Keith Emerson celebrated with 20-disc box set Variations

Keith Emerson

Variations, a career-spanning 20-disc box set celebrating the work of Keith Emerson, will be released through Spirit Of Unicorn Records on October 13. You can watch a video trailer for the new box set below.

The set contains rare early tracks with The T Bones And Chris Baber, music from The Nice and of course Emerson, Lake & Palmer, all of Emerson's solo albums, his soundtrack work, recent collaborations with conductor Terke Mikkelsen such as The Three Fates project and a host of live sets featuring previously unavailable material.

The collection has been curated with the full involvement and blessing of the Emerson family.  Aaron Emerson, Keith’s son, says “It is with great excitement that we can share all of dad’s great work, expanding throughout his long career. I hope it gives you as much joy as it has done for all of us”.

Variations will be housed in a special 10 x 10 inch box, and the 20-CDs are accompanied by sleeve notes written by Jerry Ewing, Editor of Prog Magazine. Ewing casts a magnifying glass over the immense Emerson catalogue and speaks with many of his collaborators to deliver a fascinating history of the man behind the keyboard. Variations will also feature a 48-page book containing many never-before-seen photos taken directly from the Emerson family archive. 

You can see the contents and artwork for Variations below.

Pre-order Variations.

(Image credit: Cherry Red)

VARIATIONS CONTENTS

PART ONE: THE EARLY YEARS / THE BANDS

DISC ONE

PART TWO: THE SOLO ALBUMS 

DISC TWO: Honky

DISC THREE: Changing States 

DISC FOUR: Emerson Plays Emerson

DISC FIVE: Keith Emerson Band   

PART THREE: THE SOUNDTRACKS

DISC SIX: Inferno 

DISC SEVEN: Nighthawks  

DISC EIGHT: Murderock  

DISC NINE: Best Revenge / La Chiesa   

DISC TEN: Iron Man   

DISC ELEVEN: Harmagedon / Godzilla

PART FOUR: COLLABORATIONS

DISC TWELVE: Three Fates Project 

DISC THIRTEEN: Beyond the Stars

PART FIVE: LIVE COLLABORATIONS

DISC FOURTEEN: Boys Club (Live from California)

DISC FIFTEEN: Moscow Pt 1  

DISC SIXTEEN: Moscow Pt 2  

DISC SEVENTEEN: Live from Manticore Hall

DISC EIGHTEEN: Off The Shelf

DISC NINETEEN: Live at BB Kings - 21/05/2004  

DISC TWENTY: B.B.Kings - NYC - 21/05/2004 / The Keith Emerson Trio Live At BB Kings