Emerson, Lake & Palmer

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'

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: 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).

richardh wrote: The one this that always comes up on ELP threads (there have been many) is whether they started to fall away from BSS onwards. It's interesting (to me anyway) that they were getting quite distracted by setting up the new record label (Manticore) and so it would make sense if commercial considerations were overtaking them at the time. My own feeling on the matter is that BSS is their best and most coherent work excepting that Benny The Bouncer really doesn't belong on that album (they could have included either the track called Brain Salad Surgery or When The Apple Blossom Blooms ... which are much better) but never mind. Without that you still some the most mind blowingly complex and technically brilliant symh prog ever made. The production does fall under being too compressed perhaps but they were attempting to create a more panoramic sound in keeping with their live shows of the time. It has been terribly re mastered over the years though which is a real shame (stick with the Sony release as that's the best imo and avoid the horrible 'deluxe reissues) and that is one of the problems. Still one of the most original prog releases and my favourite album for 40 years! Overall ELP were just one of those bands that refused to stick to the plan. Too many big egos in the band and outside record company interference in the end put paid to them. Black Moon was a decent comeback but as said before Emerson (and Palmer) were having massive physical issues with their hands and that fluency they were so famed for never returned. In the end they are best remembered as a flamboyant band who recorded some interesting and important albums. They tried things that other musicians wanted to do but were either too shy or too frightened to do.

Have to agree with pretty much all of this. It was interesting to hear promoter Harvey Goldsmith (whose a fan) describe ELP as being a band who were deeply unpopular within the industry at the height of their success. He seemed to imply that being globally successful while playing very challenging and complex music and refusing to play the rock'n'roll game of releasing exactly the same album every 2 years or so, flew in the face of any conventional marketing strategy wisdom. It seems most of the record executives really didn't have a clue how to sell ELP as a rawk brand. In addition, Works Volume 1 was a step too far for a predominately white, male rock demographic to negotiate without the fanbase becoming divisively polarized as a result. For me, Emerson had outgrown Rock by circa 1980 and should have embarked on a career as a classical composer and performer of his own work. BTW Benny the Bouncer is sublime and most people appraise it as boogie woogie or stride, but it ain't (it's not even in shuffle time): it's a slice of London cockney music hall with one of the most thrilling piano solos in the history of popular music full stop. (The clue is in the accent Lake adopts for the vocal innit?)

verslibre wrote: It's not a bad thing, per se. I simply prefer to listen to the three after it.   More stellar ELP-inspired albums you need to check out:   Ars Nova – Fear and Anxiety Ars Nova – Transi Ars Nova – The Goddess of Darkness Ars Nova – Book of the Dead Cherry Five – self-titled Deja-Vu – Baroque in the Future Gerard – Pandora's Box Gerard – Live at Marseilles Gerard/Ars Nova – Keyboards Triangle Gerard – Keyboards Triangle 2 Jaime Rosas – Virgo Jaime Rosas Trio – Extremos Motoi Sakuraba – Gikyoku Onsou Social Tension – MacBethia Trace – self-titled Trace – Birds U.K. – Danger Money   ...and if you haven't heard Rick Wakeman's Six Wives of Henry VIII, or Criminal Record...you need to!

Has it occurred to anybody that Works Vol. 2 contains two of the finest and most overlooked ELP instrumentals?  No, everybody is busy sl*g.ing it off and giving it low rankings.  Yes, it is uneven and cobbled together but it contains some great music.  Emerson also tried hard with the much maligned Love Beach ('Canario' is another overlooked belter) and no one seemed to understand the irony of that photo on the cover.  ELPowell stood out in the 80s when compared to the dross that their contemporaries were producing.  One of the greatest - and most exciting bands - on the face of the earth.

Black Moon is a LOT better than In the Hot Seat!