Emerson, Lake & Palmer

verslibre wrote: YESESIS wrote: Who even needs Rick Wakeman at this point(I didn't just say that).    We'll pretend you didn't.   I need Rick! I love Rick! I need the third book in is Grumpy Old Rock Star autobiographical series.   Here's some recent live action by Rick — the Caped Crusader wailing away on "White Rock"!

verslibre wrote: YESESIS wrote: Yeah, that's really good. You seem to understand my taste. What one all instrumental prog album would you most recommend for me?    I can't recommend only one, because there's a lot of top-shelf music in this vein. Hence my list in this thread. Do you want to get one right now, or several? Where do you usually order music?

verslibre wrote: YESESIS wrote: I want to get more into those Japanese women though(not like that!) Hold on to your chin strap, because here's the short-lived double-keyboards formation of Ars Nova (Keiko Kumagai & Mika Nakajimi – keys; Akiko Takahashi – drumkit), live in Helsinki in 2001.     YESESIS wrote: and that third video you posted about the "Japanese Wakeman." Mo' Motoi!

ELP was right up there with Yes, Pink Floyd and Genesis for me back in the 70's. My love for them faded quickly after Works Vol. I and rarely go back into their discography. But here's my take:

Black Moon is a LOT better than In the Hot Seat!

Has it occurred to anybody that Works Vol. 2 contains two of the finest and most overlooked ELP instrumentals?  No, everybody is busy sl*g.ing it off and giving it low rankings.  Yes, it is uneven and cobbled together but it contains some great music.  Emerson also tried hard with the much maligned Love Beach ('Canario' is another overlooked belter) and no one seemed to understand the irony of that photo on the cover.  ELPowell stood out in the 80s when compared to the dross that their contemporaries were producing.  One of the greatest - and most exciting bands - on the face of the earth.

verslibre wrote: It's not a bad thing, per se. I simply prefer to listen to the three after it.   More stellar ELP-inspired albums you need to check out:   Ars Nova – Fear and Anxiety Ars Nova – Transi Ars Nova – The Goddess of Darkness Ars Nova – Book of the Dead Cherry Five – self-titled Deja-Vu – Baroque in the Future Gerard – Pandora's Box Gerard – Live at Marseilles Gerard/Ars Nova – Keyboards Triangle Gerard – Keyboards Triangle 2 Jaime Rosas – Virgo Jaime Rosas Trio – Extremos Motoi Sakuraba – Gikyoku Onsou Social Tension – MacBethia Trace – self-titled Trace – Birds U.K. – Danger Money   ...and if you haven't heard Rick Wakeman's Six Wives of Henry VIII, or Criminal Record...you need to!

richardh wrote: The one this that always comes up on ELP threads (there have been many) is whether they started to fall away from BSS onwards. It's interesting (to me anyway) that they were getting quite distracted by setting up the new record label (Manticore) and so it would make sense if commercial considerations were overtaking them at the time. My own feeling on the matter is that BSS is their best and most coherent work excepting that Benny The Bouncer really doesn't belong on that album (they could have included either the track called Brain Salad Surgery or When The Apple Blossom Blooms ... which are much better) but never mind. Without that you still some the most mind blowingly complex and technically brilliant symh prog ever made. The production does fall under being too compressed perhaps but they were attempting to create a more panoramic sound in keeping with their live shows of the time. It has been terribly re mastered over the years though which is a real shame (stick with the Sony release as that's the best imo and avoid the horrible 'deluxe reissues) and that is one of the problems. Still one of the most original prog releases and my favourite album for 40 years! Overall ELP were just one of those bands that refused to stick to the plan. Too many big egos in the band and outside record company interference in the end put paid to them. Black Moon was a decent comeback but as said before Emerson (and Palmer) were having massive physical issues with their hands and that fluency they were so famed for never returned. In the end they are best remembered as a flamboyant band who recorded some interesting and important albums. They tried things that other musicians wanted to do but were either too shy or too frightened to do.

Have to agree with pretty much all of this. It was interesting to hear promoter Harvey Goldsmith (whose a fan) describe ELP as being a band who were deeply unpopular within the industry at the height of their success. He seemed to imply that being globally successful while playing very challenging and complex music and refusing to play the rock'n'roll game of releasing exactly the same album every 2 years or so, flew in the face of any conventional marketing strategy wisdom. It seems most of the record executives really didn't have a clue how to sell ELP as a rawk brand. In addition, Works Volume 1 was a step too far for a predominately white, male rock demographic to negotiate without the fanbase becoming divisively polarized as a result. For me, Emerson had outgrown Rock by circa 1980 and should have embarked on a career as a classical composer and performer of his own work. BTW Benny the Bouncer is sublime and most people appraise it as boogie woogie or stride, but it ain't (it's not even in shuffle time): it's a slice of London cockney music hall with one of the most thrilling piano solos in the history of popular music full stop. (The clue is in the accent Lake adopts for the vocal innit?)

richardh wrote: YESESIS wrote: Who even needs Rick Wakeman at this point(I didn't just say that).  The recent Keith Emerson tribute in Birmingham (UK) absolutely needed him. He played the solo on Abaddon's Bolero with the orchestra as well as saying some very nice things about Keith. Rachael Flowers was also absolutely amazing at this concert. Surprised she hasn't been mentioned on this thread (unless I missed it skimming through the comments).