The Return of the Manticore
Box set by
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Released16 November 1993
RecordedJuly 1970 – September 1993
GenreRock, progressive rock
Length293:25
LabelVictory Music (1993 release)
Rhino Records (reissue)
ProducerKeith Emerson,
Greg Lake,
Carl Palmer,
Eddy Offord
Emerson, Lake & Palmer chronology
Live at the Royal Albert Hall
(1993) 		The Return of the Manticore
(1993) 		The Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Entertainment WeeklyC−[2]

The Return of the Manticore is a 4-disc retrospective on the career of the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It was released in 1993, and features several new recordings of previously released songs, most notably a studio recording of "Pictures at an Exhibition," presented in Dolby Surround Sound. Also, a live recording of Dave Brubeck's "Rondo" features on disc 2; the track, although performed by ELP in concert from the band's inception (as it had been by Keith Emerson's previous band The Nice), was previously unreleased on any live or studio album by ELP. This rendition was recorded at the Lyceum Theatre on December 9, 1970.

The box set is a fairly comprehensive cross-section of the band's history, offering tracks from all of ELP's studio and live albums (at the time of release), as well as new ELP renditions of hits previously recorded by bands they were members of prior to forming ELP.

The set's original release was part of a wave of remastered releases under the band's new label Victory Music. After that label became defunct, the set was re-released on Rhino Records.

Track listing

Disc 1
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Touch and Go" (Emerson, Greg Lake)1993 recording3:01
2."Hang on to a Dream" (Tim Hardin)1993 recording4:27
3."21st Century Schizoid Man" (Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Lake, Ian McDonald, Peter Sinfield)1993 recording3:07
4."Fire" (Arthur Brown, Vincent Crane, Peter Ker, Mike Finesilver)1993 recording3:24
5."Pictures at an Exhibition
a) "Promenade" (Modest Mussorgsky)
b) "The Gnome" (Mussorgsky, Palmer)
c) "Promenade" (Mussorgsky, Lake)
d) "The Sage" (Lake)
e) "The Hut of Baba Yaga" (Mussorgsky)
f) "The Great Gates of Kiev" (Mussorgsky, Lake)"
1993 recording15:33
6."I Believe in Father Christmas" (Lake, Sinfield)1993 recording3:26
7."Introductory Fanfare/Peter Gunn" (Emerson, Palmer, Henry Mancini)Emerson, Lake and Palmer in Concert4:27
8."Tiger in a Spotlight" (Emerson, Lake, Palmer, Sinfield)Works Volume 24:32
9."Toccata" (Alberto Ginastera, arr. by Emerson, Palmer)Brain Salad Surgery7:20
10."Trilogy" (Emerson, Lake)Trilogy8:53
11."Tank" (Emerson, Palmer)Emerson, Lake & Palmer6:47
12."Lucky Man" (Lake)Emerson, Lake & Palmer4:37
Disc 2
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Tarkus
a) "Eruption" (Emerson)
b) "Stones of Years" (Emerson, Lake)
c) "Iconoclast" (Emerson)
d) "Mass" (Emerson, Lake)
e) "Manticore" (Emerson)
f) "Battlefield" (Emerson, Lake)
g) "Aquatarkus" (Emerson)"
Tarkus20:35
2."From the Beginning" (Lake)Trilogy4:14
3."Take a Pebble (Live version)
a) "Take a Pebble (Beginning)" (Lake)
b) "Lucky Man" (Lake)
c) "Piano Improvisations" (Emerson)
d) "Take a Pebble (Conclusion)" (Lake)"
Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends... Ladies and Gentlemen22:48
4."Knife-Edge" (music: Leoš Janáček arr. Emerson; lyrics: Lake, Richard Fraser)Emerson, Lake & Palmer5:05
5."Paper Blood" (Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Black Moon4:26
6."Hoedown" (Aaron Copland, arr. Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Trilogy3:43
7."Rondo (Live version)" (Dave Brubeck, arr. by Emerson)Previously unreleased14:28
Disc 3
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."The Barbarian" (Béla Bartók, arr. Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Emerson, Lake & Palmer4:28
2."Still...You Turn Me On" (Lake)Brain Salad Surgery2:52
3."The Endless Enigma
a) "The Endless Enigma Part 1" (Emerson, Lake)
b) "Fugue (Emerson)
c) "The Endless Enigma Part 2" (Emerson, Lake)"
Trilogy10:37
4."C'est la Vie" (Lake, Sinfield)Works Volume 14:16
5."The Enemy God Dances with the Black Spirits" (Sergei Prokofiev, arr. by Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Works Volume 13:21
6."Bo Diddley" (Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Previously unreleased5:03
7."Bitches Crystal" (Emerson, Lake)Tarkus3:55
8."A Time and a Place" (Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Tarkus2:57
9."Living Sin" (Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Trilogy3:12
10."Karn Evil 9
a) "1st Impression" (Emerson, Lake)
b) "2nd Impression" (Emerson)
c) "3rd Impression" (Emerson, Lake, Sinfield)"
Brain Salad Surgery29:37
11."Honky Tonk Train Blues" (Meade "Lux" Lewis, arr. by Emerson)Works Volume 23:11
Disc 4
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
1."Jerusalem" (Hubert Parry, William Blake, arr. by Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Brain Salad Surgery2:44
2."Fanfare for the Common Man" (Copland, arr. by Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Works Volume 19:40
3."Black Moon" (Emerson, Lake, Palmer)Black Moon6:58
4."Watching Over You" (Lake, Sinfield)Works Volume 23:54
5."Piano Concerto No. 1 Third Movement: Toccata con Fuoco" (Emerson)Works Volume 16:48
6."For You" (Lake, Sinfield)Love Beach4:27
7."Prelude and Fugue" (Friedrich Gulda)Previously unreleased3:15
8."Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman
a) "Prologue/The Education of a Gentleman" (Emerson, Sinfield)
b) "Love at First Sight" (Emerson, Sinfield)
c) "Letters from the Front" (Emerson, Sinfield)
d) "Honourable Company" (Emerson)"
Love Beach20:12
9."Pirates" (Emerson, Lake, Sinfield)Works Volume 1 (New remix)13:18
10."Affairs of the Heart" (Lake, Geoff Downes)Black Moon3:46

Personnel

Production

Disc One

References

  1. ^ DeGagne, Mike. "The Return of the Manticore – Emerson, Lake & Palmer | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  2. ^ Browne, David (3 December 1993). "BOXING DAY (Emerson, Lake & Palmer: The Return of the Manticore)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
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