Emerson, Lake & Powell Live In Concert Tracks: 1. The Score 2. Touch & Go 3. Knife Edge 4. Pirates 5. From The Beginning 6. Lucky Man 7. Fanfare For The Common Man 8. Mars Bringer Of War/Drum Solo 9. Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression/America/Rondo Line up: Keith Emerson - keyboards Greg Lake - vocals, bass, guitars Cozy Powell - drums Record Label / Year of Release: Manticore Records 2003 Notes: Emerson, Lake & Powell, sometimes abbreviated as ELPowell, were an English rock band, an offshoot or variant lineup of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, that released one official studio album in 1986. Keith Emerson and Greg Lake had planned to re-form the original ELP in 1985 but drummer Carl Palmer was unavailable because of contractual obligations to Asia. After auditioning a series of drummers unwilling to commit to the band, they approached Cozy Powell, a longtime friend of Emerson's, to replace him. The band have always insisted that it was a coincidence that his surname also happened to start with a P, thus allowing the band to retain its original initials, although they also joked about looking for a "Gene Prupa" and having approached "Phil Pollins" and "Ringo Parr" before Powell agreed to join. Shortly into recording, Emerson's barn studio was destroyed by a runaway tractor, requiring some parts of the album be rerecorded, leading him to joke, "Perhaps we should have called it 'Emerson, Lake & Plow!'" The band's self-titled studio album was a return to the familiar ELP style, with long progressive rock suites, mellow ballads and a classical theme (Mars, the Bringer of War by Gustav Holst). One song, "The Score", even references the lyric "Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends" from ELP's "Karn Evil 9: First Impression" (on the album Brain Salad Surgery). Initially, when the record company suggested that the group perform "Mars," Emerson refused, saying it would be like ELP Plays the Classics or Richard Clayderman Plays 'Clair de Lune'. After Powell showed him a video of one of his former bands playing the number, however, Emerson agreed to try it. In live performance the band of course also performed classic ELP and Nice material. The band's live tour was marred by a dispute which led to the band firing its management, and "ELPowell" disbanded without recording a second album. Emerson rejoined Palmer and with Robert Berry formed the band 3 in 1988, before the original ELP lineup reformed for 1992's album Black Moon, which bears some stylistic similarities to the Emerson, Lake & Powell album. Some ELPowell studio rehearsals and live recordings found their way onto bootlegs in the 1990s. The material was subsequently remastered and given an official release on two 2003 CDs, available via the ELP website. Cozy Powell died on April 5, 1998, following a car crash while driving his Saab 9000 at 104 mph in bad weather on the M4 motorway near Bristol. This recording was captured at the Lakeland, Florida Civic Arena on 11/4/86. The band recorded under considerable duress as they fired its management mid-way through the tour due to several booking and administrative snafus. Though some dates on the tour were lost, the band quickly took control and forged ahead. Emerson played some of his best solos and Lake was arguably in his best live singing voice ever on this tour. ELPowell Live in Concert is a testament to how impressive the band was. It was not the same ELP all of us had come to know and love (and many of the classic ELP songs like "Lucky Man" were changed considerably for this tour), but the presence of Powell provided a metallic fury to the overall sound which is clearly evident on tracks like "Touch & Go" and "Mars Bringer of War." Shortly after the tour ended, Emerson re-grouped with Palmer for the band called "3" and in 1991 Emerson, Lake & Palmer finally reunited. Sadly, before the decade would finish, Cozy Powell would die in a car accident on a London Highway. This record is a tribute to his powerful drumming. The original tapes were produced by Greg Lake and come from his own private collection.