The Brutality of the Hammond: Tarkus

Alberto Muñoz wrote: Dave Stewart have the most sinister tones of any album of any prog artist to date.

That might as well be, but this thread is about Hammond.

No live Hammond stage sound was ever bigger than Billy Ritchie with Clouds; like listening to two organists playing in unison. You can hear that to some extent on 'Cold Sweat' the the middle and coda of 'Sing Sing Sing'. Fastest ever hands too. He cut off before the Prog era really got going, so doesn't (in my opinion) really qualify as a true Prog keyboard player, he was a Hammond organist, and that's it, I'm not sure he could even have translated himself into the synth era to the standard of excellence brought by Emerson and Wakeman. But Hammond, yes, absolutely the best. It was a massive sound, The Nice couldn't live with that on a live stage. Tony Kaye (Yes) even tried copying the Hammond settings Ritchie used, but it still didn't sound the same, much to Tony's puzzlement. What he needed was a left hand as strong as his right. 

Alberto Muñoz wrote: Dave Stewart have the most sinister tones of any album of any prog artist to date.

I was gonna say..........Dave Stewart is No. 1 for Hammond. Keith was stupendous with his Hammonds, but Dave - that solo at the beginning of Dreams Wide Awake - Keith was never that wild - or perhaps a different 'wild' , but never played as ripping as Dave. Still love Tarkus - Iconoclast - that Hammond is ALIVE !!

I've always preferred the way Jon Lord abuses a Hammond:

In terms of Hammond demons, my go to guy probably has to be Hugh Banton of Van Der Graaf Generator, especially during the Pawn Hearts-era.

rogerthat wrote: Dave Stewart on The Polite Force?  I am not certain about what all equipment he was using, but this is some nasty keyboard playing.  I do prefer Stewart's playing to Emerson's as such.  I feel Emerson didn't show much growth from his initial, revolutionary burst.  Stewart's playing on the Khan album after this, then Hatfield and finally National Health at the end of the same decade all show varied influences and developments in his style.

Same with me. To me, Dave Stewart is an underappreciated maestro and one of the most gifted musicians I have ever heard play.
As opposed to Wakeman, Sinclair, and Emerson, who used B3/C3 type organ, Stewart used a so called spinet model (L-122), similarly to Rick Wright (M-100), Thijs Van Leer, Hugh Banton or Tony Banks to name a few. These give a much smoother, brighter sound, and less what you might associate with jazz or soul, but rather with church organ. I've found that these models tend to react better with fuzz, hence Stewart's nasty fuzzed out, bulldozer-like organ tones. Long Piece No. 3 is a perfect display of various sounds he was able to achieve.

But yeah, Tarkus is a perfect demonstration of where the great late Keith Emerson could go with his organ. I particularly like the percussive sound of his Hammond.

Atavachron wrote: richardh wrote: Emerson did actually compose the instrumental sections on a piano and then transferred it to Hammond. ooh I'd like to hear the piano originals, or a new piano-based version.. c'mon Keith, revisit the old xenarthran !

Ah...you do know Keith is no longer with us right??

JD wrote: Atavachron wrote: richardh wrote: Emerson did actually compose the instrumental sections on a piano and then transferred it to Hammond. ooh I'd like to hear the piano originals, or a new piano-based version.. c'mon Keith, revisit the old xenarthran ! Ah...you do know Keith is no longer with us right??

Epignosis wrote: "Tarkus" is one of the greatest prog epics ever written, and I agree- the organ is awesome throughout.