Track Listing

1. Black Moon
2. Paper Blood
3. Affairs Of The Heart
4. Romeo And Juliet
5. Farewell To Arms
6. Changing States
7. Burning Bridges
8. Close To Home
9. Better Days
10. Footprints In The Snow
11. Black Moon
12. Affairs Of The Heart
13. Paper Blood
14. Romeo And Juliet

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64616 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 59 minutes

CD Description
Returning to the studio after a 14-year layoff, Emerson, Lake & Palmer stripped down their sound and amped up their attack for 1992's BLACK MOON. Its closest sonic cousin is the mid-'80s album Emerson and Lake recorded with drummer Cozy Powell. Sharp digital electronics replace Keith Emerson's classic analog synthesizer sounds, and the fanciful, classical-influenced prog-rock epics of yore are streamlined into a more accessible mainstream rock format, though some traces of the trio's vintage flash still pop up.

Customer Reviews

Emerson Lake & Palmer are back, but not like we remember
Emerson, Lake and Palmer was the first Progressive Rock supergroup, but the glory days are over and the magic is gone when they released this 1992 album, their first studio effort in a dozen years. It is not a question of their technical proficiency, because Keith Emerson remains my favorite keyboard artist and is in fine form, as he shows on "Changing States" and the piano solo on "Close to Home" (this was a few years before hand surgery affected his playing ability). However, from the start of this album with the title song and "Paper Blood" it is clear that these are much simpler songs than we recall from the past, with few bursts of the wonderful complexity for which ELP was rightly known. For me there is also the concern over the aging of Greg Lake's voice, which is really unrecognizable. In the days of my youth that was the voice that I most wanted to have (e.g., the live version of "Lucky Man" on "Welcome Back My Friends"); but instead of my voice becoming more like his it is the other way around, which is not a good thing. That is an admittedly personal problem, but on the professional level Lake is doing less of the songwriting than before and the best track on the album is the adaptation of the classical piece "The Dance of the Knights" from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. "Footprints in the Snow" is a minor Lake composition at best, which is another disappointment. ELP was one of my favorite all-time groups, and hearing them play lesser songs without the fire that made them famous, is just another sign that we are all growing old.

I actually like it quite a lot
Whilst I understand and accept the sentiments of the previous reviewer, I enjoy this album and find it very listenable. In fact, I thought Greg Lake's contribution was far stronger here than in most other albums.

I too remember the "Welcome back" times very strongly indeed. I was there at the Stoke (Trentham Gardens)gig and it remains a and possibly the, benchmark live show of my life. Black Moon is simpler but more melodic and I like to think of it as a more mature and rounded ELP that I can listen to, that seems to have aged at the same rate as myself. Don't get me wrong, I still listen to Aquatarkus live and at unhealthy volumes too - but that is a more solitary thing like err... self abuse :-) This album still contains the qualities of the essential ELP but in maybe more melodic form and shorter tracks. I think Lake shines on this album and is supported by two of the most able musicians on the planet. It is good to hear Emerson playing more slowly and here, the spaces between the notes are the thing that gets it for me. You might loathe it - But you might love it. If you are a fan of ELP, then I do rate it as an important addition to any collection and one that although slightly different, goes back to the core of ELP as musicians, rather than technicians or maybe even technocrats. It is certainly more accessible, but less self indulgent than many releases beforehand. I would go for it.