both sound about the same to me, doing a creful A/B with audiophile headphones, a headphone amp, and audiophile CD player. It's a great live album though, and has what I think is the best-ever recorded rock drum solo, thanks to Carl Palmer. The live version of "Aquatarkus" is worth the price of the album alone, as is "Tocatta." But sonically, this wasn't any miraculous re-mastering job....what we need is a re-mixing of this album. I do think this version offers sound improvement over the Victory release of the early 90's, which I also have.
Editorial Reviews for Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends Audio Cd Album Description It's always a challenge to try and crystallize the experience of seeing a great band in their prime, but this album establishes a case for Emerson Lake & Palmer as one of the great live bands in rock history. Recorded during their "Someone Get Me A Ladder" tour of 1973-74, Welcome Back My Friends... showcases this incredible three-piece at the height of their power. Completely remastered from the original master tapes. Detailed liner notes by music journalist Steve Hochman.
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