ELP Catalog Now Switches Over To Razor & Tie

Holy cow! The Second Disc is reporting that Razor & Tie is now going to be coming out with expanded editions of the basic core catalog of Emerson, Lake & Palmer for 2012. They just seem to be jumping everywhere nowadays.

 

http://theseconddisc.com/

Isn't "The Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Come and See the Show" a 4 year old compilation?

 

WTF? Why would anyone bother licensing the stuff for only a few years? This is as bad as the Elvis Costello catalog...

 

This really is "The Show That Never Ends..."

 

Geez, How many times can these be released and still make a profit ? I would think most everyone who was going to purchase ELP on CD would have the stuff by now , hardcore fans maybe will get these again but I have enough already myself.

 

What mixes are being used? Concerning sales, I'm sure enough "completists" will get them(again) just to own the discs. And they say record/CD buying isn't a sickness!

 

The core catalogue album's best sound seems to have been available in past masterings, so unless some mighty good bonus tracks or really good remastering happen, I feel there may be some disappointment here.
Could I please suggest to Razor and Tie to let Vic Anesini or an excellent mastering engineer at the original master tapes
1. The self titled album seems to be well mastered in both Victory/Rhino and Shout Factory versions
2. Tarkus was well done in the original Atlantic, Victory/Rhino and Mobile Fidelity versions. Please don't just re-issue the Shout Factory copy - it's really poor, as it has added distortion present on tracks that was not there in prior editions.
3. Pictures At An Exhibition was well served by the Atlantic and Victory/Rhino releases.
4. As for Trilogy, I'm still not sure how to remaster this one successfully. There are no releases that stand out as a good benchmark as all are faulty for one reason or another.
5. Brain Salad Surgery needs the general equalisation settings of the Barry Diament CD with the tapes used for the Victory/Rhino mastering. Only then, will we get an album with the bass oomph AND treble restraint that album really needs.
6. With respect to Welcome Back My Friends, please use the original master tapes (not the NoNoised mess that has been used for many years since the original Japanese Atlantic CD release) and add the Pictures At An Exhibition encore finally.

 

There was a time when this news likely would have meant that Steve would have been remastering these albums. They should bring him back.

 

SIGH! We wish!

 

I need some ELP in my collection. What is the best mastered "Best of" c.d. available?

 

what happened with the ELP in 5.1 thread?

 

Buump

 

it seems like their catalog gets remastered every 2 years

 

If I were you, I would look through John's list above. I wouldn't like a greatest hits ELP. I don't think it would flow like their albums did. Buy the self-titled, Trilogy, Tarkus, Brian Salad Surgery, Pictures at an Exhibition or Welcome Back My Friends...... Any of these you can't go wrong with IMHO.

 

I would like to intially see a 2 CD greatest hits type of compilation, replacing some studio versions with live tracks from the various 1990's tours, especially a "live" verson of ELPowell's "Touch and Go", then about a year later a release of "Brain Salad Surgery" with no bonus material at all but with inserts touting the next line of releases in 2014. Then in the 4th quarter of 2014 the catalog gets sold to Concord Music Group which anounces a 2CD greatest hits compilation just in time for the 2015 holiday season.

 

I'd go with the original Atlantic mastering of The Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer either standard or Target pressing if sound quality is of any importance to you.

I can't agree with John on Tarkus because I have yet to hear any good sounding pressing of it on CD "if" it even exists. There are issues with the S/T album but they aren't bad enough to say "eeew, I'll never listen to that again." Hopefully, fingers crossed, Razor & Tie can get us some nice smooth/analog sounding CDs from their run.

 

To answer your question, I would go with The Atlantic Years, mastered by Joe Gastwirt. Best track selection IMO. The first part of Karn Evil 9 has some drop-outs though.

 

Hopefully they'll do a mono fold down of the entire catalog, and compress it really hard!!

 

Wake me when 5.1 is confirmed.

I've bought these titles a few times too many.

 

.

 

+1.

 

The newest Classic Rock Presents Prog magazine also confirms that deluxe editions of the albums ELP, Tarkus, and Trilogy are all due later this year. No mention of BSS, Pictures, or Welcome Back though.
(Actually still no mention of 5.1 for any of the albums...)

 

Why?

 

There is no way I am buying any of these titles again.

 

Might be (-;