Search - Emerson Lake & Palmer :: Manticore Vaults 1

The only way to experience ELP....

Gerard Sparaco | Little Valley, NY United States | 09/23/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The common wisdom regarding ELP's bootleg series is that it's for the hardcore fan, the one who is willing to wade through inferior audience recordings. I disagree with that and would say that the Bootleg series are the place to begin investigating ELP. Rock and roll, and especially prog rock, and even more especially Emerson Lake and Palmer, are best experienced live. And since they are no longer touring as a band, it is only through the bootlegs where you can hear what a devestating live band they really were. I've been a fan since the late 70's, and I do not own a single studio disc. I discovered them with the Pictures LP, and also owned the Welcome Back triple LP set.
The bootleg vol 1 covers shows from their infancy. The first show, Stomping Encore, is from Gallic Park in the Bronx from September 1, 1971, just over a year from their world debut at the Isle of Wight festival. For a 1971 audience recording it is very good, especially when compared to audience recordings from other prog rock bands from the same year.
The other three shows, Louisville, Long Beach, and Saragota Springs, all come from 1972. Again, all of the audience recordings are very good to excellent except for the Louisville tape which I would say is fair to good (but still enjoyable).
People complain about the repetitiveness (Tarkus appearing in every show in the two box sets), but what do you expect? That is their magnum opus. What is facinating is to hear Emerson's improvs in the piece. In the Long Beach show, listen to a motive that he later used in Karn Evil 9 (First Impression).
I would recommend this box set to anyone who is curious to hear what ELP sounded like on stage in their young prime."

Waited 30 Years for This!

W. R. Jones | New Port Richey, FL United States | 10/12/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have waited 30 years to hear this again after attending the Bronx NYC show in Gaelic Park! I bought two tickets and could not even give one away (!) because the band was unheard at the time... Well, were my friends feeling foolish shortly after when Tarkus hit the stores. This 7 CD set will take you into the past to hear Keith Emerson play his Moog (patch cords & all!), stab his reverb organ and wrestle it to the stage in a storm of notes... Greg Lake singing like God, and Carl Palmer hammering the skins unlike anyone at the time! This set is long overdue, but better late than never - Thank You guys for all the memories!"

Long Beach is good, but...

JESSE R. MC Glown | Enterprise, AL | 02/12/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Greg Lake, at his website, in response to a question about unreleased vintage ELP concert recordings, said, "Yeah, there's lots of stuff...but ELP has too many live albums out...after a while, it is the same songs over and over" HUH? How many more versions of Tarkus do these two box sets add to that repetition? And redundancy aside, I can't believe the band actually put its blessing on these recordings! Long Beach is surprisingly listenable, especially for a purported 1972 bootleg, but I can't say the same for the rest. Some of this--and I don't care how spirited and inspired the actual performances are--is so badly recorded that I cannot sit through one complete listen! What's all the more frustrating is that Lake himself, at the same website, stated that they had located the original 16-track tapes from the 1972 Mar y Sol concert...!!! Duh, guys...to be so ostensibly concerned about performance and "sonic quality" of ELP live, what gives with this release?! For all you ELP purists that say an inferior recording shouldn't impede experiencing good music: look at the recent releases of the Allman Brothers in Atlanta (1970); Grand Funk's 1971 CD release from Shea Stadium, Detroit, etc; and of course Led Zeppelin's awesome recent CD from Long Beach/The Forum (1972) You CAN have both, folks! Vintage performances PLUS professional recordings from the era. We shouldn't settle for this crap. If anybody wants to make me an offer I can't refuse, contact me...I've already extracted what little is worth listening to here."