Do You Wanna Play Some Magic?: Emerson, Lake and Palmer: In Concert 1970-1979 Paperback – November 15, 2012

First of all, I am a total ELP freak. I've seen them in concert (in one form or another) a dozen times. I have their albums, their DVDs. I've even met them backstage (at Wolftrap near Washington, D.C.) and staked 'em out in the late '70s in the lobby of the Watergate Hotel. (I know, I'm weird.)But this has got to be the most boring book I've ever read. I can barely get through it. (I'm about halfway through after three weeks.) Barely any comments from E, L, or P. The book is totally from the author's perspective of listening to and/or seeing videos of ELP's concerts.How many times can I read that Greg shouted "Yeah" during a song? Or that Carl's solo lasted 10 minutes or 9 minutes or 11 minutes? Or that the Moog went out of tune AGAIN. Or that the audience loved the show? (How, exactly, does he know that?) Or that Greg sang some incorrect words or that a guitar string broke? I mean, who cares? (I certainly don't.)I thought that the book was going to be E, L, and P commenting on the concerts, what happened backstage, how they prepared for a concert, what did they do after the show, or what the hotels (and travel) were like, what THEIR perspective of the audience or concert is/was. Instead, we get the author's audient-perspective of how fast or slow ELP played the songs.Seriously, how many times can I read that they opened the show with Hoedown? Apparently, more times than I care for.I am a die-hard ELP fan and even I hate this book. I can't imagine how anyone other than a total ELP freak would even consider buying it.

This isn't a book for everyone. I can see how even real ELP fans won't be thrilled. But it's exactly what I expected, a recount of every available ELP concert Freeman could get his hands on. Which makes it a nerd-only sort of book. And because I'm a nerd and a hardcore ELP fan, I love it. It's not a cover-to-cover read, it's more a reference book. It was disappointing to see that only one show I'd attended was in this, but you can't have everything. For what it is- an exhaustive recounting of every concert Freeman was able to get a bootleg of- it's almost a scholarly work and certainly a labor of love. Which is probably why it bores some people.

I enjoyed this book a lot. The author reviews 150+ ELP shows and/or boots and while it's not the kind of book that you sit down and read cover to cover, it is a useful ancillary work to scholarly books on ELP and progressive rock like Edward Macan's Endless Enigma. This is meant for research purposes and as such, I appreciate the hard work authors Freeman did in putting this compendium together.

"Do You Want To Play Some Magic" was written by a long time fan of ELP, and based on his auditioning of as many bootleg recordings from 1970 to 1978 as he could track down. The narrative is presented as a synopsis of those recordings. If you had attended concerts by ELP in the 70s, this is a book to add to your collection. From their 1970 debut gig at The Guildhall in Plymouth, England, to the absolute last bootleg available, recorded in Atlanta, GA in March of 1978, this isn't a book that one would read cover to cover, it's more of a selection of documented moments in time of the band's evolution in sight and sound. From ELP's white hot flash at the 1970 Isle of Wight performance, to their less than graceful exit nearly 8 years later, never lose sight of the magic this band created.

One persons review of basically the many ELP bootlegs from their 1970's tours. Unfortunately, there is no real critical insight just pages and pages of the same reaction to different performances. I ended up skimming most of the book. I guess the one thing it show is how tedious touring is for those on stage and how hard it is to put on great shows. ELP played 100's and 100's of shows to a rarely changing set list but (as with all touring artist) knew that for all but a few it was the first time hearing and seeing them.

The author of this book is a long time ELP fan and a Teacher by profession. Looking at his photo I guess he went into Teacher Training in the 1980's. He would have been taught how to research and plan lessons, etc. as the foundation of basic teaching skills. Unfortunately, the author seems to have forgotten most of this essential grounding when writing this book.Basically, it's a written description of as many ELP audience/soundboard tapes as he could track down, official and primarily unofficial. He thanks various hard-core ELP fans by name who've lent/supplied tapes/cds/cdr's of the shows in question and who've also provided further information. The inference is that some of these people have ELP fan websites.However, nowhere does he give the website details or descriptions of the type of info on these unknown sites. The concert descriptions while enthusiastic are uncritical and do not give track timings (occasionally give running time of song if exceptionally long). More importantly, he does not give concert running time, nor advise if audio source is soundboard/audience/broadcast unless officially released, does not give sound quality rating for concerts, nor give titles of bootleg recordings sourced from a particular concert. One can deduce from his description of audience conversation/catcalls where noted that the source is an audience recording. A ''top ten'' concerts list would have been helpful as 99% of his target readership will probably never get to hear all 150+ concert tapes.So, for the fan wanting to track down some of these concerts, a lot of work needs to be done. To try and find out whether the sound quality is worth the effort, to try and source maybe the ''top ten'' concerts for performance and sound quality and to scour the web tracking down individuals mentioned in the acknowledgements section. The fact that most of this info could have been obtained whilst he was listening to the concerts in question (concert track times/sound quality from the cdr for example) is just rubbing salt into the womb. It's just damn lazy.To summarise then, he's got the skeleton of the book in place but it needs much more work to make it a reference book and therefore indispensible. Maybe the author should check out other works in the field like Hodges and Priston's Embryo:Pink Floyd 1966-71 (Cherry Red 1999) and Dave Lewis's Led Zeppelin The Concert File (Omnibus 2005) for guidance.Carl Palmer has endorsed this book and it's a shame that this connection couldn't have been used to both satisfy ardent fans and earn the band a bit of dosh in their retirement years. It would have been easy to set up a site where fans could vote for the concerts described they most would like to hear. Another ELP bootleg box set of the most wanted concerts sold straight from the band's official site could have been the result. Another wasted opportunity.So, only 5/10, could do much better. No gold star for this homework!

Newly introduced to ELP (I was a little young when they were first on the scene) I'm really enjoying this book. It's written in such a descriptive way that lets you feel part of the audience even 40+ years on!! You can feel the excitement and the passion the author feels for the music of this band. The use and variety of photographs and memorabilia adds to the feeling of being there, some very rare. It's amazing how much concert tickets costs then!! No need to read in chronological order, just pick up and read where it opens. It really is a magic book and is making me want to listen to more and more of the music.Thank you Mr Freeman

An excellent addition to the bands history which of late is increasingly being carefully documented at last. The bands most creative periods are captured superbly here by Garry , I especially like the detailed Equipment notation and the pre tour prefaces . My one criticism is that reviewing tapes is understandably going to involve a fair bit of repetition , ELP's set lists were relatively static over tours. The pictures are also different from many of the usual stock. Thoroughly recommended.

Bought this as a gift for a great friend and huge ELP fan... However, when it arrived it soon turned out it was going to be mine! Garry Freeman really captures the previously uncaptured magic of this band in a way that no-one else has. It's a sensitive and highly detailed journal, yet easy to flick through, without having to go the whole 'cover to cover' hog. Garry's connection with the senses surrounding every gig makes you feel you were right there with him in his back pocket. A joy...and a magical treat for any ELP fan.

This is a great book that has been written in dairy form and gives brief discriptions of most gigs and let you know on certian date when the changes came about to set lists. A must for a dedicated fan.