Late last year, the news that Emerson. Lake & Palmer has signed the global rights to their complete catalog over to Germany’s BMG label was announced along with the promise to reissue the first seven albums from that grand catalog. Well, that promise is about to come true.
On July 29, BMG will reissue the first three ELP albums (Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Tarkus, Pictures At An Exhibition), as well as a massive 3CD career-spanning collection, Emerson, Lake & Palmer – The Anthology.
The first two albums (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and Tarkus)will be reissued as 2CD sets that will include (as I understand it) the 2012 Steven Wilson remasters and remixes of each set. If you have already attained earlier reissues of these, then these may not be all that exciting for you. Still, keeping the band in the light as they have managed to be kept since their Shout! Factory reissues, to me, is a good thing. Pictures At An Exhibition, however, will be reissued with a new 2016 remaster of the original album, plus add in the bonus track of the five-part “Pictures At An Exhibition” as performed at the Mar Y Sol Festival in Puerto Rico on December 4, 1972. The second CD will offer a fifteen-track Live set, Live At the Lyceum Theatre, London, December 9, 1970.
What is most of interest to me is the 3CD Anthology package. It’s is expected to contain 39 tracks and to be cased in a specially designed book-styled housing. This will present new liner notes, more photographs, and potentially other good things.
BMG will reissue Trilogy, Brain Salad Surgery, and Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never End…Ladies And Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake & Palmer later in 2016.
Yes, it’s true that the catalog featuring the great albums of ELP have already been remastered and reissued extensively. But you still have the power of choice.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970)
CD1:
Original album with 2012 SW remaster
01 – The Barbarian
02 – Take A Pebble
03 – Knife Edge
04 – The Three Fates:
05 – Clotho – Royal Festival Hall Organ
06 – Lachesis – Piano Solo
07 – Atropos – Piano Trio
08 – Tank
09 – Lucky Man
CD2:
Alternative 2012 SW Stereo mix
01 – The Barbarian
02 – Take A Pebble
03 – Knife Edge
04 – Promenade
05 – The Three Fates: Atropos
06 – Rave Up
07 – Drum Solo
08 – Lucky Man
09 – Take A Pebble (Alternate Take)
10 – Knife Edge (Alternate Take)
11 – Lucky Man (First Greg Lake Solo Version)
12 – Lucky Man (Alternate Version)
Tarkus (1971)
CD1:
Original album with 2012 SW remaster
01 – Tarkus
02 – Eruption
03 – Stones Of Years
04 – Iconoclast
05 – Mass
06 – Manticore
07 – Battlefield
08 – Aquatarkus
09 – Jeremy Bender
10 – Bitches Crystal
11 – The Only Way (Hymn)
12 – Infinite Space (Conclusion)
13 – A Time And A Place
14 – Are You Ready Eddy?
CD2:
Alternative 2012 SW Stereo mix
01 – Tarkus
02 – Eruption
03 – Stones Of Years
04 – Iconoclast
05 – Mass
06 – Manticore
07 – Battlefield
08 – Aquatarkus
09 – Jeremy Bender
10 – Bitches Crystal
11 – The Only Way (Hymn)
12 – Infinite Space (Conclusion)
13 – A Time And A Place
14 – Are You Ready Eddy?
15 – Oh, My Father
16 – Unknown Ballad
17 – Mass (Alternate Take)
Pictures At An Exhibition (1971)
CD1:
Original album 2016 Remaster
01 – Promenade (Pt. 1)
02 – The Gnome
03 – Promenade (Pt. 2)
04 – The Sage
05 – The Old Castle
06 – Blues Variation
07 – Promenade (Pt. 3)
08 – The Hut Of Baba Yaga (Pt. 1)
09 – The Curse Of Baba Yaga
10 – The Hut Of Baba Yaga (Pt. 2)
11 – The Great Gates Of Kiev
12 – Nut Rocker
Bonus track
Live at the Mar Y Sol Festival, Puerto Rico, December 4, 1972
13 – Pictures At An Exhibition (Medley):
i. Promenade
ii. The Hut Of Baba Yaga
iii. The Curse Of Baba Yaga
iv. The Hut Of Baba Yaga
v. The Great Gates Of Kiev
CD2:
Live At The Lyceum Theatre, London, Dec 9, 1970
01 – Promenade (Pt. 1)
02 – The Gnome
03 – Promenade (Pt. 2)
04 – The Sage
05 – The Old Castle
06 – Blues Variation
07 – Promenade (Pt. 3)
08 – The Hut Of Baba Yaga (Pt. 1)
09 – The Curse Of Baba Yaga
10 – The Hut Of Baba Yaga (Pt. 2)
11 – The Great Gates Of Kiev
12 – The Barbarian
13 – Knife Edge
14 – Rondo
15 – Nut Rocker
Emerson, Lake & Palmer: The Anthology (2016)
CD1:
01 – The Barbarian
02 – Take A Pebble
03 – Knife Edge
04 – Lucky Man
05 – Tank
06 – Tarkus:
i. Eruption
ii. Stones Of Years
iii. Iconoclast
iv. Mass
v. Manticore
vi. Battlefield
vii. Aquatarkus
07 – Bitches Crystal
08 – The Only Way (Hymn)
09 – Infinite Space (Conclusion)
10 – A Time And A Place
CD2:
01 – The Sage (Live at Newcastle City Hall, 1971)
02 – The Great Gates Of Kiev (Live at Newcastle City Hall, 1971)
03 – Nutrocker (Live at Newcastle City Hall, 1971)
04 – The Endless Enigma (Part 1)
05 – From The Beginning
06 – The Sheriff
07 – Hoedown
08 – Abaddon’s Bolero
09 – Jerusalem
10 – Toccata
11 – Still… You Turn Me On
12 – Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 1
13 – Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2
14 – Toccata (Live In Anaheim, 1974)
CD3:
01 – Piano Concerto No.1 (1st Movement) (Allegro Giojoso)
02 – Fanfare For The Common Man
03 – Brain Salad Surgery
04 – I Believe In Father Christmas
05 – Honky Tonk Train Blues
06 – Peter Gunn (Live – 1977/1978)
07 – C’est La Vie (Live at Olympic Stadium, Montreal, 1977)
08 – Love Beach
09 – Canario
10 – The Pirates (Live in Nassau 1978)
11 – Affairs Of The Heart
12 – Romeo And Juliet
13 – Hand Of Truth
15 – Paper Blood (Live)
16 – Tiger In A Spotlight (Live – NOW Tour: 1997/1998)