Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends... Ladies and Gentlemen

Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends... Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Live album by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Released	August 19, 1974
Recorded	1973-1974, worldwide tour
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	1:49:41
Label	Manticore/Rhino
Producer	Greg Lake
Emerson, Lake & Palmer chronology
Brain Salad Surgery (1973) Welcome Back, My Friends to the Show That Never Ends... Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1974) Works Volume I (1977)

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Georgiy Starostin	(12/15)

Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends... Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake & Palmer is a 1974 live album by progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, originally released as a three-disk vinyl album in a gatefold ("trifold" with two sections opening away from the center) cover, the inside of which used the letters "E", "L" and "P" as retainers for the individual disks.

During 1973 and 1974, ELP toured on their Someone Get Me a Ladder Tour all around the world, and this album captures the representative musical sound of that tour. The title of the album comes from the opening line of the song "Karn Evil 9: First Impression, Part 2" as well as the introduction to the performance, uttered at the beginning of the song "Hoedown."

The album reached #4 on the Billboard album chart making it ELP's highest charting album in the US.

The Quadraphonic mix of the album was only released in the Quadraphonic 8-track cartridge format, as a three-tape set.

Most of the original recordings included on the album had been first issued as a presentation for the syndicated US radio show "King Biscuit Flower Hour". In 1999, these original radio recordings were released on CD. Comparisons of the "King Biscuit" tapes to the album show that ELP did not re-record any of the live musical parts in a studio. It also allows fans to hear how Greg Lake remixed the tracks for the album release. In some places the sound was changed by using different echo and reverberation effects.

The Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando, Florida, also has the title as a message above their main entrance. The "welcome back my friends" hook was also used by Alan Freeman on some of his radio shows.

The tour was so exhausting for them that this was the last ELP release for almost three years while the band took an extended break to recover and pursue some solo projects that eventually ended up on their next release Works in 1977.

John Lydon once appeared on stage with the Sex Pistols in London wearing a t-shirt featuring pictures of Emerson, Lake and Palmer with the slogan "Welcome Back Bellends..." and proceeded to burn an effigy of Keith Emerson.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

CD track listing

Disc one

1. "Hoedown" Taken from Rodeo (Aaron Copland, arr. Keith Emerson, Greg Lake & Carl Palmer) – 4:27
2. "Jerusalem" (Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, William Blake, arr. Emerson Lake & Palmer) – 3:20
3. "Toccata" An adaptation of Ginastera's 1st piano Concerto, 4th movement (Alberto Ginastera, arr. Emerson) – 7:21
4. "Tarkus" – 27:24
   1. "Eruption" (Emerson)
   2. "Stones of Years" (Emerson, Lake)
   3. "Iconoclast" (Emerson)
   4. "Mass" (Emerson)
   5. "Manticore" (Emerson)
   6. "Battlefield" (Lake) including "Epitaph" (Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald, Lake, Michael Giles, Peter Sinfield)
   7. "Aquatarkus" (Emerson)
5. "Take a Pebble" (Lake) including "Still...You Turn Me On" (Lake) and "Lucky Man" (Lake) – 11:06

Disc two

1. "Piano Improvisations" Including Friedrich Gulda's "Fugue" and Joe Sullivan's "Little Rock Getaway" (Emerson) – 11:54
2. "Take a Pebble (Conclusion)" (Lake) – 3:14
3. "Jeremy Bender" / "The Sheriff" (Emerson, Lake) – 5:26
4. "Karn Evil 9 (Emerson, Lake, Sinfield) – 35:21
   1. "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression" (Emerson, Lake)
   2. "Karn Evil 9: 2nd Impression" (Emerson)
   3. "Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression" (Emerson, Lake, Sinfield)

Original LP track listing

For songwriting credits, see above.

Side one

1. "Hoedown" – 4:27
2. "Jerusalem" – 3:20
3. "Toccata" – 7:21

Side two

1. "Tarkus" – 16:42
   1. "Eruption" (Emerson)
   2. "Stones of Years" (Emerson, Lake)
   3. "Iconoclast" (Emerson)
   4. "Mass" (Emerson)
   5. "Manticore" (Emerson)
   6. "Battlefield" (Lake) including "Epitaph" (Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald, Lake, Michael Giles, Peter Sinfield)

Side three

1. "Tarkus (conclusion)" – 10:42
   1. "Aquatarkus" (Emerson)
2. "Take a Pebble", including "Still...You Turn Me On" / "Lucky Man" – 11:06

Side four

1. "Piano Improvisations" – 11:54
2. "Take a Pebble (conclusion)" – 3:14
3. "Jeremy Bender" / "The Sheriff" – 5:26

Side five

1. "Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression" – 17:26

Side six

1. "Karn Evil 9: 2nd Impression" – 7:36
2. "Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression" – 10:17

Personnel

• Keith Emerson – keyboards
• Greg Lake – bass, guitars, vocals
• Carl Palmer – drums, percussion

Certifications

Organization	Level	Date
RIAA – USA	Gold	September 19, 1974