greg lake ballads

what does everyone think of greg lake's ballads. Songs like lucky man, still... you turn me on, c'est la vie etc.?

Ive heard a lot of people say they're cheesy, but personally i really like them. Also, what is the genral opinion on greg's lead guitar work, again i think he's better than often given credit for.

I hate the cheesy synth part on Lucky Man, but otherwise it's a decent song

"Jerusalem" a Greg Lake ballad? - somehow I think not.

I'm not a great fan of his stuff on Works Vol 1, but he is a good singer and underrated guitar player.

~The Long Goodbye and the Lie from his first solo lp were tasty, albeit not ballads.

~His duet with Pete Sinfield on Still continues to bring goosebumps after more than 30 years.

~ I always thought his electric work on Karn Evil 9 was more than passable and enjoy the acoustic work on From the Beginning.

Sometimes when I pull out the six-string, I'll play 'Still....you turn me on'.  It's an enjoyable tune to play and sing.  But...I always skip singing the "Someone get me a ladder" line since it is so undeniably horrible.  I can't bring myself to do it

Otherwise, I like the song

floydaholic wrote: From the Beginning is amazing.

I agree.Great song and production.I like Greg Lake's ballads as they provide a good contrast to the frenetic and technical peices.

 

 

Great voice, and a pretty good guitar player (obviously a great, great bass player, but that should go without saying).  Lake should have left the writing to someone else, though.  "Someone get me a ladder" is a classic, but my favorite is the line that literally made me choke on my soda when I first heard it -- "Do you believe God makes you breathe/why did he lose six million Jews?"  Awesomely bad.   Oh, yeah, almost forgot this gem from Trilogy -- "We tried to lie/but you and I/know better than to let each other lie/the thought of lying to you makes me cry."  Worst. Poetry. Ever.  Every time I listen to ELP (which is quite often), I try very hard to pretend I don't speak English.

Hes not that bad as a lyricist, admittedly the 'someone get a ladder' is particular poor (maybe it was an injoke). But generally overall hes pretty good.

And someone mentioned earlier 'the sage' from pictures at an exhibition, its a good one isn't it.

meurglysIII wrote: I hate the cheesy synth part on Lucky Man, but otherwise it's a decent song

 

Call it cheese if you want but that means you didn't understand a couple of things.  First it was one of the earliest recording with a moog synth recorded on it and second he did it in one take.  Greg lake said that is exactly what I want.  Keith never rehearsed or pre wrote the solo for it.

Edited by Garion81

I always find it fascinating how different views on music are even when we share a love a for prog. I find the synthesizer part on Lucky Man the best part of the song.

As I type this, I'm listening once more to From the beginning, but it still does not do much to me - and again, I prefer instrumental parts over the vocals although I'm normally much more drawn to vocals.