I guess at this stage in the game, Keith Emerson won’t be going out of his way to try and win over new fans. Legacy artists like Emerson already have a built-in fan base to feed off of. All they have to do is release product that’ll connect with all those existing fans. And I’m pretty sure that was part of the plan with Emerson’s latest release – Keith Emerson Band featuring Marc Bonilla. Long time listeners of Emerson, Lake and Palmer will feel right at home with this new album. The basic elements from ELP are all here – bombastic prog fused with classical bits along with some melodic rock thrown in for good measure. There’s even the requisite honky-tonk number on the album (“Gametime”). I totally enjoy Emerson’s playing and would have personally preferred a completely instrumental album. He’s got some great musicians here including Marc Bonilla on guitar and Gregg Bissonette on drums but whenever Bonilla starts singing, it just feels derivative of ELP’s past work. Bonilla even sounds sort of like Greg Lake. “A Place to Hide” is probably the most listenable vocal-based track on the album but most of the others are just marred with clunky lyrics and bland melodies.
