Am I missing something?

I have the first 3 studio albums ELP, Tarkus and Trilogy. 3 fairly cool albums. I had Brain Salad but I sold it. Only liked Karnevil(but even parts of that song was cheesy). Works 1 and 2 and Love beach have the occasional cool tune. But I only really rate ELP well from 1971-1973. I actually prefer Lakes voice on Crimson Poseidon. He seemed to sing with more of an accent with ELP

BaldFriede wrote: Moogtron III wrote: I think the first four ELP albums have many examples of splendid song writing. Songs like Take A Pebble, Tarkus and Karn Evil 9 are so well composed. They are not singsongs, but wonderful examples of prog compositions anyway. I can listen to it many times and still get a shiver down the spine. Emerson and Lake were both excellent composers in their own right. Lake a more traditional song writer, heavily influenced by folk, and Emerson blending classical and rock structures in a unique form of composition, with richness in chords, textures and dynamics.   Read Edward Macan's analyses of some of ELP's compositions and you see how beautifully crafted a lot of the earlier songs are. ...Which doesn't mean you will necessarily like them. If you can't appreciate them it's probably just a matter of taste, which is okay. But I don't think ELP are in any way overrated, nor as composers, nor as musicians. I totally agree with you. Not that they are my favourite band or that I am a big fan of theirs, but I really like their first few albums. A question to nahnite: What exactly is it you are looking for? There is plenty of melody in the songs Moogtron mentions, and for many other songs they use compositions by famous composers as basis (like Leoš Janáček's "Sinfonietta" for "Knife Edge"), and you can hardly accuse them of not having a sense for melody.

nahnite wrote: Easy Money wrote: akamaisondufromage wrote: martinprog77 wrote: maybe you just -not getting  in it ... yet, or you probably never will . and thats ok . sometimes im wonder with gentle giant i just cant get into  them,and i dont not why  ,but bands strongly influenced by them  [ like spocks beards and echolyn ] i really like them.   You drunk? OK, lets try to stay on topic here, if anyone should be accused of having a 'progressive' alcohol condition, it's me.   Thanks for joining us, Easy.  What is your opinion?

Thanks for asking, ELP is a real mixed bag for me, I really like a lot of their stuff, but there is some nonsense, and they very much go with their time period.

I think it is hard to judge ELP by today's music, or by the music of other bands in their own era, despite their many attempted copiers and influence, ELP is a very very unique band.

When I listen to a band like ELP I suspend my judgment a bit and accept them for the weird mix they are: 20th century composers, hard bop jazz, Lake's humanitarian lyrics and lounge and rock sensibilities, Palmer's unique drumming and the whole band's tendency towards kitsch and exotica.

I think us older prog fans can appreciate what an incredibly futuristic album ELP I was when it came out, very little in the world of music could have prepared anyone for that.

Overall I think the suite on Brain Salad is one of the more successful attempts at classical type development mixed with rock that really rocks. I also like Pictures for it's 'punkish' assault and exuberence. I also like Tank, Trilogy and a couple things off Works II for the great blend of prog rock and lounge exotica.

I think ELP probably just sounds kind of dated to a lot (not all) modern prog fans.

Moogtron III wrote: I think the first four ELP albums have many examples of splendid song writing. Songs like Take A Pebble, Tarkus and Karn Evil 9 are so well composed. They are not singsongs, but wonderful examples of prog compositions anyway. I can listen to it many times and still get a shiver down the spine. Emerson and Lake were both excellent composers in their own right. Lake a more traditional song writer, heavily influenced by folk, and Emerson blending classical and rock structures in a unique form of composition, with richness in chords, textures and dynamics.   Read Edward Macan's analyses of some of ELP's compositions and you see how beautifully crafted a lot of the earlier songs are. ...Which doesn't mean you will necessarily like them. If you can't appreciate them it's probably just a matter of taste, which is okay. But I don't think ELP are in any way overrated, nor as composers, nor as musicians.

I totally agree with you. Not that they are my favourite band or that I am a big fan of theirs, but I really like their first few albums.
A question to nahnite: What exactly is it you are looking for? There is plenty of melody in the songs Moogtron mentions, and for many other songs they use compositions by famous composers as basis (like Leoš Janáček's "Sinfonietta" for "Knife Edge"), and you can hardly accuse them of not having a sense for melody.

I don't know, I find Lake contributed very much melodiousness, not just with his songs but with such things as Pictures and Tarkus bringing much needed balance to their material.. and that's the beauty of of real band like them

 

Well theres absolutely nothing wrong with not liking a band, it's just not to your taste. But honestly, I'm a little suprised.  It seems like someone into progressive rock would be more than excited to discover ELP.

Are you missing something?  Yes.  Heck even my dad liked ELP in their day and he is no proggie.  

Easy Money wrote: akamaisondufromage wrote: martinprog77 wrote: maybe you just -not getting  in it ... yet, or you probably never will . and thats ok . sometimes im wonder with gentle giant i just cant get into  them,and i dont not why  ,but bands strongly influenced by them  [ like spocks beards and echolyn ] i really like them.   You drunk? OK, lets try to stay on topic here, if anyone should be accused of having a 'progressive' alcohol condition, it's me.

...Which doesn't mean you will necessarily like them. If you can't appreciate them it's probably just a matter of taste, which is okay. But I don't think ELP are in any way overrated, nor as composers, nor as musicians.

nahnite wrote: There seems to be a lot missing, like melody, tension-release...oh, and let's not forget: REAL SONGS.  These tunes seem to take a long time getting going, and then go precisely nowhere...s     l     o     w     l     y.

I hear ya, but in their defense...

"Knife-Edge", dude.

There's a lot of ELP that I don't like, but Knife-Edge is a bad-ass song.

And "Lucky Man". I'm sorry, it's a little played out, but every time I hear it I love it.