RIP Keith Emerson

i never understood whats wrong with tarkus side b. all catchy stuff. 

I thought I'd already posted in here. When I heard Keith was dead I initially thought it might be age related, but to lose his life to suicide really shocked me. I can't think what to add, but I have been listening over and over the ELP I've got. Damn, he could play!

The grandeaur of Prog summarizes in "Brain Salad Surgery",  one of Prog´s Cornerstones.

Boy, this one hits hard...I feel about ELP like a lot of you guys do about Genesis, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theatre, Le Orme or whatever your favorite prog band is.  This news is just devastating.  It's sad that Keith felt driven to such a tragic end by the fact that he felt he could no longer play keyboards up to the standard that he and his fans expected, per his girlfriend.  In my opinion, ELP's first 6 albums (the debut, Pictures, Tarkus, Trilogy, Brain Salad, and Welcome Back) are freakin' landmarks of the prog genre.  They helped to define for people what prog was, uniting classical with rock, developing the Moog sound, and showing that prog could be as entertaining and popular as blues-based hard rock (at least in the 70's).  They constantly pushed the boundaries of what music could do.  Emerson was one of, if not the best (and Keyboard magazine polls would argue he was the best), keyboard players in all of rock.  Listen to Hoedown off of the Welcome Back live album and you'll be amazed at his speed and dexterity.  When I replay some of their greatest works---Take A Pebble, Knife Edge, Tarkus, Pictures, Endless Enigma, Trilogy, Karn Evil 9, and Toccata---I am struck anew by just how damn good  he was.  Not to mention how ahead of his time he was, with the Nice and Ars Longa Vita Breva and Five Bridges.  ELP caught a lot of crap from critics about being pretentious, etc...Man, we could use some pretentiousness like that on the music scene nowadays!

I heard about it Friday afternoon.  As the details came out my sadness only deepens. ELP gets the lion's share of the credit for getting me interested in classical music.  I think that all the bashing the Keith and ELP often get are unwarranted.

Remember his 'somersaulting Grand Piano' ??      And he never missed a note !!

Good trip, Keith.

In a Tarkus logic, Keith was finally defeated by the Manticore to return as Aquaemerson.

tarkus literally changed my life and got me into prog. his sacrifice was not in vain, and his music will live forever.

I've been an ELP fan since a school friend taped "Welcome Back My Friends..." for me soon after it was released. Starting with the ridiculous speed of "Hoedown", through the brilliant Moog of "Aquatarkus" to the wonderful, mind-bogglingly brilliant piano playing on "Take a Pebble" to the ending of "Karn Evil 9", I've always loved this and their other albums. I was lucky enough to see their last show at High Voltage. RIP Keith - the best prog keyboard player of all time (with apologies to Mr Wakeman and others).