Back in the early 1970's Emerson, Lake & Palmer were a group pushing new frontiers with some highly experimental music crossing rock with elements of classical music. All three were superb musicians and "Trilogy" (1972) may represent the high mark of there studio recordings. More importantly, the original producer was Greg Lake who paid special attention to the arrangements, and the original engineer was Eddie Offord who set these recordings with a nice rich sound. Thus, "Trilogy" was well produced and well recorded making it an ideal candidate for a 5.1 remix. The responsibility fell to Jakko Jakszyk for this remix on the 2015 release and his work turns out to be outstanding.

This review is for the MLP 5.1 24Bit 96k surround mix. The excellent liner notes are written by Chris Welsh who provides some very informative comments from the engineer Jakko Jakszyk on the use of the multi-tracks in the 5.1 mix process.

All in all, Jakko turned in one very imaginative surround mix that certainly fits the term of stunning. His choices in moving instruments into different channels produces an aural vibrancy that is consistently maintained throughout "Trilogy". If one listens to a multi-channel mix in 5.1 as opposed to stereo, one advantage is the potential to hear not only better separation in the instruments, but to hear some instruments previously buried in the original stereo mix. Jakko pulls these instruments out setting them out in splendid detail and clarity. On a track like “Fugue” Keith Emerson’s piano notes are exquisitely bounced around the front and rear channels while Greg Lake's taut bass lines are creatively placed in the centre channel.

“From the Beginning” is a gorgeous acoustic folk ballad sung beautifully by Greg Lake in absolutely crisp vocals. Lake adds some acoustic guitar captured with superb tonality for a studio-type sound that transforms into an ultra smooth transition between front and rear channels for an incredible immersion in sound. The best part of this song, however, is reserved for Keith Emerson’s virtuoso skills on the Moog synthesizer for a stirring and extended solo in scintillating audio quality.

The closing track “Abaddon’s Bolero” is an all instrumental that has this very light touch to the music. This music builds slowly but dramatically in a crescendo of sound. Emerson, Lake & Palmer are musicians who play exceedingly well together. Sure there are the several overdubs to this recording but the listener hears the interplay between these musicians. Carl Palmer provides this low key marching 4/4 drum beat and you can hear Greg Lake’s bass interweaving with the drumming. Keith Emerson lends some soft tones on the organ that sound more like a flute magically binding the music. And Jakko Jaksyzk captures this interplay perfectly in the 5.1 mix.

There is a bonus track of an alternate version of “From the Beginning”. In comparing it to the original on this album, the only discernable difference is Keith Emerson’s synthesizer solo in the latter part of this song. Although it may be interesting to hear, it adds no significant value in content to this release but is notable for it's high quality 5.1 audio.

I don’t think I can conceive of a much better 5.1 mix for material from 1972. It is always nice to say when an album in surround sound deserves consideration for the reference category and "Trilogy" certainly qualifies. It is a very special DVD-Audio release that exemplifies a marriage between some great recordings and high resolution audio in seeking out the best in music.

Copyright © 2015 Rick Kosmick and HRAudio.net

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