News of Mobile Fidelity’s intent to reissue Emerson, Lake & Palmer albums was greeted with joy by audiophile progressive rock fans, a small but passionate group. Tarkus is supposed to come out down the road, but of course MoFi had to start at the beginning with the band’s debut.

ELP was one of the first successful progressive rock albums, arriving the same year as less-polished albums by Genesis, Pink Floyd and Yes before their classics were recorded, and one year after Greg Lake had left King Crimson after recording In the Court of the Crimson King. Casual fans and classic rock radio listeners likely know it from the hit “Lucky Man,” a gentle acoustic number that climaxes with an overblown synthesizer solo, but that’s actually one of the weaker numbers on the album.

From the outset, ELP knew who they wanted to be, which gives the record a self-assurance but an almost playful feel that’s a far cry from the Serious Statements that would come soon enough. There’s an almost sprightly spring to “Tank,” the midsections of “The Barbarian” and “Take a Pebble,” the offhand vocals to “Knife Edge” and of course the innocence of “Lucky Man,” a feeling that the band soon abandoned in favor of longer epics and endless keyboard solos. It’s a sound that only really came back on Works Vol. 2 but by then it was too late and the world had moved on to punk, disco and arena rock.

All that is to say ELP has a unique sound and feel, and MoFi captures this well in the remaster. Prog rock is a natural fit for an audiophile remastering effort, bringing out the sounds and feel that the band tried to capture; it’s far more appropriate to labor over the sound of an intricate 12-minute multi-part suite than, say, side 2 of Van Halen’s hangover album Fair Warning.

The instruments are sharp and clear throughout, bursting out of the speakers like the band is in the room. The telling point for me was “The Barbarian,” the instrumental opener; the opening section concludes with a very loud guitar (or bass?) chord that holds its note and fades, slowly, into the second half. Fans of the album know exactly the chord I mean. When it burst out of the speaker, my 12-year-old son said “wow” admiringly.

The remaster also clarifies the sonic details; the quieter acoustic pickings of “Take a Pebble” were almost inaudible before if you were talking or on the other side of the room, but now they have been emboldened and balanced with the piano parts that surround it. The approach also works with the church organ on “The Three Fates,” though that number is largely forgotten in any ELP collection (even the four-disc box set), and for good reason. “Tank” also sounds fine, but exists only as a showcase for Carl Palmer’s drums in the middle section instead of an organic part of the track…almost as if they said “Hey, between Emerson wanking around on ‘Fates’ and Greg Lake naively slumming through ‘Lucky Man,’ we didn’t give Carl a chance to show off yet!” (Seriously, Side 1 is much better).

The album itself gets a B; I gave it an A- 20 years ago in my initial review but subsequent listens have rendered the second side less enjoyable. The remaster, though, clarifies and sharpens the details, as well as allowing the album to be issued on vinyl again for the first time in a long while. Fans will love it, though no doubt as a tideover for Tarkus and, possibly, Brain Salad Surgery down the road. Hats off to Mofi for doing a stellar job with this one.

Rating: B

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