Truly impressed - ELP: Out of this World
The glory of the modern age is the quantity of archival tape that is stumbling out of the vaults, and making its way to new releases. ELP: Out of this World is a prime example
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 halfway 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.