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If you asked anyone who the best
keyboard player in rock is, Keith Emerson's name would crop
up more often than not. His groundbreaking work with Emerson
Lake & Palmer or the Nice dosen't need to be raked over again-
the legendary albums, shows and stories speak for themselves.
He pioneered the first synthesizers. He welded rock with classical,
jazz and the avant garde. He sold records by the truckload.
A big hand for Mr. Emerson!***
His solo output is another story.
Most of these were solo projects with varying degrees of inconsistancy:
a Christmas album, a boogie woogie album(Honky), a piano album,
and countless soundtracks to various B movies. The best of
it was instrumental. A shame Emerson never really found his
ground as a solo artist. There was always so much potential:
where's Piano Concerto #2? Emerson is a fine composer. Perhaps
he could have left rock music entirely and concentrated on
other genres. When he does return, as with all of the ELP
guys, it's always to promote something related to the past.
C'mon, Keith. Give us something NEW. That said, with the exception
of some of the vocal bits, this is an enjoyable collection
which at least has a bit of variety. Just don't expect to
hear anything along the lines of Karn Evil 9 Third Impression.***
'OFF THE SHELF' is a sort of 'odds
& sods' type record full of rarities and unreleased goodies-
a sort of WORKS Vol. 3, if you will. It's mostly a mixed bag,
so you'll get some gems as well as some real clunkers as well.
As you can imagine, the instrumental bits are delicious slabs
of prime Emerson keyboard playing- ranging from alternate
versions of ELP standards to reflective and emotional piano
pieces to cool jazz workouts. A lot of variety without a doubt.
As with most of Keith Emerson's solo output, things take a
turn for the worse when vocals are involved, and the music
can come off cheezy in the worst Rick Wakeman type way. Fortunately,
a great portion of this album is instrumental. The jazz bits
are strong, and his piano work is always great. Everybody
remembers Emerson for the moogs and hammonds and bombastic
antics on stage. But some of his best playing, which I might
gather is closer to his heart, can be found whenever he sits
down at the piano. But here, he covers all the bases, so you'l
hear his organ and synths as well. This is also a decent second
solo album to buy. Your first should be either CHANGING STATES(1995),
a similar album, or the HAMMER IT OUT anthology that came
out last year.***
The tracks are: ABADDON'S BOLERO:
the 'bolero' from ELP's TRILOGY album gets the orchestral
treatment here, and, as you can imagine, it's powerful and
bombastic with regal pomp. One personal gripe- the synth at
the end of the piece worked great for the ELP 'band' version.
Perhaps Keith should have transcribed that bit for another
instrument, making the Bolero a more 'traditional' arrangement.
But I suppose it's integral to the piece. And for those who
wondered what the heck 'Abaddon' is, I believe it means 'The
Destroyer' or 'bringer of chaos' or something like that. Those
doomy ELP boys...***
PICTURES OF AN EXIBIT: yet another
version of Mussorgsky's phenomenal work- the first three bits.
This version is just Keith with synths, and is more low key-
more in spirit to the original work. The 'GNOME' section is
a little more electronic, however. With only a short section
of 'Pictures' presented here, it's a shame he never finished
more of it. As Mussorgsky's work was originally a piano suite,
it would have been great to hear Keith's versions of some
of the other 'pictures' he didn't tackle with ELP(Ballet of
the Chickens in their Shells, The Two Jews, Catacombs, etc.).***
AND THEN JANUARY: refelective and
impressionistic piano piece, with some synth orchestration.
Keith is often at his best as a pianist and composer.***
RIO: Brazilian sounding track with
a fusion flavoring which would not have been out of place
on one of Patrick Moraz' early solo albums. Some good tricky
arrangements marred a bit by ridiculous and indecipherable
vocals which sound like munchkins dancing around on an island.***
STRAIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES: it gets
worse. This one is a funky rock/boogie number originally intended
for a film, and features members of The Band. Rather ordinary
and uninspired, a complete throwaway.***
DON'T BE CRUEL: hmmm. Not what
you would admit to liking if you were to consider yourself
a ELP fanatic. A strangely slowed-down and almost unrecognizable
version of Elvis' 'Don't Be Cruel'. Yes, that's right. Don't
Be Cruel, just drastically altered and slowed down into an
ominous bluesy and atmospheric track. Oddly, it somewhat works.***
AU PRIVAVE: How come this didn't
surface sooner? It was recorded by the same jazzers who recorded
the 'HONKY TONK TRAIN BLUES' single with Emerson back then
for the second WORKS album. Though Emerson himself plays some
tasteful piano improv, the track is a full band participation
effort. He shares lick-space with the other instruments, so
what you have here isn't a solo Emerson piece so much as Emerson
playing some hot jazz with pals. And yes, this jazz is smokin'.***
WALTER L: also from the same sessions
and a bit more in Emerson's ball park. This is some more jazz,
though this time Keith doesn't hesitate in adding some ornary-sounding
moog synths which fart and grunt over some tasty horns, as
well as some soulful hammond organ as well. It's almost a
fusion of the 1973 ELP and the WORKS-era ELP at some sort
of crossroads showdown.***
RHYTHM-A-TING: another jazz bit(
a Thelonius Monk tune) is more updated yet dated sounding(the
synth drum). Nice saxophone though.***
ASIAN PEAR: from the same session
as the Monk tune. This one is musically similar to perhaps
his Christmas album, with dreamy textures and electronic-symphonic
overtones. Again, a guest on saxophone enhances the piece.***
MOTOR BIKIN': Emerson on some of
his more modern synthsesizers. This music was eventually worked
into his soundtrack for the Sylvester Stallone movie 'NIGHTHAWKS'.***
AMERICA: the Bernstein piece made
famous during his days with The Nice. This is a new version
which features Pat Travers, who offers some rock & roll guitar
noodling. It's ok, but it doesn't touch any of the versions
from The Nice. ELP's versions never touched them either.***
LUMPY GRAVY: yes, the Frank Zappa
piece. This track is a dusty one from the vaults performed
by The Nice themselves back in the day(1968?) and the sound
quality is less than hi-fi but still enjoyable enough.***
UP THE ELEPHANT AND ROUND THE CASTLE:
a ragtime piece which would not have sounded out of place
on Emerson's first solo album, HONKY(1980) had it not been
marred by cheezy vocals and drums, and instead sounds close
to some of Rick Wakeman's corniest moments.***
SEX & DRUGS & ROLL: the Ian Dury
and the Blockheads track, so perhaps Mr. Emerson had a little
punk in him after all. Not bad, and makes you wonder why Emerson
didn't go the ULTRAVOX route back in the 80's. Or at least
the ASIA route. Cozy Powell is on drums here.***
So that's the new Emerson album
in a nutshell, and until he comes up with Piano Concerto #2
or something new and substantial, this will do very nicely.***
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