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Emerson Lake and Palmer (or ELP for short) released its fifth (and final proper for 14 years) studio album Love Beach in November of 1978.
By 1978, progressive rock was at an ID crisis mode thanks to Punk and New Wave coming in plus the arena rock bands and hard rock/metal sent prog rock running for cover. Genesis switched to shorter songs after becoming a three piece for And Then There Were Three with success (going Gold and first US Top 20 album). Yes released the Top 10 charting Tormato which had short songs as well and many griped they sold out to the New Wave influences. Jethro Tull released the superb Heavy Horses and the highly recommended live album Bursting Out. The Moody Blues released Octave (their last album with Mike Pinder). Pink Floyd's music writers David Gilmour and the late Rick Wright each released their first solo albums (Gilmour's self-titled debut was a US Top 30 Gold selling hit while Wright's Wet Dream sadly tanked). Canadian rockers Rush released the brilliant Hemispheres. Also, American acts like Kansas and Styx were keeping prog alive in the US with Two For the Show and Pieces of Eight respectively.
This leaves us with the other behemoths of prog ELP (keyboard player Keith Emerson, singer/bass player/guitarist Greg Lake and drummer Carl Palmer) whom were tired and burned out by 1978. After the somewhat disappointing sales of Works Volume II (Volume I was a hit) and the disastrous Works Tour which the band scrapped its plans of touring with an orchestra after tickets weren't selling like they used to, the band went to Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas to record one more album for Atlantic Records. Titled Love Beach, the album was quickly ignored by fans who hated the album's cover (the band admittedly looking like a disco act but it's no disco album folks). The title kept fans away as well. When I first bought the CD in January of 1997 after hearing half of the album on The Atlantic Years and Return of the Manticore, I plunked down $5 for a used CD copy (which was practically brand new as someone bought it, opened it and turned it in). I know it's not the first four classic studio albums (self titled, Tarkus, Trilogy nor Brain Salad Surgery) but has held up well unlike many things out in 1978.
We open with the excellent "All I Want Is You" which is a great opening number. This upbeat rocker did come out as a single but sadly tanked in the time of disco trife like "Boogie Oogie Oogie" and "Grease". The title cut is next and is a great rocker and musically a great song. Next is "Taste of My Love" which has lyrics that would make people like Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga jealous that they couldn't either sing or even write. "The Gambler" is next and is a great shuffle which is "The Sheriff" and "Benny the Bouncer" of the album. "For You" is next and a great piece which saw great use of guitar synthesizers (I first heard on Return of the Manticore and persuaded me to give Love Beach a chance). The first half closes with "Canario" (I first heard on the 2-CD Atlantic Years best of) which was a stellar reading of Rodrigo's guitar composition in the tradition of ELP's Copland adaptation "Hoedown".
The second half of the album composes of the four part epic "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman" (which I first heard on the Return of the Manticore box set and loved immediately). This twenty-minute epic is an excellent epic. The first part is "Prologue" (the piano and voice)/"The Education of a Gentleman" (the drums, syntesizers, guitars come in with voice and piano) with lyrics that tells us the story of a World War II soldier. "Love at First Sight" tells of our hero finding love accompanied by piano, acoustic guitar and (at the end) drums and synthesizers. "Letters From the Front" starts with drums, 8-string bass and keyboards and our hero getting love letters from his beloved before tragedy befalls our hero and ends with the fact that respect and honor doesn't make up for losing loved ones. The epic ends with the fittingly titled "Honourable Company" finds both Emerson and Palmer playing superbly.
Love Beach did go Gold on advance orders in early 1979 but the album peaked at a dismal #55 on the US charts. Today, the album has held up better than many albums recorded in 1978, especially the remastered CD which sounds warm and crisp.
RECOMMENED TO OPEN MINDED ELP FANS!
