Greg Lake - 5x Japanese Limited Reissued SHM-CD '2010 (1981-2003) RE-UP

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Greg Lake - 5x Japanese Limited Reissued SHM-CD '2010 (1981-2003) RE-UP

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Greg Lake - 5x Japanese Limited Reissued SHM-CD '2010 (1981-2003) RE-UP

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Greg Lake - Greg Lake (1981) [SHM-CD 2010]
EAC-FLAC with CUE & LOG - 308 MB | Scans - 197 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps - 103 MB
Running time - 44:32 minutes | Creative Musical Arts Ltd. / Ward Records, Japan # VQCD-10173

allmusic.com says: After the breakup of Emerson, Lake & Palmer in 1978, Greg Lake set out to launch a solo career. He teamed up with guitar virtuoso Gary Moore and enlisted the talents of Bruce Springsteen's sax player, Clarence Clemmons, as well as Toto veterans Steve Lukather, David Paich, and Jeff Porcaro. The result was his 1981 self-titled debut album. After more than a decade with prog-rock legends ELP and King Crimson, it is clear Lake was looking for a musical change and a chance to perform as a guitarist, his primary instrument, after more than a decade mainly playing bass. The album is a guitar driven venture into straight forward rock & roll which features well written songs and some sizzling guitar work by Gary Moore. Lake's voice soars, as it did with ELP, and we see that his guitar prowess is something too often hidden in the past. His skill as a producer is also evident as he brings out the power of each note with a big, energizing sound. There are probably Greg Lake fans who would not wish to see him take this path with the rest of his career, but you can definitely tell that he enjoyed stepping out, and it translates to a powerful and enjoyable album.

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Greg Lake - 5x Japanese Limited Reissued SHM-CD '2010 (1981-2003) RE-UP

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Greg Lake - Manoeuvres (1983) [SHM-CD 2010]
EAC-FLAC with CUE & LOG - 301 MB | Scans - 147 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps - 101 MB
Running time - 44:33 minutes | Creative Musical Arts Ltd. / Ward Records, Japan # VQCD-10174

allmusic.com says: Manouevres was released in 1983 as the follow-up to Greg Lake's 1981 self-titled debut album. His core group of musicians (Gary Moore, Tristam Margetts, Tommy Eyre, and Ted McKenna) is still present, but Manoeuvres is a different sort of album than the '81 effort. The heavy, gritty, guitar-driven feel of the previous record is not quite as evident and this seems a more restrained album. Many, Greg Lake included, tend to sell this album short and that is a mistake. Perhaps sales were discouraging, but this is a well-crafted, well-performed album on which Lake seems to rely more on melody than he did in 1981. A few of the heavier numbers, such as the title track, are reminiscent of '81, but it is on the ballads that the album goes its own way. Lake shows why, through all of powerful and complex music of the ELP years, it was the ballads which always seemed to fair best commercially. He writes a good song like very few can, and the fact that he delivers every song with such fantastic vocal ability makes this album succeed. Definitely worth a second listen, Manoeuvres is more than it seems on the surface.

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Greg Lake - 5x Japanese Limited Reissued SHM-CD '2010 (1981-2003) RE-UP

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Greg Lake - King Biscuit Flower Hour: Greg Lake In Concert (1995) [SHM-CD 2010]
EAC-FLAC with CUE & LOG - 411 MB | Scans - 252 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps - 133 MB
Running time - 58:19 minutes | Creative Musical Arts Ltd. / Ward Records, Japan # VQCD-10175

allmusic.com says: The show captured on King Biscuit Flower Hour (In Concert) was recorded circa Greg Lake's 1981 self-titled debut, and features Lake (guitar/bass/vocals) leading an impressive backing combo with Gary Moore (guitar), Ted McKenna (drums), Tommy Eyre (keyboards), and Tristian Margetts (bass). The set originated as a King Biscuit Flower Hour broadcast from the Hammersmith Odeon in London on November 5, 1981. During this time, Lake was on an extended hiatus from Emerson, Lake and Palmer (ELP), and issued a pair of solo efforts. As such, the play list is heavy on Greg Lake(1981) material from the first of these. Standouts among the lot are the slightly synth sounding "Retribution Drive," and the edgy-'80s power rockers "The Lie" and "Nuclear Attack." Also worth mentioning is the upbeat and agile "Love You Too Much," which Lake actually co-wrote with Bob Dylan. Likewise, there are classics dating back to the King Crimson sides – "21st Century Schizoid Man" and "In The Court Of The Crimson King" – from Lake's brief tenure in the band. The unit heard here is not as lean as the ELP version, and both "Fanfare For The Common Man" and "Karn Evil 9" prove just that, as the arrangements lumber along in places. However, in terms of sheer musicality, the acoustic side, "Lucky Man," is arguably the highlight in its simplicity. For enthusiasts looking for a passable anthology, From the Beginning: Retrospective (1997) is a good place to start. From the Underground: The Official Bootleg is a perfect companion, as it features essential stops in Lake's live legacy.

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Greg Lake - 5x Japanese Limited Reissued SHM-CD '2010 (1981-2003) RE-UP

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Greg Lake - From The Underground: The Official Bootleg (1998) [SHM-CD 2010]
EAC-FLAC with CUE & LOG - 482 MB | Scans - 427 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps - 160 MB
Running time - 70:31 minutes | Creative Musical Arts Ltd. / Ward Records, Japan # VQCD-10176

allmusic.com says: Greg Lake is best known as a founding member of prog rock legends King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but his musical career spans nearly 35 years – and this disc is a delightful testament to every stop along his musical journey. Consisting entirely of extremely rare or previously unreleased material, From the Underground contains both studio and live selections from '60s groups the Shame, Shy Limbs, and King Crimson as well as Lake's later work with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Asia, Emerson, Lake & Powell, and his own Greg Lake Band. Perhaps collections such as this too often showcase only an artist's hits or signature pieces, but this disc has more character than that. Rather, From the Underground is an album containing only the extra stuff that usually leads fans to buy box sets – without all the tracks that fans typically already own. In the end, one is left with the impression that the growth of an important musical figure has been accurately charted. There are some wonderful finds here, and fans of Greg Lake or his various bands will enjoy this disc immensely.

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Greg Lake - 5x Japanese Limited Reissued SHM-CD '2010 (1981-2003) RE-UP

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Greg Lake - 5x Japanese Limited Reissued SHM-CD '2010 (1981-2003) RE-UP

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Greg Lake - From The Underground, Volume II (2003) [SHM-CD 2010]
EAC-FLAC with CUE & LOG - 388 MB | Scans - 311 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps - 134 MB
Running time - 58:37 minutes | Creative Musical Arts Ltd. / Ward Records, Japan # VQCD-10177

allmusic.com says: Like the first volume of this series, this gathers rare recordings from throughout the bulk of Greg Lake's career, spanning the late '60s to the mid-'90s. Lake might be one of the most famous musicians associated with progressive rock, but you'd have a hard time taking that impression away from this CD if it was the first or only sampling of his music you heard. Rarities collections can't serve as a fair career retrospective, of course. But this does score low on the desirability meter, or at the very least is an item that only collectors might have want to hear, for several reasons. First, the inclusion of work from several of the contexts in which he's played – King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Emerson, Lake & Powell, the Greg Lake Band, Greg Lake's Ride the Tiger, and just plain Greg Lake (the last in the form of some unreleased solo studio recordings from the early '80s) – works against either thematic coherence or listenability. Also, the post-'70s material – that is, the majority of this disc – reflects a time in which Lake drifted from genuinely progressive, if sometimes bombastic, rock to a slick AOR-pop sound that hasn't dated well, and that relatively few of his fans would consider to be his peak era. Finally, two of the more interesting, earlier recordings – a live "Epitaph" from King Crimson's set at the famed July 5, 1969 concert at London's Hyde Park in which they preceded the Rolling Stones, and "Preacher Blues" from a 1971 ELP concert – are disappointing, the first owing to not-so-hot fidelity, the second as it's an uncharacteristic ragged blues jam. Emerson, Lake & Powell's live 1986 recording of "Step Aside" is a relative standout, if only because its 1940s pop feel is different from so much of what Lake has done.