Emerson Lake & Palmer broke up after
Love Beach. I can't find any references to a tour, and it is known that they left the Bahamas separately, and that there had been a growing rift between Emerson and Lake since the
Works days, so I don't think there was a
Love Beach tour. The next release was a live album, but it was from the
Works tour.
That album officially fulfilled their contract to Atlantic Recording, but they had already gone their separate ways.
Keith Emerson went on to compose a number of movie soundtracks, including Sylvester Stallone's
Nighthawks, and Dario Argento's
Inferno and
World of Horror.
Greg Lake embarked on a solo career, releasing two albums,
Greg Lake in 1981 and
Manoeuvres in 1983.
Carl Palmer was a founding member of Asia, along with John Wetton, most recently with the 70's King Crimson, and Steve Howe and Geoff Downes, together in Yes prior to their breakup following
Drama. John Wetton left the original Asia in 1983, and was replaced by none other than Greg Lake. Wetton and Lake were therefore each the singer/bassist for two different bands (King Crimson and Asia) at different times. Though it was not promoted as such at the time, Lake's tenure in Asia is now referred to as a "temporary" gig, and Lake left Asia shortly after.
By 1985, Emerson wasn't getting many movie score contracts and Lake was looking for another gig as well, as his solo career had stalled. They put their differences aside and decided to make a new album together. As Carl Palmer was still in Asia and therefore unavailable, the album was going to be titled
Emerson-Lake.
They did need a drummer, however. Emerson called upon his longtime friend Cozy Powell, who was well regarded in the rock business, having played with Jeff Beck, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, and others. He had a strong presence on the drum kit, and also happened to have a last name that started with "P". The new album was therefore:
Emerson, Lake & Powell (1986)Keith Emerson: Keyboards
Greg Lake: Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Cozy Powell: Drums, Percussion
The Score
9:10Learning to Fly
3:52The Miracle
7:02Touch and Go
3:25Love Blind
3:08Step Aside
3:42Lay Down Your Guns
4:20Mars, the Bringer of War
7:53----------
With the benefit of hindsight, and the passage of time which had (slightly) tempered their egos, they set out to make an album which played to their strengths. Keith's progressive sense of composition and ear for creating orchestral walls of synthesizers. Lake's rich, powerful voice. And they now had Cozy Powell on drums, known for his big, booming sound. And even though this wasn't
technically the same band, by calling it
Emerson, Lake & Powell, they were clearly inviting comparisons to the original ELP, and this would be seen as their "comeback" album. There were many eyes, and ears, upon them.
The results were not bad at all. The album opens with "The Score", a nine-minute-plus song which treats us to over four minutes of synthesizers and prog before the vocals come in. It goes through a couple of themes during those four minutes, and one might even start to wonder if they'd had the guts to open this new album with a nine-minute instrumental. "The Score" is not instrumental, but it does have a lot of old-school ELP trademarks, a few direct musical references to earlier works, and the lyrics even include "It's been so long, so welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends!" ELP were back.
"Learning to Fly" is a somewhat different ELP song. It's a shorter piece, just under four minutes, and it's obviously not a Lake ballad; it's more a collaboration in the tradition of "Knife-Edge" or "Bitches Crystal". But it's not really a balls-out rocker, as its predecessors were. It therefore breaks new ground, thus the double meaning of its title. It's a pretty good song, and features lots of tasty synth work by Emerson.
"Learning to Fly" seques directly into "The Miracle", another longish song. Once again, we have Keith's wall of synths, Lake's voice (enriched by lots of reverb, as it is on the whole album), and more powerful drumming by Cozy Powell. Musically, it's quite good, though the lyrics, as with so many previous ELP songs, are the weak link. Also, by this point, we've heard three songs with plenty of great synth patches and great drumming, but they're mostly the
same synth patches and
same great drumming. Impressive, but there needs to be more variety.
"Touch and Go" changes things up. Emerson introduces a new brassy synth patch, and Lake's rhymed triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets and yes, even sextuplets get to be a bit much, but it's a shorter song that goes through a couple of changes, and was even a minor radio hit, peaking at #60 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Love Blind" is the Lake love song. You knew there had to be one, and here it is. But again, they've changed things up a bit. It's not a ballad; it's quite uptempo and very much keyboard driven, rather than guitar driven, with Cozy's driving drums moving things along. And at only three minutes, it doesn't overstay its welcome. Not a great song, but not horrible, and yet another unique entry in the ELP catalogue.
Rather than a honky-tonk number, we have "Step Aside". The backdrop is Keith's jazzy piano, shuffling along in something like a 1940's
film noir feel, evoking dark wet streets, overcoats, and cigarettes. It even has some clichéd (but well incorporated) whistling towards the end. If they'd cut the reverb down to about 1/3 of what they've used here, it would be a perfect period piece.
"Lay Down Your Guns" seems to be a call for world peace or something. I've never really listened to the lyrics. What always catches my attention is the synth patch that Emerson uses for the solo. It's clearly evocative of an electric guitar, and by this point, you're wondering if there is any guitar on this album. The appearance of Greg's acoustic or electric, preferably both, is always welcome. ELP is a keyboard-driven band, but there's nothing wrong with some variety, and this album actually suffers from a bit too much homogeneity.
Closing things out, we have the classical adaptation. From Gustav Holst's
The Planets, we have "Mars, the Bringer of War". As with most of the ELP instrumental adaptations, classical fans probably appreciate this one more than others, but perhaps a bit more than usual in this case. "Mars" is a very intense piece in 5/4, but by about halfway through, you realize that what seemed like buildup was actually all you're getting. It never really breaks out into anything. It keeps up the intense, heavy buildup, and has a few bars of insanity, then returns to the heavy buildup again. It's an odd piece. As it happens, I recently played it for the first time in a concert band setting, and I didn't like it any better that way.
The original CD had a bonus track, an instrumental cover of Gerry Goffin & Carole King's "The Loco-Motion". Another slightly odd choice, it starts like it's going be a balls-out instrumental screamer, then "settles" for a very heavy version of a 60's pop song. Great playing, just a somewhat strange choice for an instrumental.
Later CD pressings added a second bonus track, "Vacant Possession". I have to be honest; if there was one song to leave off of the original album, it would be this one. A slow, moody piece, it just never seems to go anywhere.
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And there you have it. ELP were back. With a different drummer, too much reverb on the vocals, and the synth/guitar balance not quite right (I don't actually hear any guitar, though Lake is credited as playing guitar), but overall this is a pretty good album. It starts strong and packs a punch, and it has some variety and even shows that ELP had a few new tricks up their sleeves.
I'm not usually one to point out how "dated" something sounds, usually because I never notice it, but in trying to think of what bothers me the most about this album, it's the production. Very 80's sounding, with booming drums and echoing vocals, and great-sounding synths all smoothed over into a thick paste as backdrop for the vocals. If you like 80's production, you'll be in heaven here. The playing is great, the music is pretty top-notch. This is definitely a step up from
Love Beach, and a return to form for ELP. Stylistically, I'd put it somewhere in the middle of the 70's output, only slightly lower in terms of quality.