I was pretty blown away when I found New York’s super-hip independent paper, the Village Voice, writing up the recently remastered and rereleased Emerson, Lake & Palmer live document, Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends. Then I almost swallowed my eyeballs when I saw that the review was resoundingly positive! Check it out HERE.
We’re talking about what was a triple live album when it was originally released in the 70′s, which has a 27-minute long song, AND a 35-minute long song (and there’s still 7 other songs)! It is nice to see that someone has listened to the music before writing a review, in this age of albums which are super-rushed to press, and the reviews are even more rushed to print. Here are some of the quotable accolades that Phil Freeman thrusts upon these ‘bloat-tastic motherfuckers’…
- …the band’s brand of epic, classical-soaked prog was actually tight as hell
- Simply put, Emerson, Lake & Palmer fucking rocked.
- Revisiting this catalog 35 (!) years later, it’s amazing how little music has “progressed.” Snip 20 random seconds of Emersonian Moog-frenzy from the live album and play it for a Wolf Eyes fan—see if he can tell the difference.
- These six studio albums and two live discs are the gateways to a world of balls-out craziness the likes of which is nowhere to be found in rock circa 2008.
Mr. Freeman ends the review with that last line which not only compliments the Welcome Back My Friends live release, but the entire rereleased catalog that our friends at Shout Factory! have done such a beautiful job at remastering and packaging. Believe me, I’ve heard them all! But if you don’t believe me, here’s a couple samples so you can hear for yourself (but listen now, for they will soon be removed)…
Emerson Lake & Palmer – Hoedown (Live), kicks off the album
Emerson Lake & Palmer – Tiger In A Spotlight (from the oft-everlooked Works, Vol. 2)
So, what do you think? Are today’s music fans beginning to embrace progressive rock again. It does seem to be slipping into the rock music scene, as we’ve seen with a lot of newer indie bands. I think the one thing that most bands have to embrace about it, is it’s limitlessness. If you’re a going to be a band with staying power, you’re definitely not going to want to limit yourself to making the same album over and over, and I think that’s where the spirit of progressive rock will probably always live on. Have you been hearing any newer bands rocking the prog style lately?
