ELP Appreciation thread !!!!

january4mn wrote: ELP were terrific! I agree with that others have said that the debut through BSS has most of the best stuff, but I like some tracks off works (Love "Fanfare" for example) and even Love Beach has "Canario"--another cool instrumental classical piece. I'm also happy to read here some support for Emerson/Lake/Powell album which I still find very listenable and incredibly powerful to this day, although I'm not too keen on the bonus tracks on the CD version. "Black Moon" was a good record too and a good comeback, although not as impressive as the ELPowell one, there are some nice tunes on there. I've actually never heard "In the Hot Seat" but I gather it's not very good from everything I've ever read about it. One of these days I've got to check it out though. I'm also a big fan of The Nice, in fact I may like them slightly more than ELP!? I still can't figure out why, I just put them on a bit more often in recent years for some reason.

Edited by Rick Robson - October 06 2014 at 19:33

richardh wrote: I would recommend the 3 CD box set 'Here Come The Nice' which is an anthology covering the early Immediate years plus 4 bonus tracks. One of those bonus tracks Lt Kije/Rondo is completely 'mental'. I love it! Anyone else heard it?

I haven't listened to them for a long time but I got into them quite fast.

When I first listened to Tarkus (the first song of theirs I listened too) it felt quite dragged and bombastic but it grew on me with each listening and after about 3-4 listenings I really liked it. I then listened to "In the Court of the Crimson King" and while it's quite fantastic in all aspects I really loved Greg Lake's singing. It sort of clicked for me shortly afterwards that it was the same Greg Lake as in ELP. The I listened to all of their early 70's stuff (everything from 70-73) and it was extremely easy to get into it (I hardly got into any prog band as easy as that). Of course they are often described as pretentious but I really appreciate that they did everything as bombastic as possible because they did it so well and created interesting compositions (all 3 of them certainly were great musicians). It's not just being bombastic for the sake of being bombastic. They had more than enough to back it up (well mostly).

I apreciate the softer pieces with more singing (I still think Greg Lake has a freaking amazing voice) just as much as the highly instrumental pieces.

I was more of a fan in my youth, however "Pirates" and many of the other timeless complex pieces..I still return to. I saw Greg Lake perform with Ringo's All Stars at the Atlantic City Casinos. He gave an outstanding performance of ELP songs and In the Court Of the Crimson King. Before the show, he walked by me and my brother on the casino floor. My brother approached Greg and his bodyguard , handed him a cd copy of  I.T.C.O.T.C.K. and asked him if he would sign it. Greg took one glance at the cd , growled and shook his head. I was trying to get my brother to remain quiet, but here he comes out with a question like..."Well, Greg...how did it feel to play with the greatest keyboardist and drummer in the world?" Greg replied..."All egos" My brother then asked..."Any chance of the original King Crimson lineup getting back together?"...Greg replied.."You'll never see that!"

Edited by TODDLER - October 08 2014 at 10:10

It's so obvious how Keith Emerson influenced keyboard players ..and let's focus mainly on the U.S...which was where I did most of my traveling..In the U.S., hundreds of keyboardists were learning, note for note...his pieces, his style , technique, dressing like him(Lol!), emulating his every move on keys...c'mon this was nuts! To be honest, I worked with many classically trained keyboardists who could play Tony Banks, Rick Wakeman, Vangelis, David Greenslade, Rod Argent,..and they would have all the proper keyboards to produce and emulate the sounds ..while all of them still stated that Emerson was difficult to master regarding mainly the work that goes into it. 

Musicians living and performing in the U.S. during the 70's decade..had to get into music college quickly, study, and play like ELP. This goal was focused around forming your own band to play covers of ELP or music of your own which was influenced by them. Other musicians would go for private lessons to develop a technique used by Carl Palmer or Keith Emerson. When ELP hit the scene on the East coast of the U.S., musicians looked up to them as icons and hopefully one day their teachers. There were jealous haters, but the influence on the positive young musicians was very vast. 

TODDLER wrote: "Pirates" taken from the dvd concert release with the orchestra is very breathtaking to me. Greg Lake's voice, his ability to sustain long notes with intense vibrato, his tightness on the bass, Emerson's incredible soloing, Carl Palmer's complex,(sometimes mechanical), playing throughout the piece has amazing feel. "Feel" as a musician street word is defined to be a musician with the capabilities of diversity that reach a universal point. Which to drunks, that would mean they are better than anybody else on the circuit, in the theatres, ..which is why the social environment of the musicians in the 70's developed hatred for ELP. They suffered from extreme jealousy.

That is an interesting and quite true point about them suffering from extreme jealousy. The same jealousy   thing goes in the classical music world regarding conductor Herbert von Karajan. (even though he is deceased)


Edited by presdoug - October 08 2014 at 13:01

A couple of questions for the ELP experts:

Hendrix would have come with Mitch Michell who Emerson knew, Once Palmer joined it was set as a 3 piece.

richardh wrote: TODDLER wrote: I remember reading something ..a long time ago-about a project release titled Carl Palmer and friends. It was mentioned in some publication in the early 70's. Since the album was never released, I often wonder if side 3 of Works Vol.1 ,(which is Carl Palmer and some friends), was what he originally intended to produce with the unreleased 70's project.  Probably not far off the mark. He helped out with a band called Back Door who were a jazz combo. The track Bullfrog featured some of that band. The great Joe Walsh played on LA Nights and he also enlisted the help of the same jazz orchestra for Close But Not Touching and Food For Your Soul that played on the theme for the British TV cop programme The Sweeney. Palmer was connected up to a lot of people in the jazz world at that time it seems. There must have been something afoot , but as we know they each shelved their solo aspirations to keep ELP going. That proved to be a big mistake imo even if there is some very interesting music on the Works albums. The 'band' as it was though was barely functioining accept for a few odd tracks. Fanfare was largely an accident and Pirates was partly a reworked  film score of Keith Emerson that was meant for Peckinpah's Dogs Of War. Not sure what happened there but I do love Pirates and it stands as the only great thing they did post BSS (again imo)