Emerson, Lake & Powell

This was supposed to be the Emerson, Lake and Palmer reunion album but due to Carl Palmer's commitment/obligation to ASIA, Cozy Powell sat in on drums (with Carl's blessing).  From the first track, The Score, it is evident that Cozy Powell is not Carl Palmer and to a large degree that is a good thing.  Cozy Powell was a traditional hard rock drummer having played with Rainbow and Deep Purple to name a few bands and he brings a new found energy that had been lacking on the last recordings (Works Vol.1 & 2, Love Beach) before they had broke up.  Also, while I conisider Carl Palmer a good drummer, I have found after listening to ELP, Asia and few other recordings of his, that he has difficulty keeping simple 4/4 or even 3/4 time.  Sometimes the ability to keep it simple is the best method.  The first five tracks, The Score, Learning to Fly, Miracle, Touch & Go (only song to get any radio play) and Love Blind are fast paced, prog rock mixed with hard rock drumming listening that make you not realize that couple of songs are 9 and 7 minutes long.  Unfortunately, it is the last three tracks; Step Aside, LayDown Your Guns and Mars, The Bringer of War, where the wheels fall off.  Step Aside is a jazz tinged number with Cozy Powell playing the brushes on the drums and he sound out of his element which in my opinion he was.  Lay Down Your Guns just plods along and when the song is over, you are thankful it is.  Finally, Mars, the Bringer of War is actually a remake and was first done by King Crimson in the early 1970's which Greg Lake was a part of.  The song is prog rock at its glory, it is bombastic, over the top and complex to it is core.  My CD version has two extra tracks; The Loco-Motion, a remake of the 1960's tune which was first destoyed by Kylie Minogue and does not offer anything special here.  The other track is an outtake, Vacant Possession, which is a good song but understandable why it was left off the record.  So why buy this CD?  In truth, you don't need to like every song on a disc to own it.  As I mentioned, the first five tracks are great and I would bet that anyone familiar with Touch and Go can have the opening keyboard sequence play in their head as you read this.  The disc can be purchased here: Emerson, Lake and Powell