ELP top 3???

  We don´t have to agree w/ the others ... and we can´t say that there are 17 bands batter than ELP .... rating an raking are all bullsh*ts

I do not have Drama in my collection anymore;  I have not heard it in 26 years. I do remember it though.  . . "I am a camera, camera, camera" and "I asked my love to give me shee-e-e-e-lter, but all she offered my was dreams."  It had some good hooks, if I can remember them after 26 years. I saw the tour, the last in the round.  thenround was a grat idea and showed that Yes even though they had become an arena act, was trying to stay connected to their fans.

About the Yes album I have often asked myself, Ken is this your favorite album of all time, so I know what you mean.  The lyricism that Anderson achieves on this album is beatiful, especially in the transition section of Starship Trooper, "Speak to me of summers . . ." The lyricism of this album may not be matched in anything I have heard in prog and that is one of the things that I like about the album.  Anderson's voice is unique and maybe not for everyone's taste.  He and Geddy Lee are the last of the castrati. But he could acheive marvelous shades of beauty, optimism, humanity and transcendence.  My favorite part of this album is the end of Perpetual Change when they have that part that Bruford wrote in the ensemble and then the guitar riff comes in against it. Great Stuff and showed the band fully working together before the fracture of Fragile, yet another wonderful album, full of drama and symphonic gestures.

If there's any album I admire by ELP (Even when it's not my favorite), is Pictures at an Exhibition.

Imagine, a supergroup in front of several thousand of fans asking for Prog Rock, and this guys play a relatively obscure Mussorgsky work (I say relatively obscure because the Russian Nationalist Movement was not so appreciated in the 70's as it is today, despite I've always been a hardcoire fan of the Mighty Handfull).

I'm sure 90% of the kids (if not more) that were watching that concert had never heard the original Mussorgsky masterpiece, and I believe they were expecting something different, but all left the show delighted.

You need balls to do that and ELP had enough, they dared to try something so outrageous and so innovative (Not the music, but the Prog arrangement of an entire late Romantic/early Modern Classical work) and the result was wonderful (except for the ribbon in Keith's butt ).

If they had done an entire arrangement of Beethoven's Fifth or Ninth Symphony, it would have been easier because everybody is familiar with them, biut to take a risk with somethibng so complex and exquisit as Pictures at an Exhibition, requires great skills and courage.

Iván

Right, i've tried to read down through every post on this thread but I have to reply NOW!!

If there is one thing I HATE when it comes to ELP (or prog itself) is that people call it 'Emotionless', that pisses me off more than I can put into words. Songs like From the Beginning, Trilogy, The Endless Enigma, even Karn Evil 9!! have a LOT of emotion in them, and when I listen to songs like those I can FEEL it, I mean Lake is an exceptional singer, and when he sings certain lines like 'Why do you think I believe what you say, few OF your words ever enter my head', that line actually sends shivers down my spine. It's not as if he's READING is he, he's SINGING!!!! I mean he's not melodramatic, he doesn't over do it, he seems very 'honest' when he sings. And the melodies are just so nice a lot of the time, I love his choirboy like voice, it's beautiful.

Don't hate me Winter Wine, I don't think ELP is emotionless, I said a BIT emotionless, because in certain songs I believe Greg could add a lot of drama, the lyrics of Lucky Man for example are very powerful (I believe Greg wrote that song when he was 12!!!! Great merit), but he doesn't exploit the wide range of chances he had.

But songs like Lend Your Love To Me Tonight (Which is not among my favorites) is an incredible performance of Greg that almost brings me to tears.

To me ELP have always felt like 'An always arguing family', but a FAMILY none the less, I think there is still a lot of love between the guys (Emerson actually said it, that's something) even if they were never in constant agreement.

That's the problem when all the members of a band are stars, EMO came from being The Nice (He was 90% of the band IMO) Greg was a crucial member of King Crimson and played with Hensley and Kerslake in The Gods, Carl came from being the new wonder kid in one of the best albums ever heard (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown).

So all of them were stars and all of them good songwritters and arrangers. I imagine they had a great problem deciding who's material was going to be included in an album, and made the only album (I believe) in which each artist has one side.

This is good competence and I like it, they gave their best up to BSS and were an icon of the genre.

ELP were one of the first prog bands I got into, the first time I heard Brain Salad Surgery I thought 'Did I just watch a film?!!', It was such a different world. ELP unfortunately did not last as long as other Prog giants, however I feel they gave us two 5 star masterpieces 'Trilogy' and 'Brain Salad Surgery', with three excellent albums before it.

If you read my ratings, I gave 5 stars toi both albums, the only one I don't like too much is Tarkus, but that's personal taste. They had the second best debut album from a big 5 band after ITCOTCK.

They were outrageous yet absolutely magnificent (especially live). It's a shame that the record companies are releasing so many crap boxsets and useless garbage under the ELP name. To me it's a crying shame that they have such a bad reputation, all fuelled by the 'everything must be standard' media. When I bought the Q special edition mag I cannot tell you how delighted I was to see Brain Salad Surgery' in five, I was so over the moon.

I only saw them a couple of times in the 90's and still were a great show. Better than the earlier, because Keith was much more sober than when he was younger.

Kieth Emerson is as talented as they come and gave it one thousand percent in the early days, I love those lush sounding keyboards on Trilogy, he is one of the only keyboardists to have a sound recognisable within 10 seconds of hearing it. And Palmer, christ, what another major talent, i've never seen such a breathtaking drummer, watch him live, he just looks amazing playing some of those solo pieces.

Palmer is a great drummer, top ten but still I find him a bit weak with the metals.

ELP are in the 'Top 5' because, in their day, they had huge success, they were innovative and stunning, and even if they are not appreciated as much today as they were then, they still DESERVE to be in that 'Top 5'

There's alwqays room for Trilogy and BSS in my stereo.

I apologise for my post being so long, but this is a band that means a lot to me and I feel I should defend them, there are so many people who just slate them for no real reason. And i'll pretty much fight to the death in doing so.

Don't apologize, this place is to express what you feel despite the lenght.

Iván