Emerson, Lake & Palmer's In the Hot Seat is an album, not unlike their 1978 album Love Beach, which was made for the wrong reasons, at a bad time, and probably shouldn't have been made at all.
Speculation is that ELP was contractually obligated to record the third of a three-album deal at a time when Carl Palmer had required minor surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome and Keith Emerson had required major surgery for performance-induced damage to his right arm.
Clearly, the band's head was not in the game and it shows.
To call this a horrible album would be a bit unfair, many could only dream of playing like ELP on their bad days, but it does suffer from a lack of direction, heart, and perhaps most noticeably, a lack of production.
Most of ELP's great albums were produced by Greg Lake but, for whatever reasons, this one was not.
Producer Keith Olsen does not seem to have a feel for the ELP sound and the album lacks that big ELP sound.
A track such as "Hand of Truth" might have worked with bigger production but it is halted by its own smallness.
There are brief glimpses of the band's brilliance, and the track "Daddy," recorded about the disappearance of a young girl in upstate New York, will rip the heart out of any parent, but this album falls short on so many levels that not even the talents of three phenomenal musicians can save it.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hand of TruthKeith Emerson, Greg Lake | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 05:22 | 12 MB | 40 MB |
| 2 | DaddyKeith Emerson, Greg Lake | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 04:42 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 3 | One by OneKeith Emerson, Greg Lake, Keith Olsen | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 05:07 | 11 MB | 36 MB |
| 4 | Heart on IceGreg Lake, Keith Olsen | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 04:19 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 5 | ChangeKeith Emerson, Keith Olsen, Bill Wray | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 04:43 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 6 | Give Me a Reason to Stay | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 7 | Gone Too SoonGreg Lake, Keith Weschsler, Bill Wray | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 04:11 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 8 | Street WarKeith Emerson, Greg Lake | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 04:24 | 10 MB | 32 MB |
| 9 | Pictures At An Exhibition - D. The Sage | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 03:10 | 7 MB | 18 MB |
| 10 | Pictures At An Exhibition - E. The Hut Of Baba Yaga | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 01:16 | 2 MB | 8 MB |
| 11 | Pictures At An Exhibition - F. The Great Gates Of Kiev | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 05:23 | 12 MB | 34 MB |
| 12 | Pictures At An Exhibition - A. Promenade | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 01:45 | 4 MB | 10 MB |
| 13 | Pictures At An Exhibition - B. The Gnome | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 02:07 | 4 MB | 12 MB |
| 14 | Pictures At An Exhibition - C. Promenade | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Play | 01:45 | 4 MB | 9 MB |
| 52 mins | 120 MB | |||||
| 52 mins | 359 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian Aris | Photography |
| 2 | Richard Baker | Keyboard Programming |
| 3 | Steve Barnett | Management |
| 4 | Lynn Davis | Choir/Chorus, Vocals (Background) |
| 5 | Bob Dylan | Arranger, Composer, Guitar, Vocals |
| 6 | Keith Emerson | Arranger, Composer, Keyboard Programming, Keyboards, Organ (Hammond), Producer |
| 7 | Emerson, Lake & Palmer | Primary Artist |
| 8 | Brian Foraker | Engineer, Keyboard Programming |
| 9 | Joe Gastwirt | Mastering |
| 10 | John Kellogg | Consultant |
| 11 | Karl Kristkeitz | Design, Package Design |
| 12 | Greg Lake | Bass, Composer, Guitar, Vocals |
| 13 | Paula Mattioli | Vocals (Background) |
| 14 | Linda McCrary | Choir/Chorus |
| 15 | Linda McCrary-Campbell | Choir/Chorus, Vocals (Background) |
| 16 | Modest Mussorgsky | Composer |
| 17 | Hans Neleman | Cover Photo, Photography |
| 18 | Rick Nelson | Choir/Chorus, Vocals (Background) |
| 19 | Keith Olsen | Composer, Engineer, Producer |
| 20 | Kristina Olsen | Vocals (Background) |
| 21 | Carl Palmer | Composer, Drums, Percussion |
| 22 | Steve Thompson | Choir/Chorus, Consultant |
| 23 | Keith Wechsler | Drum Programming, Keyboard Programming |
| 24 | Keith Weschsler | Composer |
| 25 | Fred White | Choir/Chorus, Vocals (Background) |
| 26 | Bill Wray | Composer, Vocals (Background) |
| 27 | Stewart Young | Management |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |