Emerson, Lake Palmer - 1993 - The Return Of The Manticore (4 CD) 192

A superb 4 CD collection of ELP tracks spanning their entire career uptot he point of release. This box set is a good mix of obvious tracks,plus a creditable number usually omitted from other ELP compilations.

Discone opens with re-workings of tracks from the band members individualpasts, such as “21st century schizoid man” (Lake), “Rondo” (Emerson),and “Fire” (Palmer). Other than providing historical references, thesetracks don’t really add to or improve upon the originals, not does thereworking of Emerson Lake and Powell’s “Touch and Go.”

The studio version of a shortened “Pictures at an exhibition” (which also appears on “In the hot seat”), is however excellent.

Ifyou’re looking for a quick way to investigate the music of ELP andhappen to spot this set at a reasonable price, this is well worth theinvestment. The downside is that you will probably end up buying theoriginal albums anyway!

As is customary with box sets of this nature, the package contains a well presented book, with track details and a band history.