Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Live At Montreux 1997
Performance
Production
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Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Live At Montreux 1997
Performance
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Boy, these guys sure are good at their instruments. As far as this classical-jazz-rock hybrid they are famous for playing....did I mention that these guys are really good at their instruments?? Emerson Lake & Palmer are one of those bands that really benefit from the greatest hits packages, because each of their albums typically had just as many bad songs mixed in with the good ones. I can easily pull about ten songs from their catalogue that are some of the finest pieces of (I'll just label it progressive-rock for expediency) music ever produced, but the rest of their stuff is where we have to simply part as friends. My first introduction to the band was when, at around the tender age of ten, my older brother handed me Pictures At An Exhibition, and told me that ELP was the most mind blowing concert he had ever seen. WOW, I couldn't wait. So I immediately removed the Kiss Alive album from my record player and slapped on Pictures. Holy shit! I mean WTF!? I can honestly say that I am still scarred from that experience. I have come to appreciate what they were trying to do a little more now that I am a "mature" adult, but I still get a little queasy every time I hear it. I could go on forever about the pros and cons of these guys, but I'll just stick with the DVD review, and leave the ELP discography review to the other poor saps. Mark Prindle handles that lofty task quite admirably - and frigging hilariously, I might add. Many people think of ELP as the holy trinity of progressive-rock - Keith Emerson is the greatest keyboardist ever - Carl Palmer the world's greatest rock drummer, blah, blah, blah. For the two of you who have actually looked over the rest of my site, you may have noticed that I have a keen fondness for this thing we call progressive-rock. For whatever reason, ELP were never one of the bands to make it into heavy rotation in my 8-track tape player. Don't worry, I have since upgraded to a turntable. I have always preferred Greg Lake's more mainstream, acoustic songs such as "Lucky Man", and "From The Beginning", over all of their other weird shit - aka Emerson's stuff. There are relatively few bands that I really enjoy, who are not primarily guitar driven, which helps to explain my lack of enthusiasm for ELP. Most of their best songs are the ones that Lake plays guitar on, but that is way too infrequent. The good thing about this DVD is that the band sticks mostly to their better songs. This is essentially a best of ELP performance, with a few notable exclusions, such as "Trilogy", "Still...You Turn Me On", and "Jerusalem". ELP reunited in the early nineties, and produced a new album, Black Moon. In 1997 they embarked on a world tour, which included this performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 7. The show begins with the French-accented announcer teasing the anxious crowd with "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends", just before ELP launches into "Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression Part 2". This is the one ELP epic that they should have played in its entirety - much more so than "Tarkus". With "Karn Evil 9", Emerson finally got it right. All of his flamboyance, virtuosity, and monster sounds were melded together perfectly to form one hell of a kick ass song. Surprisingly, the band even broke out "Touch And Go", from 1987's Emerson, Lake, and Powell album, early on in the set. After that is was a run through of all the good stuff, including "From The Beginning", "Knife Edge", "Take A Pebble", and "Lucky Man". They closed the set with the full-bloated version of "Tarkus", which was combined with the equally tedious "Pictures At An Exhibition". This gave me plenty of time to go to the bathroom and get a fresh drink before the encore. After a short break, the band came back out for a medley consisting mostly of Emerson's more famous keyboard extravaganzas, including "Rondo" from his days with The Nice. Guaranteeing acid flashbacks for at least half of the crowd, Emerson pulled out all of his famous concert tricks, such as stabbing his keyboard to death, riding it like a crazed rodeo clown, and literally wiping his ass with it. Palmer took the requisite extended drum solo, demonstrating that he is indeed a world class drummer, but never really strayed beyond his usual routine. He even did the old "removing the shirt while effortlessly keeping a ferocious pace on the double kick drums" maneuver. He needs to find a new trick that has him keeping his shirt ON - trust me. These were the kind of things that made ELP concerts a thing of legend back in the day, but seemed a little silly in 1997. Ohhh, who am I kidding - I would have ate that shit right up if I was there in person. I actually found the concert to be a tad boring, probably because the band themselves seemed a little bored, especially Lake. The only one who genuinely appeared to be into the performance was Emerson. The production quality of this DVD was commendable, for a 1997 recording not originally intended for DVD, but it is certainly not spectacular. The video quality is very good, as it was filmed in Hi Definition, and the camera crew never missed an essential close-up of Emerson playing behind his back, or Palmer performing an impossibly fast drum fill. The camera angle changes were never too quick, and really let you soak in the performance quite nicely. Although DTS and Dolby surround mixes were provided, they were both just average. There were no special features included, although the accompanying booklet provided some interesting notes from the band. If you are already an Emerson, Lake and Palmer freak, then do not hesitate to pick this one up. If you are only the occasional fan, like myself, or just want to experience something different, then fasten your seatbelts, keep an open mind, and enjoy the ride. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - February 2005 |
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Running Time: 91 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - November 2004 |