The two surveys Impressions did, one for best album and one for best tracks, has provided the most accurate information about the back catalogue. This is, in fact, the first time any sort of accurate information, other than record sales, has been available and we would argue that a retrospective survey is much better than via a contemporary method, i.e. the market place at the time. There are a lot of factors that make up a best seller and some of them are not connected to the music. For example, the new Oasis album will sell on the strength of what people have heard before and such is the expectancy, it will probably be the most successful before most people have even hear it. Our ELP surveys established the most popular albums and tracks, based on the MUSIC - which is, after all what it is all about and what we love ELP for!

It is common knowledge that for a large number of fans, the first five albums range as the pinnacle of the band's career, ELP being on top of their creativity. Let's find out a bit more detail:

Both surveys confirm, beyond all doubt, that BRAIN SALAD SURGERY is the TOP album in every category. This has certainly justified the album being released in many differing formats in recent years - special editions and, recently, even vinyl! Thus, each record company had gone along with number five being special. Impressions even took it's name from ELP's most musically defining moment! So, even before the surveys were done, there was the awareness that Brain Salad Surgery was very special!

Almost four hundred die-hard fans took part in the two surveys. The first survey revealed a thundering victory for Brain Salad Surgery with 334 points, with Trilogy in second place, floundering with 219 points. Tarkus was not far behind that. This is the final result of that survey:

1) BRAIN SALAD SURGERY (334 points)
2) TRILOGY (219 points)
3) TARKUS (208 points)
4) WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS... (160 points)
5) EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER (125 points)
6) PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION (113 points)
7) WORKS VOLUME 1 (80 points)
8) BLACK MOON (74 points)
9) LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL (42 points)
10) WORKS LIVE (12 points)
11) IN THE HOT SEAT (7 points)
12) WORKS VOLUME 2 (5 points)
13) LOVE BEACH (3 points)

So far, our assumption that the first five albums are the most popular, is doing really well!

In the best tracks survey, Karn Evil 9 in it's entirety was the best track - again a victory for Brain Salad Surgery. Secondly, both The Endless Enigma and Trilogy came very high, which follows the trend of the album survey. It is interesting to note, though, that these three tracks have not been played live since the early seventies. A part of Karn Evil 9 is present in nearly every ELP live show, however, it has not been played live in it's entirety since 1974. Being such a very long piece, though, it is understandable that it would be difficult to include all of it in one concert. It would be nice to hear The Endless Enigma and Trilogy live - the survey proves that they are right up there in the popularity stakes!! Greg Lake did recently say that he had a dream of going on tour and playing all the material they had never or hardly ever played live. Judging from the reception that Bitches Crystal has received from the 1996 and 1997 tours and the result of our survey, that would be very popular with the fans! This is the result of the Favourite Tracks survey:

1) Karn Evil 9 (104 points)
2) Tarkus (68 points)
3) Pirates (59 points)
4) Trilogy (47 points)
5) The Endless Enigma (42 points)
6) Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression (39 points)
7) Fanfare for the Common Man (31 points)
8) Take a Pebble (31 points)
9) Lucky Man (28 points)
10) The Barbarian (28 points)
11) Tarkus (from Welcome Back...) (26 points)
12) Pictures at an Exhibition (21 points)
13) Aquatarkus (from Welcome Back...) (21 points)
14) Karn Evil 9, 3rd Impression (18 points)
15) Jerusalem (15 points)
16) Toccata (15 points)
17) Blues Variation (13 points)
18) Hoedown (13 points)
19) Abaddon's Bolero (13 points)
20) Black Moon (12 points)
21) Fanfare for the Common Man (Albert Hall) (11 points)
22) Knife Edge (10 points)
23) Karn Evil 9 (Welcome Back...) (10 points)

Whilst we were doing the surveys, we thought we would find out a few more interesting facts about ELP! We all know that Classical Adaptations have always been a big feature in their music and they have several in their repertoire. Their ability to adapt a classical piece to their musical style is ingenious and can be not better demonstrated than in 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. From the first notes of Promenade to the last notes of Great Gates of Kiev, this is one of ELP's finest works. Let's find out if the fans taking part in the survey for Impressions take the same view! This is the Classical Adaptations result:

1) PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION (71 points) (YES, told you so!!)
2) TOCCATA (27 points)
3) ROMEO and JULIET (25 points)
4) FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN (22 points)
5) HOEDOWN (10 points)
6) THE BARBARIAN (9 points)
7) KNIFE EDGE (7 points)
8) JERUSALEM (6 points)
9) PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION (studio version) (3 points)
10) THE OLD CASTLE (2 points)
11) CANARIO (2 points)
12) PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION (1977) (1 point)
13) NUTROCKER (1977) (1 point)
14) THE GNOME (1 point)
15) THE GREAT GATES OF KIEV (1 point)
16) LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT (1 point)
17) ENEMY GOD (1977) (1 point)

It is no surprise that Pictures at an Exhibition gets a big victory for the best ELP Classical Adaptation! It's nice to see that Romeo & Juliet from the later part of ELP's career did so well! It certainly does have an incredible power and it was great to hear it live in 1992!

And now we come to the best ELP Artwork! Yes, we covered that too! This was done as an additional question on the recent Favourite Tracks survey. There can be no doubt that the artwork on the LP's from the seventies were quite amazing and a very big part of an LP. This is, unfortunately, an artform which is lost on CD's. There is nothing like holding an LP, with it's fold out sleeve and looking at the wonderful artwork, whilst listening to the music! The two go together! ELP have some lovely album covers and we therefore thought it would be very interesting to find out which ELP album artwork is the best.

The survey revealed a clear winner for BRAIN SALAD SURGERY - 122 votes to Tarkus 29. The only albums that didn't get a vote were Welcome Back My Friends..., Works 2 and Works Live. Works 1 did get a few votes, which on the face of it, would not be an obvious choice. The actual front cover looks quite plain. However, upon opening the fold out cover, the three shots of Keith, Greg and Carl are lovely photos and, as one fan put it, "The cover is elegant in it's simplicity". A very valid point!

We also asked our subscribers how many had seen ELP live in the 70's and it turned out that appx. 50% had.

In the latest survey, we also asked the fans to tell us which were their favourite alternative band. It was no big surprise that YES gained the most votes with 37 points. The Nice, Jethro Tull and Rush came second on 11 votes, King Crimson and Genesis third on 9 votes and ASIA came joint sixth with Marillion and Kansas. So predictably, most votes were gained by fellow prog rock bands.

ELP's career can be split into three main areas:

1970 ~ 1974 - First six albums up to Welcome Back My Friends....
1977 ~ 1979 - The Works period up to In Concert (Works Live)
1992 ~ onwards - Black Moon to present

It has been proven beyond any doubt that the first period is the most popular one. ELP were at top of their creativity. Their first five albums pushed the technology of the time to it's limits and, coupled with outstanding musicianship and a unique cocktail of varied and skillful compositions, these five albums turned ELP into a band the likes of which had never been seen or heard before. At the top of their creativity came the album BRAIN SALAD SURGERY, which has proven - beyond ANY doubt - to be THE landmark of ELP's history. It was ahead of its time in 1973 and still today sounds modern and innovative. A true testament to one of the greatest rock bands in the history of rock and roll!

Impressions has been going for over two years and we have subscribers in 21 different countries worldwide. The magazine is 100% devoted to ELP, glossy and printed in colour by a professional printing company. It averages 30 pages and is packed full of information about ELP, inc. exclusive interviews with the band in every issue and rare photos. If you are into ELP, you will be into Impressions!

If you would like to subscribe to Impressions, these are the details: Issue 1 April 1996 (Keith Emerson), Issue 2 September 1996 (Greg Lake) and Issue 3 March 1997 (Carl Palmer) are available as back issues. Price: UK £6 each, Rest of the World £7 (equivalent to appx. $12).

We are also taking subscriptions for Issues 4, 5 and 6. Issue 4 (Keith Emerson) was released in August 1997, Issue 5 (Greg Lake) in February 1998 and Issue 6, which will feature exclusive interviews with Carl Palmer and Pete Sinfield, is due out fall 1998. Price for these three issues is: UK £15, Rest of the World £20 (equivalent to appx. $35). Just NEW to Impressions: We now accept the following Credit Cards: MasterCard and VISA. American Express will be available at the beginning of June. All we need is your name and address, card number/expiry date and details on which issues you would like to order, and we'll do the rest! Look forward to hearing from you!

NEW Address: Impressions, P.O. Box 516, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 1YA, ENGLAND.

E-Mail: estazz99@intonet.co.uk