Editing Emerson, Lake & Palmer (section)

===1978–1979: ''Love Beach'' and first break-up===
After their 1977–78 tour, the band discussed their next move. Emerson recalled that in order for the group to continue, "we would have to do a lot of cutting down" and considered the possibility of producing music with just a piano, bass guitar, and drums.{{sfn|Macan|2006|p=417}} As the group were contractually obliged to record one more studio album, the band relocated to Emerson's home near [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]] in the [[Bahamas]] and recorded ''[[Love Beach]]'' at the nearby [[Compass Point Studios]] in 1978.{{sfn|Macan|2006|p=237}} Lake did not carry out the production duties, leaving Emerson to complete the record on his own after his bandmates returned home when recording was complete.{{sfn|Macan|2006|p=419}} The album has been dismissed by the band, who explained it was produced to fulfil a contractual obligation.<ref>{{cite video |people=Emerson Lake & Palmer |year=2008 |title=Beyond The Beginning |url=http://www.emersonlakepalmer.com/beyondbegin_press.htm |medium=DVD |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620063424/http://www.emersonlakepalmer.com/beyondbegin_press.htm |archive-date=20 June 2009 }}</ref> Sinfield is credited on the majority of the tracks as a lyricist except "Canario", an instrumental based on ''[[Fantasía para un gentilhombre]]'' by Spanish composer [[Joaquín Rodrigo]]. The second side is taken up with "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman", a four-part 20-minute track that tells a [[coming of age]] story of a soldier during the [[World War II]]-era.{{sfn|Macan|2006|p=419}} Its cover is a photograph of the group at a beach off an island from [[Salt Cay, Turks Islands]], "decked out as bare-chested late-seventies disco stars".{{sfn|Macan|2006|p=419}} Despite Emerson expressing his disapproval on the album's title and cover to Ertegun, neither was changed.{{sfn|Macan|2006|p=419}}

''Love Beach'' was released in November 1978 and was poorly received by the music press. "All I Want Is You" was released as a single in the UK, but failed to chart. It did sell enough to be certified gold in the US for 500,000 copies sold, in January 1979.<ref name=RIAA/> In early 1979, Palmer attempted to organise a farewell summer tour and have the group disband at its conclusion. Due to internal problems, such as "what we should play and how we should play it", the tour never materialised.{{sfn|Macan|2006|p=432}} The band made no announcement of their break-up,<ref name=LAT82>{{cite news|url=https://elparchive.com/articles/1982-01-24%20Los%20Angeles%20Times.jpg|title=Greg Lake tests new solo wings|first=Dennis|last=Hunt|date=24 January 1982|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=16 December 2022}}</ref> and Palmer moved on by forming a band, PM, which released one album entitled ''1PM''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Carl Palmer |url=http://www.emersonlakepalmer.com/CPBiography.html |website=Emerson, Lake & Palmer |access-date=24 July 2018 |archive-date=23 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123233520/http://emersonlakepalmer.com/CPBiography.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>