Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Love Beach (1978) (vinyl Lp) - €10,00

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"Love Beach" is the seventh studio album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. 

It was released on 17 November 1978 by Atlantic Records as their final studio album released prior to their split in the following year. 

By the end of their 1977–1978 North American tour internal relations had started to deteriorate, but the group were contractually required to produce one more album. 

They retreated to Nassau, Bahamas as tax exiles to record Love Beach with lyricist Peter Sinfield who is credited as a co-writer of each track. 

After Greg Lake and Carl Palmer had finished recording their parts they left the island, leaving Keith Emerson to finish the album himself.

Lyricist Peter Sinfield, who had worked with Lake in King Crimson and on his collection of songs on Works Volume 1, was asked by band manager Stewart Young to join them in Nassau and assist Lake in writing the lyrics. 

Though frictions had arisen between Sinfield and Lake by this time Sinfield thought a break would be good for him and accepted; however, because of the limited amount of time he had, he requested that he work alone. 

Upon arrival, Sinfield found the group were barely talking to each other and he left the island when he was finished working on the album. 

Lake and Palmer followed suit after they had put down their parts, leaving Emerson who put "the whole album together ... and sent it off"

The first side of the album consists of short, pop-oriented tracks mostly penned by Lake and Sinfield. Record World said that the single "All I Want Is You" "has a powerful bass line, picturesque lyrics and Lake's eerily powerful vocals."

Side two consists of "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman", a 20-minute track in four distinct parts. It is a concept piece that tells a story of a romance between a soldier and his fiancée during World War II, a shift from their previous fantasy-inspired epics such as "Tarkus" and "Karn Evil 9". 

Sinfield wrote all of the lyrics and later felt relieved to find a lyrical theme that worked for the song given the limited amount of time he had to work. Emerson considered the words "a bit gross".

Within the suite, Emerson quotes two classical compositions. He begins "Love at First Sight" by playing the first eight bars of Frédéric Chopin's Étude Op. 10, No. 1, and he uses Chopin's harmonic structure for the song. 

In "Honourable Company", Emerson plays several militaristic signals including "Rule, Britannia!".

Emerson was particularly upset about the album's title, which Atlantic Records had taken from one of the album's tracks by Lake and Sinfield, itself named after a stretch of beach on Nassau. 

The front cover was taken on an island off Salt Cay, depicting the group as biographer Edward Macan described as "bare-chested late-seventies disco stars".

Side one

1.  All I Want Is You - 2:33

2.  Love Beach - 2:44

3.  Taste Of My Love - 3:31

4.  The Gambler - 3:19

5.  For You - 4:25

6.  Canario - 3:57

Side two

1.  Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman – A Suite In Four Themes - 20:12

     (a)  Prologue / The Education Of A Gentleman  5:33

     (b)  Love At First Sight  5:37

     (c)  Letters From The Front  5:18

     (d)  Honourable Company (A March)  3:45

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

• Keith Emerson – keyboards, synthesizers, production, mixing
• Greg Lake – vocals, guitars, guitar synthesizer, bass, harmonica
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Peter Sinfield – lyrics

Technicial personnel

• Jack Nuber and Karl Pitterson – engineering

Singles (released)

• "All I Want Is You/Tiger in a Spotlight" (UK release)
• "Canario/All I Want Is You" (German release)

Notes

Release: 1978

Format:  LP, Vinyl

Genre:  Progressive Rock

Label:  Atlantic

Catalog#  SD 19211

Vinyl:  Goed (VG)

Cover: Goed (VG)

Prijs: €10,00