Emerson, Lake & Palmer

YESESIS wrote: 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). Oh wow, that sounds awesome.

richardh wrote: Have you checked out Emerson's film soundtrack albums such as Nighthawks and Inferno? They are actually very good and he had a nice little collaboration with the conductor Godfrey Salmon going at the time although it didn't last presumably as the temptation to reform ELP became too great to ignore. Yep Greg doing his best Dick Van Dyke impression was what every ELP fan craved for. KE9 made up for it though.

Yes, I've enjoyed all Keith's soundtrack albums to varying degrees. Inferno is maybe my favourite as Director Dario Argento appears to have given him free rein (unlike say, Murderrock where Emerson is tasked with incorporating contemporary fads like 'Flashdance' disco into his music with predictably dire results) The only big budget movie Keith was involved in was Nighthawks and I remember him stating that to continue on this career path he would have had to live in Hollywood but baulked at the idea. Most of these albums are criminally neglected and this is probably due to the fact that the majority of rock fans appraise them by what they DON'T contain i.e. this doesn't sound like ELP so it must suck etc. Emerson's music is very different when unharnessed from the ELP bandwagon and this is testimony to how large a voice both Lake and Palmer had in their output. They were certainly NOT a one man band and Carl maybe put it best when he opined 'We argue like f*ck'

richardh wrote: I gather that Simon Phillips was up for it

richardh wrote: ELPowell is another story. Carl not available so Cozy was drafted in although I gather that Simon Phillips was up for it and would have been a better choice imo. It's quite a fragmented album idea wise (but then that's typical ELP I suppose) and some bits work while others don't. Its a pity they didn't stick with this line up for a bit longer as I think it had the potential to grow into something interesting but Palmer was always going to return once his Asia commitment was over.

richardh wrote: Works Volume One is still for me the album I struggle to get my head round in terms of ELP back catalogue. It's easy to have an opinion about the others whether negative or positive but Works really showed what a challenge it was to keep this band from careering off the road ( and they did of course!) . I absolutely love Pirates  and the version of Tank as well as the Buddy Rich inspired Food For Your Soul but there is some 'dodgy' stuff on Lake's side and I've never been quite convinced by the long version of Fanfare For The Common Man. As a 2 minute 'hit' it was fine. Emerson's piano concerto is good but does it really belong on a group album? (but you could say this about a lot of the album of course)  Apparently it was originally intended to be 3 separate solo releases but Atlantic records were not keen. I think they could have called it a day after this album but presumably they were obligated to release further albums even though creatively there was just nothing left. Shame really and this must have been a big regret for them.  ELPowell is another story. Carl not available so Cozy was drafted in although I gather that Simon Phillips was up for it and would have been a better choice imo. It's quite a fragmented album idea wise (but then that's typical ELP I suppose) and some bits work while others don't. Its a pity they didn't stick with this line up for a bit longer as I think it had the potential to grow into something interesting but Palmer was always going to return once his Asia commitment was over.

Works Volume One is not that good until it gets to the Palmer stuff imo. Idk, for the most part I like it but real step down from the earlier albums and then I guess they were never the same after that. But those first four studio albums are still good enough to make them one of the three best prog bands ever imo.

verslibre wrote: richardh wrote: ELPowell is another story. Carl not available so Cozy was drafted in although I gather that Simon Phillips was up for it and would have been a better choice imo. It's quite a fragmented album idea wise (but then that's typical ELP I suppose) and some bits work while others don't. Its a pity they didn't stick with this line up for a bit longer as I think it had the potential to grow into something interesting but Palmer was always going to return once his Asia commitment was over.   Cozy (RIP) had a powerful style that lent itself well to the streamlined sound they went for. Greg sounds fantastic. There's too much reverb on the album, but it was 1986. ELPowell is a great album up through "Step Aside." I can take or leave the rest, the two CD bonus tracks included.   The album by 3 is crap. Even Keith's sounds were crap.

presdoug wrote: ^ Oops, I forgot to mention Tarkus in my previous post. I love the whole album, actually. Especially side one. They opened their Ottawa concert with that, and inserted music from other albums of theirs in the middle of things, which was cool.

That must have been awesome to see live