What ever happened to E.L.P.?

richardh wrote: Works is a slow burner but you probably need to be a fan. Back in the day I played Tarkus to death to the point that I started to listen to Works more and realised it was actually a good album. Closer To Believing in fact became a favourite track of mine and still is for me one of Lake's best songs (with help from Peter Sinfield) but like a lot of doubles maybe it could have done with a bit of fat trimming. Keith Emerson's Piano Concerto obviously belonged on a solo album more than anything else on the album that was potentially more adaptable to the band as a whole.

Yes, Maybe I do need to re-listen to the album in a quiet place again. I would probably appreciate it slightly more maybe. I do like atleast couple of ELP's albums very much [debut and Tarkus],so I am atleast a partial fan :p. The album does have some bloat and can do with some toning down, as you said.

I mean not necessarily disagreeing with you but... based on reviews from this site I think most people don't let Genesis "get away" with that one. 

Hi,

My guess is that Keith's words and comments about serious music, and attempts at being classical, were trashed by a lot of rock critics, that enjoyed the musicianship, but hated the "ditties". And it became fair game, and Keith should have told them all to ... as Frank Zappa did right from the start ... he never had to apologize for his music ... and folks, and reviewers stopped harassing him on it. But, then, it wasn't until "Overnight Sensation" that the rock folks immediately jumped in and started saying what a genius Frank was. So Frank flipped them all off again ... and sold out many places non-stop for several years to his end.

You have to stand up for your music, and not doubt it ... and I think that ELP felt they had to excuse themselves for doing this or that ... and they should have told many of those ... farts ... where to go stuff it! They did not need those goons, not to mention that none of them ever bought an album, either!

The debut is my personal favorite. I find it to be the most consistent plus no silly cowboy songs.

It had nothing to do with competition. ELP were already labelled 'Dinosaurs' as were many other bands in the mainstream rock press. Prog rock had thrived when there was a base of music critics who took them seriously. When that changed it was the beginning of the end. Punk Rock was a much more serious thing than you are crediting it for being and a lot of those guys were well aware of prog bands and even liked them. But too many prog artists were stuck up their own bums and were unable to change. Also plain fact of it is that ELP, Yes, Genesis, Supertramp and many more bands of the classic era were running on fumes and their glory days were in the past. Pink Floyd were always a bit late to the party but kind of adapted because they could see what was happening. ELP should have been too big to fail but history tells us otherwise. His Piano Concerto was indeed a step too far but not because it was bad but because of perception (up own arse and all that). Maybe Love Beach was an attempt to look relaxed and 'hey look at us guys we can get down with the kids etc' . It was utterly unconvincing and actually terrible in a very real way. At least with the Piano Concerto, Keith was being authentic and true to himself. Don't ever lose that or you have nothing.