If ELP are counted among the "Big Six"...

I have been an ELP fan since 1977 and I think they typify what the phrase “prog rock” or “progressive rock” is. If you listen to all their albums (except In The Hot Seat), they produced something different on each recording. How many other bands has so many genres to their name— heavy metal ( listen to The Barbarian opening chords, Living Sin), Honky Tonk, humour ( the sheriff, Jeremy Bender, Benny The Bouncer), orchestral (where do I start!!!), innovative moog synthesisers, daggers stuck in a keyboard— need I go on. Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd— you new as soon as they were played who you were listening too. No chance of that where ELP were concerned. This was a 3 piece band and created more sound any other. I would have loved to see them in their pomp and don’t forget the big bands of the seventies would turn up at their concerts!!! They received so many accolades (Sounds music newspaper gave them 7 1st awards in various categories in 1973-74). Nuff said really ( although I could say lots more!!)

^ yeah, part of it these days is that there are WAAAAAY more choices and subgenera of prog to choose from. Not everybody likes it all like me. One thing is for sure and that is that NOBODY sounded like ELP. They were and remain unique. I used to not like them very much at all but the last time i went on a marathon and listened to the first four albums, i liked them a lot more than i remembered!

ExittheLemming wrote: Sacro_Porgo wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: ELP have become the main scapegoat for all the perceived excesses and faults of 1st Gen Prog down through the years. They were ruthlessly ambitious and unashamedly populist throughout their peak from '70 to '74 when such a mindset was considered grand heresy in Rock. They also represented the polar opposite of the rather more purist and earnest approach of say, Crimson, VDGG and Gentle Giant (music is substance maaan...) It seems odd that a trio who were entertainers first and artists a distant second could attract so much vitriol but they sold a sh*tload of records, were an easy target and their brand of Cecil B DeMille chutzpah never sat well with the hirsute and involuntary celibate adolescent. They epitomize everything that is gluttonously wonderful and crassly abhorrent about Prog and are my favourite Progressive Rock band of all time for that reason. What's your favorite ELP album? Brain Salad Surgery

I never underestimate the mark that ELP left on the genre. They are simply one of the most important bands of the first wave of progressive rock. That is something that can’t be argued.
Do I love their music? Nope not really. I really dig Tarkus and a few tracks here and there..but I could never quite get into Emerson’s playing. He sounds clumsy to me…especially during the ‘battle sections’ that seem to inject themselves into every tune spanning over 5 minutes.
Again this is my preference. A buddy of mine simply adores ELP and almost throws a fit whenever I mention how I feel about them. Though to be honest…he usually asks me for my opinion beforehand

miamiscot wrote: Album sales and concert box office both confirm ELP as being a worthy member of the Big 6. PA's ratings usually suck anyway. I mean, Tales From Topographic Oceans isn't even in the Top 250. No Neal Morse, Spock's Beard, The Tangent, The Flower Kings or Transatlantic in the Top 100. I had a dream that they took all the jazz and metal albums off the site. And PA was the greatest website in history. And then I woke up to Miles Davis and Death in the Top 100.

Sacro_Porgo wrote: miamiscot wrote: Album sales and concert box office both confirm ELP as being a worthy member of the Big 6. PA's ratings usually suck anyway. I mean, Tales From Topographic Oceans isn't even in the Top 250. No Neal Morse, Spock's Beard, The Tangent, The Flower Kings or Transatlantic in the Top 100. I had a dream that they took all the jazz and metal albums off the site. And PA was the greatest website in history. And then I woke up to Miles Davis and Death in the Top 100. Doesn't the top 100 list let you adjust it to feature only the subgenres you want to view? also, big YES to The Tangent!

moshkito wrote: The Dark Elf wrote: moshkito wrote: ELP, for me was the first "progressive" I got and it was way back in 1969... The 'shrooms must've been very potent in 1969. Emerson didn't leave the Nice until March of 1970, and Lake didn't quit King Crimson until a month after that. They auditioned Palmer several weeks later. Hi, Thx ... I'll correct that! BTW, even though your intentions are not exactly honorable, best to let you know that I never did any drugs until much later in 1972. You might ask about the drugs before assuming that kind of error. Makes mine look not so bad after all!

richardh wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: ^Genesis not in the same leage as Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull? Seriously? With the exception of Pink Floyd and Rush(who you didn't mention) Genesis have sold more albums than most of those bands(certainly all of the "prog" bands). If you are talking only in the 70's, at the time, they should still be mentioned alongside Yes, JT and ELP because they were almost as big as them or as big in England(Starting with SEBTP all Genesis albums charted in the top 10 in the UK). Plus they are one of the most influential prog bands of all time possibly even more influential than Yes. Also, being that many(my guess would be at least half) prog fans now aren't even old enough to have been into the genre in the seventies so what was going on back then at the time is largely irrelevan to what are perceived to be the important bands today (Genesis being a good example of that but also the popularity within the prog community of the well known "modern" bands as well as Gentle Giant, Camel, PFM, VDGG, etc).  Big six is a term used retroactively by the prog community. It's not perfect but it goes mostly by influence and over all popularity within the prog community(imo). There's no denying who was popular initially but what matters is who continue to influence the current prog bands and it's usually the ones who have had the greatest impact as prog bands who do that. For better or worse, over all popularity is a factor in determining who makes that impact. I think he may be suggesting that Genesis didn't push boundaries like the other bands. From a technical point of view I agree and they were actually shy of even being called 'prog' and associated themselves with bands like Roxy Music at the time. I think it irked Banks that they got dragged into the that stream , probably explaining some of his personal issues with Hackett who was more into prog than anyone else in the band!

Logan wrote: moshkito wrote: ... I never did any drugs until much later in 1972.... Being as young as I was, the only drug I was taking back then was ephemerol. It turned me into a Scanner. Might have been worse. I could have taken the one that turned me into a fax machine or an all-in-one printer.