Greg Lake In Concert – King Biscuit Flower Hour

333

4 Stars

Recorded on Guy Fawkes Day, November 5th, 1981, this concert was certainly full of fireworks. Recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, England, during the world tour for his first solo album (simply titled “Greg Lake”), the show presented Lake on a London stage for the first time since the demise of his previous band “Emerson, Lake and Palmer.”

With its massive American radio audience, the King Biscuit Flower Hour gave Lake’s fans in the States a chance to hear him with this powerful guitar-driven band before they started their American leg of the tour. Now, gladly, it’s out on CD, a concert to be cherished.

It was imperative for Lake to have a solo band as good as the one he was able to assemble for the tour this album comes from. After all, he was rising from the ashes of E.L.P., one of the most successful bands in the history of music. At the time of their breakup, E.L.P. had gone out with a whimper. With this band behind him, Greg Lake re-emerged with a blinding bang.

Click here for insights into Classic Rock

Lake was able to assemble a crackerjack line-up that included guitar virtuoso Gary Moore (fresh out of one of his many stints with hard rock legends Thin Lizzy and at the onset of his solo career), Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Rory Gallagher drummer Ted McKenna, with the very talented and very mercenary keyboardist Tommy Eyre (he jumped bands so often that he had played the Reading festival eight different times with eight different bands), and the marvelously monikered Tristram Margetts on bass. All five had worked on Lake’s solo album along with members of Toto, ex-King Crimson drummer Mike Giles, and Bruce Springsteen sidekick Clarence Clemmons on sax.

First, as a founding member, lead vocalist, writer and bassist for King Crimson, and then as a superstar for a decade in E.L.P., Greg Lake was among the pioneers of the Progressive Rock Movement. From the bombastic crunch of “21^st Century Schizoid Man” to the acoustic simplicity of “Lucky Man,” at the time he launched his solo career, the voice of Greg Lake had been a staple on both top 40 and album-orientated radio.

Though the tour was used primarily as a way of promoting his solo album, Lake was not afraid to utilize the best elements from his past or his fellow band members. He was able to re-invent a few of the E.L.P. and King Crimson classics. He even did a re-make of the old Miracles hit “You Really Got A Hold On Me.”

Click here for more Prog Rock

From their opening medley of “Fanfare For The Common Man” and “Karn Evil 9” through to the ethereal impact of “In the Court of the Crimson King,” this Biscuit performance exhibits the scope and depth of Greg Lake’s contribution to contemporary music.

As in any real live album (no chance of overdubs here), there are a couple of minor flaws – the odd burst of feedback and a couple of notes that go off the mark, but then again, that’s what rock ‘n’ roll is all about.

Of the four tracks from the solo album, the standout track is “Love You Too Much.” It was co-written with none other than Bob Dylan and an all-out belter it is, too—a fine concert on a fine night by a fine band.