Label: Melodia Records (USSR), C60 26463 008
Style: Symphonic Rock, Art Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 42:49
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 290 Mb
Powell
died on 5 April 1998 following a car crash while driving his Saab 9000
at 104 mph (167 km/h) in bad weather on the M4 motorway near Bristol. He
had been dating a married woman who was having problems with her
husband. Upset, she phoned him and asked him to come quickly to her
house which was approximately 35 miles (56 km) away. As he was driving
to her house, she phoned him again and asked "Where are you?" He
informed her he was on his way and she then heard him say "Oh shit!"
followed by a loud bang.
Recorded in England in 1985 and early 1986,
Emerson, Lake and Powell was produced by Lake and engineer Tony
Taverner. Beyond the eight tracks of the original 1986 album, these
sessions produced two further tracks that would be featured on later
album issues. A unique instrumental jam rendition of the Goffin/King pop
hit “The Loco-Motion” was an obvious attempt at some radio notoriety,
while “Vacant Possession” is a decent, melancholy pop ballad
surprisingly left off the album proper.
The album begins with its
longest track, “The Score”, featuring Emerson’s fanfare boards and
animated rudiments by Powell during extended, nearly four-minute-long
intro. When Lake’s vocals finally enter mid-song, it is clear that this
track is a sequel to earlier work with the refrain “Welcome Back My
Friends to the Show That Never Ends”, famously lifted from the opening
line of “Karn Evil 9: First Impression, Part 2” from their 1973 Emerson,
Lake and Palmer album Brain Salad Surgery, as well as the title to the
subsequent 1974 live album from that album’s tour.
“Learning to Fly”
is more in line with a mid-eighties pop song, driven by synth motifs,
steady bass and simple drum rhythms with little to no guitar. Still,
this is not an unpleasant listen with good melodies by Lake as he
delivers a slightly profound lyric. “The Miracle” is a long,
narrative-fueld song with a dramatic, doomy entrance which lifts a bit
during the refrain sections. Later, the song settles into a steady
rhythm for the middle bridge section of this seven-minute tune.
The
album’s second side features more standard length, pop-oriented tracks,
starting with the album’s only single, “Touch and Go”. Here we have
catchy intro and interlude synths broken by verses driven by Lake’s
melodic vocals. “Love Blind” sounds more like a soundtrack montage than a
standard song, albeit Powell’s drumming is fine throughout, while “Step
Aside” offers a cool break and true highlight of this second side, as a
unique jazzy piano tune where all three members work the vibe well with
Emerson leading the way. After the forgettable “Lay Down Your Guns”,
the trio cleanse their palate of sappiness with a jam of the dramatic
classical movement, “Mars, the Bringer of War”, a song Lake performed
with King Crimson a decade and a half earlier.
After a short tour to
support the album, Emerson, Lake & Powell disbanded as quickly as
they formed. In 1992 the original ELP lineup reformed with Palmer for
the album Black Moon, an album with a similar style to this Emerson,
Lake & Powell album.
(Full version: classicrockreview.com/2021/05/1986-emerson-lake-powell/)
01. A1 The Score (09:08)
02. A2 Learning To Fly (04:02)
03. A3 The Miracle (06:48)
04. B1 Touch And Go (03:38)
05. B2 Love Blind (03:10)
06. B3 Step Aside (03:46)
07. B4 Lay Down Your Guns (04:22)
08. B5 Mars, The Bringer Of War (07:51)
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