Emerson Lake & Palmer - Letters From The Front (1978)

When Gary asked if I could do something thing with ELP's 1978 album 'Love Beach', I replied that I thought that he was asking the impossible. It's universally agreed to be the band's worst album, although 'In The Hot Seat' looks set to overtake it at any time, and so I wasn't sure if anything could be salvaged from it. Online comments all point to the very, very worst thing about it being the cover, (and apparently the record company had no shame in including an insert which offered 'Love Beach' jogging shorts and 'Love Beach' satin jackets), so that was fairly easy to rectify, but what about the music? The sessions for the album were fraught from the beginning, as the band had just completed a grueling North American tour, and were looking forward to a rest, but Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegun reminded them that they had to deliver one more album for the label, and insisted that they start work on it straight away. He suggested that they make a 'commercial' album, which Emerson felt reluctant to do, but Ertegun threatened to with-hold the offer of proposed solo albums if they refused to work together, so they had to agree. Feeling that the need for a commercial album suited Lake's method of songwriting, Emerson gave him the freedom he kept asking for, and Lake composed a number of more radio-friendly songs with lyricist Pete Sinfield. As the band had become tax exiles due to the punitive British tax laws placed on musicians at the time, Emerson and Lake were renting homes in Nassau in the Bahamas, and so they decided to record the album there, using the famous Compass Point Studios. The sessions were difficult due to the increasingly strained relationships between the three musicians, and Emerson's increasing drug use had started to affect his ability to work, or to collaborate with the others. It wasn't just the music that had problems, as Emerson was also particularly upset about the record's title, which Atlantic Records had taken from one of the album tracks, but despite Emerson conducting a public opinion poll which confirmed his opinion, the label refused to change it. The infamous cover shot was taken on an island off Salt Cay, depicting the group as 'bare-chested late-seventies disco stars', and has been the source of much ridicule ever since. 
The general opinion of the album is that there are a couple of good tracks, such as 'Canario' and 'For You', and that 'All I Want Is You' and Emerson's opus 'Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman' aren't too bad. Some of the other tracks do suffer from a lack of bass in the mix, and so as alternate mixes were added to the recent Japanese re-issue we do have something to work with. Most people agree that the title track is the worst song on the album, and as there was no alternate mix for it, that can go for a start. I've kept the original takes of 'Canario' and 'Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman', as they seemed fine as they were, and replaced 'All I Want Is You, 'The Gambler', and 'For You' with the alternate mixes, and although there is another mix of 'Taste Of My Love' available, it's such an embarrassment lyrically that I decided to omit it completely. Although that would still leave a 35-minute album, I'd prefer to have it around the 40-minute mark, so as 'Tiger In A Spotlight' was the b-side of the 'All I Want Is You' single, I've added that to the running order, which I've also re-jigged a little. Finally, as 'Love Beach' is no longer on here we can give it a new title, which I've taken from Emerson's 'Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman', and that means that we can also now have a new cover. There's not a huge amount we can do about the songs themselves, and if you don't like them, then this isn't going to change your mind, but Lake is in fine voice throughout the album, and Emerson's work on 'Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman' is up to his usual standard, so perhaps this alternate look at the record might make it a bit more palatable. 

Track listing

01 All I Want Is You
02 Canario (From 'Fantasia Para Un Gentlhombre')
03 The Gambler
04 For You
05 Tiger In A Spotlight
06 Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman: Prologue/The Education of A Gentleman
07 Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman: Love At First Sight
08 Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman: Letters From The Front
09 Memoirs Of An Officer And A Gentleman: Honourable Company (A March)