Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy, live at the Park Theatre, Holland, Michigan, September 30, 2017.

by Rick Krueger

What does it feel like to be the last man standing?  Other than a few heartfelt but brief words between pieces, Carl Palmer didn’t say much about his late bandmates Keith Emerson and Greg Lake last night.  Instead, he let the music do the talking, digging deeper into the unique way he’s presented the work of ELP for the last 15 years, revealing just how audacious this repertoire really is.

Palmer, guitarist Paul Bielatowicz and bass/Stick player Simon Fitzpatrick crammed the stage of this tiny 130-year-old theater, knocking back the 200-strong audience with their opening take on Aaron Copland’s “Hoedown.”   All the strong points of ELP’s barnstorming arrangement were note-perfect — the wailing synth glides, the driven organ flourishes, the burbling low-end work, the tongue-in-cheek folk-tune quotes — stylishly reshaped into fretboard fireworks, delightedly sailing over Palmer’s busy, irresistible drive.  Given that neoclassical shredmeisters like Yngwie Malmsteen acknowledged their debt to Emerson & Palmer’s virtuosity back in the 1980s, the approach makes an odd kind of sense — defiantly different than expectations, but coming from an intriguing angle that made for some cool surprises.

The biggest surprise was how adaptable so much of the ELP catalog turned out to be.  Focusing on music from the debut album, Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery, along with tributes to Emerson’s work in the Nice and Lake’s contribution to King Crimson, the first set ran a broad gamut of moods.  It certainly helped to have players of Bielatowicz & Fitzpatrick’s caliber — for example, as the guitarist took the lyrical piano licks of “Trilogy’s” opening, the bassist “sang” Lake’s vocal lines on his high strings with precision and passion.  “Jerusalem” flipped their roles, Bielatowicz grabbing the vocal and organ parts, Fitzpatrick simultaneously laying down bass lines and synthesizer flourishes on his Stick.  Each of them also got a chance to shine by themselves: Fitzpatrick duetted with Palmer on a stirring “Take A Pebble;” Bielatowicz closed the first half with a meditative solo version of Debussy’s “Clair de lune.”  Palmer matched the mood throughout, always attentive and focused whether banging out intense grooves or making his cymbals sing.

For the second half Palmer & company wheeled out the big guns: the full-length ELP arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, with the trio obviously fired up by the stop and start rhythms of “Promenade” and “The Gnome,” the muted menace of “The Sage” (illustrated by video screen photos of Rasputin?), the rollercoaster moods of “The Old Castle/Blues Variation” (complete with Bill Evans/Jim Hall quotes) & “The Hut/Curse of Baba Yaga,” and the grandeur of “The Great Gate of Kiev.”  “Fanfare for the Common Man” followed, climaxed by Palmer’s exploding into his long-awaited epic-length solo.

At 67, the man is still overwhelming on his instrument, a monster technician and an unstoppable force of nature, moving from brain-melting polyrhythms to playful showmanship on his ride cymbal to giving his twin gongs the whacking of their lives.  With Neil Peart and Bill Bruford in retirement, I’d argue there is no more amazing and impressive rock drummer onstage today (though Gavin Harrison is right up there).   With a speedy, whimsically crazed encore of “Nutrocker,” Palmer and his sidekicks took their bows, promptly retiring to the merch table for greetings, autographs and fist bumps (pre-concert announcement: “Please do not shake Carl’s hand or give him a high five”).  All in all, great value for money, an unmissable chance to see a legend from 50 feet away, and an evening of serious fun.

Setlist:

Hoedown
Peter Gunn
Karn Evil 9, First Impression, Part Two
The Barbarian
Trilogy
America
Knife-Edge
21st Century Schizoid Man
Jerusalem
Take a Pebble (Fitzpatrick/Palmer duet)
Lucky Man
Clair de lune (Bielatowicz solo)

Carmina Burana/Rondo
Pictures at an Exhibition
Fanfare for the Common Man with drum solo

Nutrocker

 

Never felt like this before
Like the window in the water
Worlds of worthy sacrifice
But you made me feel alive
Like the light through dreamers eyes
I’m taking what I need
— Caligula’s Horse, “Dream the Dead”

Ever since hearing Moments From Ephemeral City back in 2011, I’ve looked forward to every release from Caligula’s Horse, the outstanding progressive quintet from Brisbane, Queensland. I didn’t write a proper review of that first release, but did say, “First, that’s a great band name. Secondly, that’s a good album title. Third, the music is just as inventive and attention-grabbing. Finally, the 12-minutes song ‘Alone in the World’ is one of my favorite songs of the year.”

That fabulous song contains all the ingredients that continue to shine forth in the band’s subsequent releases: a heavy-soft dynamic rooted squarely on founder and producer Sam Vallen’s stunning guitar work, a dark-light dynamic flowing from singer Jim Grey’s rich and expressive vocals, complex longer songs mixed with more immediate and very melodic shorter songs, and opaque lyrics containing a mixture of “the usual” (angst, love, fear, hope) and unusual (classical and historical references, musings on religion and spirituality). To my ear, these guys are really a cut or two above in terms of songcraft; every single solo or instrumental passage serves the greater good. There is no noodling or showing off, even though everyone has chops to burn.

Not to oversimplify, but it seems to me that most (most, not all) really good to great progressive rock bands have a riveting combination of distinctive vocals and guitar work. Vallen and Grey are world class in their respective crafts; in fact, Grey has shown in his work with the now-defunct Arcane that his distinctive pipes will stand out in any context; he discusses both bands in this excellent August 2015 interview. (Speaking of Arcane, the band’s final album, Known/Learned, is one of the finest prog albums of the past few years.) Grey is a vocalist with a remarkable combination of technical skill, as evidenced in his perfect control and pitch, and emotive impact; he can convey anger, vulnerability, joy, despair, and ecstasy with stunning ease, often on the turn of a dime.

I thought that 2013’s The Tide, The Thief & River’s End was a landmark album for the band (see my Progarchy.com review) and that Bloom continued the positive trajectory. In Contact proves the band is incapable of producing anything less than exceptional, and it is arguably their best work to date. In fact, I likely would say it is their best—period—save for the inclusion of an annoying and momentum-killing three-minute-long spoken track #8 (“Inertia and the Weapon of the Wall”), which I skip on every listen.

The opener, “Dream the Dead,” begins with a salvo of soaring guitar and then segues into a melodic verse over a little riff containing hints of Daniel Lanois, then building upon the heavy-soft/dark-like dynamics mentioned earlier. “Will’s Song” is, to my ears, the most run-of-the-mill cut, with some basic djent riffing and shouted choruses. But the rest of the album (again, save cut #8) is either above average or outstanding. “The Hands are the Hardest” has a wealth of great tones, a wonderful guitar solo, and a melancholic yet rousing series of choruses and bridges. “Love Conquers All” is a pithy and lovely tune featuring Grey at his most vulnerable:

The beast that I have become
Could set me free of this
If only I had the time
If only these hands were mine

It fades away far too quickly, giving way to “Song for No One,” which is, along with the final song, the nearly 16-minute-long “Graves,” the heart of the album:

“Capulet” returns to a more subdued, acoustic-ish soundscape before “Fill My Heart” embarks on a yearning, mid-tempo slow burn that features some tasteful drumming from newcomer Josh Griffin; the final three minutes are a perfect example of the Vallen-Grey interplay, with impressive leads by both. “The Cannon’s Mouth” lives up to the name, with a series propulsive, shot-like riffs and soaring vocals. The epic closer “Graves” brings it all together, with a masterful musical arc, a lush series of a cappella harmonies, a ear-worm chorus, devastating shredding by Vallen, and final barrage of heavy riffs and atmospheric vocalizing:

My take: this is one of the best prog releases of the year. Unless spoken word is your thing, I recommend skipping track #8 and enjoying yet another impressive effort from the best-named band from Down Under.