Well, at least he doesn't do "Lucky Man."
Oh, wait, my mistake. He does. In fact, any passing ELP or progressive rock fan can probably pick out most of the playlist of this 10-song CD, which hits the big ELP songs, Greg Lake's one album with King Crimson and one solo piece.
I shouldn't be so critical, but the back of this disc proclaims Lake as the voice of a generation. My response - what? The generation that grew up with Emerson, Lake and Palmer and early King Crimson is the same that grew up on the Beatles, Dylan and Led Zeppelin. On the lists of voices of that baby boom generation, Lake is probably No. 49, somewhere ahead of Arthur Lee but behind Van Morrison.
And it's hard to view this 10-song CD as nothing more than an oldies tour. Cashing in on his past glories as a 70s prog-rock superstar, Greg Lake -- the singer and bassist/guitarist for Emerson, Lake and Palmer -- has found a new band to play his old songs.
Taken from a 2005 tour, the music is played competently and professionally. Lake's voice is still throaty and growly; it's obviously him, but not quite what it used to be. The contrast is interesting, especially on the opener "In The Court of the Crimson King," which is a hell of a song to start a concert with. Here, Lake emphasizes the sad guitar picking and eschews the Mellotron of the original, and his deeper voice lends a different take to the song, though I wonder if a 60-year-old feels funny singing about fire witches and puppet dances.
No matter. For all the barbs people have thrown at the prog-rock dinosaurs -- and ELP took many of them, with good reason -- some of the songs have stood the test of time. "Take A Pebble" was not a hit but was an ELP fan favorite from the eponymous debut, and here Lake turns in a shorter and far moodier version -- until after the singing, where instead of random noise, guitarist Florian Opahle lets loose some beautiful acoustic playing, fitting with the new take of the tune.
Some of the pieces are standard live run-throughs, such as "Paper Blood" and "Touch And Go," while the solo piece "Farewell To Arms" is a bit pompous and not terribly exciting. That's the first half of the CD.
The second half is given over to four standard ELP tunes and the best-known King Crimson tune. "Fanfare For The Common Man" is given treatment with a wimpy synthesizer but actually outstrips its studio counterpart because of the electric guitar that backs up the bassline, as well as the guitar solo -- it's a seven-minute adaptation of a Copland piece, but does not feel that long, and it's a highlight here.
But of course "Lucky Man" is here, which just slows the pace down considerably, and the version of "21st Century Schizoid Man" is just sad -- no guitar crunch, no voice box to distort the vocals and an off-kilter drum rhythm during the instrumental break. As this song is a cornerstone of the prog-rock movement, one would have expected Lake to give it better treatment, but the only real excitement comes during an improvised jam in the middle that lasts about a minute.
The show closes with "Pictures At An Exhibition" and "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 2). I have never liked "Pictures," not the original disc, not the re-recorded version on the ELP box set and not this version. To their credit, ELP tried to be interesting most of the time, or at least noisy enough that the annoying pomposity was drowned out, but the entire track is a waste of time here -- and it takes up one-fifth of the CD. Finally, "Karn Evil 9" robs the song of energy, adds background female vocals and a brief drum solo and, well, I just didn't care by that point.
Greg Lake fans, ELP fans and prog-rock enthusiasts might get a kick out of this, but aside from "Court," "Take A Pebble" and "Fanfare" there's not much else to hang one's hat on. Had the track list been less predictable and the songs more energetic, this would come off more like a necessary project and less like an ELP revue for nostalgia's sake.
The package also comes with a DVD called Welcome Backstage, which provides pre-show warmups of six songs. The music is pretty much the same as the final product on the CD, but the rehearsals are played and shot like professional concerts, so for those who want to see these songs played in person this will do. Between the songs are snippets of conversation about the tour and the occasional jam; these are the most fun parts of the disc. If you concentrate hard, you won't notice Lake himself, who is, well, not as skinny as he used to be. Do not buy this DVD on its own, but if you really like the disc, you'll probably watch the DVD only once and enjoy it a little.
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