ELP's importance not fully recognised

I suspect it's mostly those who never really liked them that say stuff as that.. in reality, not only are they probably still the most well-known prog band (worldwide, especially among non-proggies), but their impact is still felt all these years later on much new prog

ELP are probably the highest profile victim of the change in taste that happened with the change of generations. They still remain influential on the scene, though.

I agree that they are probably highly influential, but that doesn't mean I like them. A few songs I like, but it's just not my kind of music. I prefer a screeching sax solo over a keyboard solo anyday. 

(I have no idea how my post from the first page got re-posted here!)


Edited by jplanet - January 25 2010 at 02:47

jplanet wrote: ELP was the highest-grossing touring band in their time, and the band that did the most to introduce jazz and classical influences in rock, the first rock band to use synthesizer as a lead instrument, and the band most responsible for the popularity of synthesizers in rock music. Few keyboard players in prog can deny having some, if not a major influence from Keith Emerson, and Carl Palmer is still largely considered to be one of the most respected and influential drummers of all time. What does a band have to friggin' do to be considered important? Geez... Camel and Gentle Giant? Really? Certainly not in the U.S., where neither has had any FM airplay in 30 years, but Lucky Man, Karn Evil 9, and From the Beginning are still classic rock radio staples. Fanfare for the Common Man was used as the Olympic Games theme for years, But then I've heard that Deep Purple was much more popular than Led Zeppelin in Europe, so maybe some attention is to be paid to geographics...But even so, the upcoming ELP reunion is the headline of the High Voltage Festival, if Camel or Gentle Giant play a gig now, I doubt it would be at a theater built for more than 1000 people...

Have to agree with what is a very succinct summary of just some of ELP's considerable legacy. I've always maintained there's an even more staunchly conservative strand in the DNA of the rock demographic than that of the mainstream (it's becoming even more reactionary now)

There have always been a number of factors that prevent ELP getting the kudos they probably deserve:

1 - Rawk without a prominent lead guitar appears to be sufficient for those who always order the same dish at the Prog Takeaway to be 'missing an ingredient'.

2 - Many hippies thought ELP were the apex of 'capitalist rock' (presumably by virtue of their massive global material success - I guess Floyd frittered their millions away on lentils and gardening gloves ?)

3 - ELP grew and developed very rapidly during their creative peak from 1970 to '74 to the extent that as a 'serious' composer, Emerson had long outstripped and outgrown rock as a suitable medium for his writing. I admit that much of Works was a bloated and misguided fiasco, but only by virtue of a panicked record label attempting to market unadulterated classical, love songs, jazz rock, symphonic prog and what is tantamount to a Rock Opera (Pirates) to an audience who could not be expected to assimilate such a breadth of stylistic influences in the one sitting. According to Keith's autobiography, it was the band's manager Stuart Young who came up with the ill-begotten idea to shoehorn what were three fledgling solo albums into one unwieldy and schizophrenic whole.

4 - The music press habitually called them 'po-faced, cold and pretentious' while one of the most recurrent reservations contained in many withering reviews on PA is that their shorter and light hearted humorous tracks are deemed 'unworthy' of a serious band (Go figure)

BTW I know Keith has to pay the bills and top up his motorcyle collection every now and then but he should be concentrating on writing contemporary music scored for orchestra, as his talents are wasted in the cramped world of rock IMO

  two excellent posts










Edited by Atavachron - January 18 2010 at 04:33

jplanet wrote:  Camel and Gentle Giant? Really? Certainly not in the U.S., where neither has had any FM airplay in 30 years, but Lucky Man, Karn Evil 9, and From the Beginning are still classic rock radio staples. Fanfare for the Common Man was used as the Olympic Games theme for years, But then I've heard that Deep Purple was much more popular than Led Zeppelin in Europe, so maybe some attention is to be paid to geographics...But even so, the upcoming ELP reunion is the headline of the High Voltage Festival, if Camel or Gentle Giant play a gig now, I doubt it would be at a theater built for more than 1000 people...

Raff wrote: 2) I don't believe for a second that prog was led to its decline by the excessively convoluted style promoted by ELP. Let's face it - for the record companies and such, in the Seventies prog was a fad, as much as punk was in 1977 or grunge in 1990. Both those genres had their more or less brief moment of glory, then went back underground, but never disappeared completely. The same has happened to prog.

It's not that prog declined because of ELP, but the over-indulgent complexity of ELP is paragon of why it happened. They ideally summed up in them all the "original sins" of prog. I agree with you anyway, eventually it had to come to an end - the music industry just works this way.

Clotomic Hello ! 

Already some interesting replies certainly. I was struck by a couple of references in the thread to 'over indulgence' or perhaps 'uber complexity' being the germs that brought the ELP critter down. In the case of the former I would concede that the sheer wanton chutzpah of playing with say, a 100 piece orchestra in the live environment was perhaps a dish just too rich for many proggers with nascent middle-age spread on their minds. In the case of the latter however, are Frank Zappa, Gentle Giant or King Crimson crtiicised because some feel their music is too complex ? (I mean 'too simple' is the normative barb thrust into the sides of bands who are deemed guilty of 'girly accessibility' or 'horrid catchiness')

Of all the classic pioneering originals that are listed on PA, it is surely ELP who cop most of the revisionist flak fired by those who wish to convert the nursery in the House of Prog into a study (ELP were more interested in attempting a loft extension, but sadly failed )


Edited by ExittheLemming - January 18 2010 at 10:40

ELP are one of the best bands in history, and who ever disagree should spontaneously self-combust in front of the computer monitor right now. What's that smell?

They had awful moments, but then again, all prog had awful moments. And they made up for those moments by making some of the most stellar moments in musical history:

1.) they know how to play the music from the heart and to keep it simple,
2.) they played folk music,
3. )they made multi-vocal harmonies,
4,) they went deep into darkness and madness, on level with doom metal and Black Sabbath riffs,
5. )they had great blues moments and mouth harmonica
6.) they pioneered various aspects of electronic music and electronic drums
7.) they played Latino music,
8.) in their personal lives, they're good friends with various musicians, including The Sex Pistols members.

I'm not making things up.