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verslibre View Drop Down
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    Posted: August 25 2021 at 09:49
Nothing iffy about Emerson, Lake & Powell, either!
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Originally posted by TheEliteExtremophile TheEliteExtremophile wrote:

ELP is one of those bands I could write something pretty lengthy on. Even their best overall studio album (their self-titled) has some glaring weak moments. Pictures at an Exhibition is, in my mind, unquestionably their best, most consistent release. I love Emerson's flashiness and complete mastery of both the Hammond and Moog, but flashiness a strong album does not make. Their songwriting was often iffy, especially the later into their career they got.

I'm not sure I would agree with that last part. The most consistent and solid album from a song writing perspective is Black Moon (imo). There isn't a weak moment on that album but there were issues with Mark Mancina's production and maybe Carl not being quite the force of nature he once was that held it back. Emerson and Lake though are both great and probably their best collaborative effort. 
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Originally posted by TheEliteExtremophile TheEliteExtremophile wrote:

ELP is one of those bands I could write something pretty lengthy on. Even their best overall studio album (their self-titled) has some glaring weak moments. Pictures at an Exhibition is, in my mind, unquestionably their best, most consistent release. I love Emerson's flashiness and complete mastery of both the Hammond and Moog, but flashiness a strong album does not make. Their songwriting was often iffy, especially the later into their career they got.


I don't think I could write something particularly lengthy about ELP, but I do agree that my favourite album from them, and most consistent, would be Pictures at an Exhibition. Still, I do like them very much, when they are good.
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Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Originally posted by A Crimson Mellotron A Crimson Mellotron wrote:

What I like about ELP? The balls, the keyboards, the really good compositions, the voice of Greg Lake, the live wizardry and wackiness of Emerson, among other things.

Who's.......er,   what balls would that be? Wink

LOL
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Originally posted by SteveG SteveG wrote:

I've been listening to a lot of ELP lately starting with the debut album and moving on in the order of their releases. Thanks to this thread! Smile

The only one I ever need to play is the debut....not that I don't like the next 4 releases.
Smile


Edited by dr wu23 - August 24 2021 at 12:26
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Originally posted by A Crimson Mellotron A Crimson Mellotron wrote:

What I like about ELP? The balls, the keyboards, the really good compositions, the voice of Greg Lake, the live wizardry and wackiness of Emerson, among other things.

Who's.......er,   what balls would that be?
Wink
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Next up: Tangerine Dream.
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I've been listening to a lot of ELP lately starting with the debut album and moving on in the order of their releases. Thanks to this thread! Smile
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Originally posted by Frenetic Zetetic Frenetic Zetetic wrote:

What DON'T I love about ELP?!

their last album? Big smile
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What DON'T I love about ELP?!

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ELP is one of those bands I could write something pretty lengthy on. Even their best overall studio album (their self-titled) has some glaring weak moments. Pictures at an Exhibition is, in my mind, unquestionably their best, most consistent release. I love Emerson's flashiness and complete mastery of both the Hammond and Moog, but flashiness a strong album does not make. Their songwriting was often iffy, especially the later into their career they got.
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ELP flat out rules. An amazing trio of talented musicians that I never get tired of listening to.
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Tangerine Dream were more about improvisation though. I also wonder how much classical training they had and so were capable of repeating written pieces? I ask because I don't know. Huge fan of both bands though and they occupy a fair amount of my available shelf space!

Edgar Froese took piano lessons beginning at 12, and picked up the guitar at 15.

Johannes Schmoelling and Paul Haslinger were both conservatory-trained. Paul let it all hang out on the Optical Race tour when he sat at the digital piano at the front of the stage and played a Bach Invention and some improv...and then the tease: the first notes of "Ricochet Pt. 2," which generated at least a couple shouts of approval. Big smile
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Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

Originally posted by verslibre verslibre wrote:

Originally posted by JD JD wrote:

Does any know of another band that rearranged (and I don't mean the order) their own songs more than ELP for their live shows. It seems every time I saw them (5 or 6 times) they would perform new versions of old songs that seem to keep them fresh, it was also because Emerson loved to improvise.

Tangerine Dream, circa the '70s & '80s.

Hi,

I think that TD has a much better excuse than most others. According to the Edgar Froese book, they had some serious issues with the hardware that caused many problems up to and including that no one knew how to get the same sound out of it a 2nd time, until the later 70's. 

It is the reason why their old bootlegs were so valuable. They were all different and you knew that monsters of the synths could not get tuned to match the music they had put on the albums.

For me, it made the band more exciting!

Correct (I also have the book). In the early days, modular synthesizers would detune rapidly and were subject to damage via poor handling and moisture and other factors. Inserting a patch cord in the same place was no guarantee the same timbre would be reproduced exactly as on album or the previous night, so they went with it.

Even after Johannes Schmoelling joined, they performed pieces — improv based on starting motifs — that they never committed to album (some were, but they were drastically altered). The Palast der Republik concert is one of my favorites (made officially available just a couple years ago). The 1981 Brussels show is another. At least they had the foresight to release Poland for us!
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I love them, maybe slighly below Yes, Genesis and Floyd, but a bit more than Crimson. I don't care much for their post 1973 stuff overall, but their first four/five albums are brilliant and I don't agree with the filler part. Are You Ready Eddie, Benny the Bouncer and Tank are probably the songs I care for the least in that period but they're not bad. 
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What I like about ELP? The balls, the keyboards, the really good compositions, the voice of Greg Lake, the live wizardry and wackiness of Emerson, among other things.
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Tangerine Dream were more about improvisation though. I also wonder how much classical training they had and so were capable of repeating written pieces? I ask because I don't know. Huge fan of both bands though and they occupy a fair amount of my available shelf space!
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Originally posted by verslibre verslibre wrote:

Originally posted by JD JD wrote:

Does any know of another band that rearranged (and I don't mean the order) their own songs more than ELP for their live shows. It seems every time I saw them (5 or 6 times) they would perform new versions of old songs that seem to keep them fresh, it was also because Emerson loved to improvise.

Tangerine Dream, circa the '70s & '80s.

Hi,

I think that TD has a much better excuse than most others. According to the Edgar Froese book, they had some serious issues with the hardware that caused many problems up to and including that no one knew how to get the same sound out of it a 2nd time, until the later 70's. 

It is the reason why their old bootlegs were so valuable. They were all different and you knew that monsters of the synths could not get tuned to match the music they had put on the albums.

For me, it made the band more exciting!
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Originally posted by Hrychu Hrychu wrote:

One of the things I love about ELP is that piercing, tube overdriven hammond organ sound.

that's exactly why the live triple is so important. The version of Tarkus on their is much better than its studio form because you can really hear the hammond properly and Emerson's total mastery of it. Studio version is still good but perhaps too many production tricks take something away imo. You should also check out the Mar Y Sol festival performance. Sheer heaven for hammond/ELP fans

Not to mention that live version of Aquatarkus.
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

Originally posted by Hrychu Hrychu wrote:

One of the things I love about ELP is that piercing, tube overdriven hammond organ sound.


that's exactly why the live triple is so important. The version of Tarkus on their is much better than its studio form because you can really hear the hammond properly and Emerson's total mastery of it. Studio version is still good but perhaps too many production tricks take something away imo. You should also check out the Mar Y Sol festival performance. Sheer heaven for hammond/ELP fans
Right on, mate.
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