Legendary prog-rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer have signed a new deal with Razor & Tie Records to distribute their catalogue, kicking things off with a new compilation.
One of the early supergroups in rock history, comprised of keyboardist Keith Emerson of The Nice, King Crimson bassist Greg Lake on guitar and vocals and drummer Greg Palmer of Atomic Rooster, ELP were a defining force in progressive rock music, melding traditional rock statements with jazz and classically-inspired arrangements, quoting composers from Bach and Copland to Prokofiev and Mussorgsky.
Though they were never major presences on the charts (save the U.K. No. 2 hit "Fanfare for the Common Man"), their works enjoy constant rotation on classic rock radio, notably "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression (Part 2)," featuring the iconic opening line that gives this post (as well as a 1974 live album) its name. ELP broke up in 1979, after which Emerson and Lake toured with former Rainbow drummer Cozy Powell in the 1980s; the band reunited from 1991 to 1998 and played a one-off anniversary concert in 2010.
In addition to a new, 14-track compilation, The Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Come and See the Show, which is available today, the label announced remastered, expanded releases of the band's first six albums (studio albums Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970), Tarkus (1971), Trilogy (1972) and Brain Salad Surgery (1973) and live albums Pictures at an Exhibition (1971) and Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends...Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1974)) as due this year.
It will not be the first reissue campaign for the band; Rhino remastered and expanded several of the band's albums in the 1990s, as did Shout! Factory with different bonus material in the last five years.
Hit the jump to check out the new compilation ("currently unavailable" on Amazon) and keep it here for ELP reissue news as it's reported!
The Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Come and See the Show (Razor & Tie, 2012)
- Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression (Part 2)
- Lucky Man
- From the Beginning
- Knife-Edge
- Hoedown (Taken from Rodeo)
- Jerusalem
- C'est La Vie
- Still...You Turn Me On
- Tank
- Fanfare for the Common Man
- Toccata
- Peter Gunn (Live @ The Olymic Stadium, Montreal - 8/26/1977)
- Nutrocker
- I Believe in Father Christmas
Tracks 1, 6, 8 and 11 from Brain Salad Surgery (Manticore, 1973)
Tracks 2, 4 and 9 from Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Island (U.K.), 1970/Cotillion (U.S.), 1971)
Tracks 3 and 5 from Trilogy (Island (U.K.)/Cotillion (U.S.), 1971)
Tracks 7 and 10 from Works, Volume 1 (Atlantic, 1977)
Track 12 from In Concert (Atlantic, 1979)
Track 13 from Pictures at an Exhibition (Island (U.K.), 1971/Cotillion (U.S.), 1972)
Track 14 from Works, Volume 2 (Atlantic, 1977)
At least, you've got to give credit to the group's skillful management; always inking new, non-exclusive licensing deals that bring ELP another big advance check, and promise to bring the fans more archival material, this from a group that had very little unreleased studio material to begin with.
The move(in the UK) from Universal to Sony brought nothing new to the fans, and probably forced the deletion of several excellent Universal Music "Deluxe Edition" multi disc sets, which did bring the fans some vault material.
As for U.S.A. releases, the question is whether this will bring an end to the excellent series of concert discs from Shout Factory.
Let's see: the catalogue was on Cotillion, Atlantic & Island in the old vinyl days, then in the CD era, it has appeared on Atlantic, Rhino, Victory, Shout Factory,Castle Communications, Universal Music, Sony Music and now Razor & Tie. Have I missed anything?
Yes, the MFSL releases of Tarkus and Trilogy, and the JVC Japan never-ending mini-sleeve issues/reissues (the ELP catalog was actually the very first Japan mini-sleeves released back in '94).
Was there ever a band that has been reissued so many times on so many labels? I'm having a hard time thinking of another.
I never got any of the previous reissues - which ones are/were the best??
IIRC, very few of the Rhino editions had extras.
For simply the original 1970's albums(without bonus tracks), I never saw any reason to buy the albums again after the U.S.A. "Victory" label editions, but this does't mean that I don't collect the group's vault material.
Some notable vault releases that I recommend include the UK 5-disc box "From The Beginning"(Sanctuary Music , though be cautioned that the DVD in the box, while "all Regions" is UK PAL system), The Universal Music/UK 2-CD "Deluxe Edition" of "Pictures at An Exhibition", the Universal Music/UK "Deluxe Edition" (2-CD + SACD) of "Brain Salad Surgery" , the 4-CD live collection "A Time and a Place"(Shout Factory) and the 4-CD box set "Return of The Manticore"(Victory)
Since these albums have all been out on CD before for the most part, what Razor & Tie should do is reissue the catalog in Mini LP CD Packaging exactly as they do in Japan. ELP had great album art. It would be a plus to have that art reproduced for the domestic CD reissues and at reasonable prices unlike the Japan releases.
What? No Love Beach?!!!
No , no , never never never ever should this horrible record see the light of day again.
Come on, Love Beach wasn't THAT bad - though I agree it was their low point.
It was worse than bad - from that awful cover photo onwards, there are no plus points to this album. I'm sure you know that ELP were pressurised into making Love Beach by Atlantic, who wanted a commercial pop album to follow up the success of "Fanfare For The Common Man", and ELP simply did not do commercial pop.
That's it, no more excuses. It's rubbish.
In a recent online chat Greg Lake stated that the band's catalog was being remixed for future 5.1 releases. Hopefully those will be part of these sets.
Again?
Paging Steven Wilson...