Love Beach

After the gigantic tours supporting the Works albums, it's no wonder that in Summer 1978, the well-tanned members of Emerson, Lake & Palmer appeared on the beaches of Nassau, Bahamas to record their final studio album of the 70s. The record reflects ELP's extremes: When they were good, they were great; but when they were awful, you had Love Beach. To wit, the band has since acknowledged that the album was pursued only to fulfill their contractual obligations with Atlantic Records. Pete Sinfield provides lyrics for the record, and the sun must have affected him as well: To quote the refrain from the title track, "I'll make love to you on love beach." The first side contains a series of shorter songs, mostly penned by Greg Lake, that amount to little more than over-arranged boogie rock—though "For You" is marginally tolerable. However, the second side raises a little more hope, as it contains the Keith Emerson-penned side-long track "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentlemen." The first and fourth sections trace more familiar ELP terrain, while "Love at First Sight" constitutes overly romantic sap. "Letters from the Front," however, is the most successful offering, providing a modern-enough take on the ELP sound. The album barely cracked the Top 50 on both sides of the Atlantic, and the band folded with little fanfare; both a posthumously released live album and a greatest hits album would seem like a feeble postscript for the once mighty supergroup. Carl Palmer then fronted the short-lived PM in 1980 before joining Asia, while Lake released a couple of solo albums a year later. Emerson, meanwhile, would turn to the steady work of movie soundtracks.