Emerson, Lake & Palmer-Emerson, Lake & Palmer Box Set (1982)

This compilation box set, initially released only for the Spanish-speaking market, was a clever marketing move by Manticore Records, the label owned by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It was intended to compensate for the international release two years prior, also titled "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". The key difference between the two lies in the fact that the first box set, released in early 1980 for the rest of the world, contains only tracks from their four most recent albums: one from their self-titled debut, two from their fifth album, "Works Vol. 1", one from their sixth album, "Works Vol. 2", and six from their seventh release, "Love Beach". Consequently, albums like "Tarkus", "Trilogy", "Brain Salad Surgery", and the live album "Pictures at an Exhibition" were incredibly absent. In contrast, this edition, distributed by the Spanish label Ariola, includes their first four original albums that is, all those not included in the previous version: "Emerson, Lake and Palmer" (1970), "Pictures at an Exhibition" (1971), "Tarkus" (1971), and "Trilogy" (1972). It quickly became a collector's item for the trio's most purist fans. With this box set (actually a collector's edition), Manticore Records sought to rectify the strange and incomplete previous compilation, which had disappointed fans and been a disastrous commercial move by the record company. This new release also completed another incomplete compilation released by the multinational Atlantic Records, titled "The Best Of EL&P", which had been released as a single album in late 1980.