Track Listing

1. Barbarian [Instrumental]
2. Take a Pebble
3. Knife Edge
4. Three Fates: Clotho/Lachesis/Atropos
5. Tank [Instrumental]
6. Lucky Man

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5942 in Music
• Brand: Emerson
• Released on: 2007-04-24
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording remastered, Original recording reissued
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
Debut album Emerson Lake & Palmer marked the beginning of a progressive rock movement that continues to influence countless bands and musicians. On songs like "The Barbarian" and "Knife-Edge," ELP presented classical pieces in a completely new context. And with "Lucky Man," the band had a popular hit that immediately made them a worldwide sensation. Remastered from the original master tapes.

Customer Reviews

ELP's Debut Album Finally Gets Remastered Right!
From the booming bass that kicks off "The Barbarian" through the final Moog synth squiggle of the "Lucky Man" outro,"Emerson Lake & Palmer" is the powerful opening salvo of ELP's mixture of classical,jazz and hard rock-best known to the world as "progressive rock"-that presented such obscure classical pieces as Bela Bartok's 'Allegro Barbaro'("The Barbarian") and Janacek's 'Sinfonietta'("Knife-Edge")in fresh contexts.Other highlights-on an album featuring nothing BUT highlights- include Greg Lake's 12 minute-plus epic "Take A Pebble" and Carl Palmer's fusion-esqe drum piece "Tank".This record has been remastered on CD a few times,first on the dismal-sounding Atlantic one from the 80's,and again on the Victory and Rhino in the 90's which,while an improvement from the first one,were pretty below the standards of most remasters from that period.This Shout! remaster(done by Andy Pearce at Masterpiece London)is right in the class of the Yes Rhino remasters and the Genesis CD/SACD/DVD hybrid's,with Lake's bass guitar sounding big and beefy,Palmer's drum work crisp,and Keith Emerson's keyboards as clear as pure mountain water.Despite the lack of bonus tracks,ELP and prog-rock fans should not hesitaite in picking up-or upgrading with-this reasonably-priced remastered jewel.

Shout! Factory Remaster of ELP's debut Album
First of all, I do Not understand why "Bob" from Los Angeles feels the need to give this ELP offering a 1 star rating, just because ELP's catalog has been remastered numerous times. I don't care how many different labels remaster and distribute their music. What does that matter? Why does he think that fans must now "dutifully purchase these newly remastered editions?"

If you own early 1990 first edition Atlantic releases, and you are satisfied with them, then that's the end of the story. No one is trying to force you to buy something, just entice you purchase their product. I have an old version of ELP's Live "Welcome Back My Friends..." on Atlantic records and it's fine. Sounds just like my original 3-LP set, just in a more convenient package.

I also own The Atlantic Years, a two disc compilation of ELP tacks which came out in 1992. This past year I started researching ELP and noticed one of my favorite re-issue companies, Rhino Records, had released all of ELP's original albums. As I looked at all the track listings, I realized there was a lot of Emerson, Lake and Palmer music that I did not own and had not heard before. I thought about picking up these individual discs, but just never got around to it. Now, the Rhino Remasters are over 10 years old. Recording and Production Technology continues to evolve, so when I noticed these new Shout! Factory re-issues, and read some of the rave reviews about the quality, I decided now was the time.

I purchased the debut Emerson Lake and Palmer album. First of all, it's a bargain price at only $11. I compared some of the tracks to my Atlantic Years cd. The Shout! version was definately more dynamic, with the loudest parts of the songs just peaking at -0- Db on the VU meters of my Denon Digital CD Recorder (the older Atlantic version only reached the -4 mark). Admittedly, the Shout! disc had slightly more analog tape hiss, but a much crisper high end. You would only notice the hiss in the absolute quietest passages in a quiet setting. Bass response was good, not "boomy", nice and flat over-all frequency response across the entire sound spectrum.

I have already decided to purchase all the Shout! Factory versions. Even though it's not listed yet on Amazon's site, an advertisement included in my disc shows they are planning to offer Brain Salad Surgery and the Live Welcome Back My Friends, to the Show that Never Ends also.

Sigh...and I thought I had bought my last CD version of this album
If you check my older reviews, I gave the Rhino disc a great review but the improvement here even over that one is astounding. I don't think I've ever heard clearer vocals on my system - how the hell did these guys record this album so well, a DEBUT album no less? On my rig, sibilants are outstanding, smooth as silk and not harsh at all - it IS a brightly-mixed album, after all, and your speakers' high end had better be up to the challenge. The soundstage is also a mile wide and just when I thought I knew every musical nuance of this album, I found myself hearing "further back" into the recording than ever before - stunning. This also makes me realize just how BAD those old Atlantic CDs were. And I have heard the K2 and sorry, but for my taste the treble is just a bit bright and the music sounds slightly compressed to my ears. Horses for courses, as long as we all enjoy the album, guys. Right?

And with that, let me publicly state that I will NEVER buy another version of this album on CD.