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The Heat of Carl Palmer's Moment
June 25, 2007

One of rock’n’roll’s greatest drummers, Carl Palmer, returns to the progressive rock that made him famous as a third of the legendary art rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer and, later, as the percussionist for the Eighties supergroup Asia in Fantasia: Live in Tokyo. The just-released two-CD set from Eagle Rock features the newly reformed Asia performing live in Tokyo in March ’07. (A DVD of the event is due out from Eagle Vision

in the fall.) It marks the first time that the four original members of Asia have ever released a live album together under the Asia nom de musique.

“With Asia, the original band only played for 8 weeks in American before we were through,” Palmer told us in a recent interview. “”The only bands I’ve ever done well with are the ones with the original members, so I’m glad we’re back for this tour, album and DVD.”

Fantasia is a progressive rock fan’s dream: Palmer on the drums, Steve Howe (Yes) on guitar, John Wetton (King Crimson/Uriah Heep/Roxy Music /Wishbone Ash) on vocals and Geoff Downes (The Buggles/Yes) on the keyboards. Even better, the band squeezes in a numbers from the majority of the member’s earlier incarnations—Palmer’s “oldie” is a driving rendition of ELP’s 1977 re-interpretation of Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.”

For his part, Palmer is excited about the digital potential of the upcoming DVD release.  

“I think DVD is most important for the 30-50-year-old demographic. And Live DVDs seem to work remarkably well when you document the career of a band,” Palmer told us. “It’s right for us to do it now; we’re old enough to do it now.”

After noting that his former ELP bandmates, Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, went on tour in the late Eighties with another drum-banging “P,” Cozy Powell, when he was unable to join them because of contractual obligations to Asia, Palmer told us that he was excited to be back on the road again,.

"I enjoy being on the road. It’s what I do and I do it because it means so much to me,” he reason. “There’re people to meet, places to go and money to make!"

 

Posted by Laurence Lerman on June 25, 2007 | Comments (1)