Emerson Lake and Palmer
Trilogy Deluxe Edition (Sony Music Entertainment UK, 2015)
At last, Emerson Lake and Palmer’s Trilogy reappears as a deluxe three-disc collection. Trilogy was one of the progressive rock trio’s finest recordings. Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP) had matured as musicians and composers, delivering and outstanding set of recordings.
Trilogy includes a balanced mix of state of the art symphonic progressive rock and exquisite ballads, as well as the usual humorous Keith Emerson ragtime song played on an out of tune piano.
Disc 1 includes the original 1972 album. “Trilogy” opens with the classically-inspired epic “The Endless Enigma (Part One)”. The introductions features synthesizer, piano and drums that segue into Keith Emerson’s electric organ, supported by Palmer’s vibrant and creative drum patterns delivering spectacular instrumental passages. Lake joins in on vocals and bass.
Track 2, “Fugue” features an instrumental piano performance by Emerson supported by bass and drums. It segues into “The Endless Enigma (Part Two)” where Lake returns on vocal.
The fourth cut is a beautiful acoustic guitar ballad titled “From the Beginning” that became very popular and was played frequently in classic rock radio stations.
“The Sheriff” begins with the classic electric organ, bass and drums configurations, but it concludes with a gun shot and a ragtime piano section.
Track 6, “Hoedown” is another classical music-inspired composition with Keith Emerson leading the show on electric organ and synths, inspired by an Aaron Copland symphonic piece.
The title track “Trilogy” begins with a piano ballad that progresses into a synthesizer-dominated section.
Track 8, “Living Sun” features some of the best vocal work by Greg Lake, including some interesting effects and overdubs. The masterful keyboard work recalls some of the finest moments in “Tarkus.”
The final piece is titled “Abaddon’s Bolero”. It’s a heroic instrumental piece that begins at a very low sound level and grows in volume and intensity. It’s the track that features more overdubs in the album, with masterful layers of new keyboards added incrementally, reaching an epic grand finale stacked with layers of synths, organ and piano.
The lineup on “Trilogy” included Greg Lake on vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, and bass; Keith Emerson on Hammond organ C3, Steinway piano, Moog synthesizers and zoukra ; and Carl Palmer on drums and percussion.
Disc 2 features “Trilogy” with a different track new sequence and a new stereo mix. The result of this new mix is excellent. On this disc, “From the Beginning” opens the album and appears with a different synthesizer solo. It’s equally as good as the original one and will be a real treat for ELP fans.
Although the first two ELP albums were remixed by progressive rock musician and prestigious engineer Steven Wilson, this time British multi-instrumentalist Jakko Jakszyk (King Crimson) was in charge of the new stereo and 5.1 mixes. Disc 3 contagions a DVDA with the 5.1 surround mix.
Trilogy is yet another progressive rock classic that belongs in the pantheon of some of the finest rock albums of the 1970s.
Buy Trilogy Deluxe Edition in North America
Buy Trilogy in Europe