I have only been on here a short time and read many topics and answers. However, i ain't seen any of the Nice. If ever any group should hold the mantle of the first ever prog rock group it should be this mob. Innovative is their first name, prepared to take music to it's limits, and beyond. Thi sgroup id the founding father of prog rock, but seems to missed by the endless tattle of nonsense about other bands who are to prog what Adolf was to world peace......non existent. Surely when prog is mentioned the Nice should be way up there with the best, if not the best. Also it contained a third of the biggest excess in prog rock music E, but by christ the man can play any keybaord player under the table, on top of the table, in fact anywhere.

So let's hear it for the Nice....the founding fathers of prog rock, unless you nothing about prog rock.

they may have been the first true symph prog band, i wont argue that.

but KC's first album was much more influential and trnedsetting as far as the birth of prog.

I'll take the nice over KC any day though.

NetsNJFan wrote: they may have been the first true symph prog band, i wont argue that. but KC's first album was much more influential and trnedsetting as far as the birth of prog. I'll take the nice over KC any day though.

Good point. Let's regard KC as one of those bands that helped the movement to grow a healthy childhood toward its glorious mature age, but The Nice was among those bands that planted the seed and watered it for a couple of years... and while they were at it, they even got some fame!!

Cesar Inca wrote: NetsNJFan wrote: they may have been the first true symph prog band, i wont argue that. but KC's first album was much more influential and trnedsetting as far as the birth of prog. I'll take the nice over KC any day though. Good point. Let's regard KC as one of those bands that helped the movement to grow a healthy childhood toward its glorious mature age, but The Nice was among those bands that planted the seed and watered it for a couple of years... and while they were at it, they even got some fame!!

very very little fame, until it was too late, Keith was already ready for ELP   

richardh wrote: The Nice were an influential band.Just listen to Made In Japan (Deep Purple) or Genesis 'The Knife' for obvious musical reference points. Pray tell me why Made In Japan is an 'obvious musical reference point' - I'm baffled at that choice? While I won't argue it's your's, clearly for the subsequent heavy rock route they would take, In Rock is far more obvious, (for instance the borrowing as Nice did from  Bach, beit via Its A Beautiful Day's Bombay Calling), and earlier as so-called prog musicians for their earlier albums. Indeed, Nice borrowed  from Mozart, I would vigorously argue taking direction from the  Dave Brubeck Quartet  and possibly the Jacques Loussier Trio The Nice were the precursor of ELP although the Moog Synths were not available until 1970. May be for Nice, but the instrument had been around a few years by then - if you could afford one!

And don't ignore Soft Machine's self titled first album made in 1968, especially with its more sophisticated mix of psychedelic pop and proto prog, than the first couple of Nice albums. In fact the first Nice album has a couple of cringeworthy tracks that really dates it IMHO.

As Richard pointed out... there was no synths in the Nice.  Keith stuck mostly to the Hammond and thats where he perfected his knife throwing skills...  I love the Nice, but I could never get into Lee Jackson's voice... character, Drachen. is not what I'd call that voice...

Now for another funny 'Nice' moment... its not raining, so why are most the audience under the stage.... hmmmm???

Trotsky wrote: I certainly think that most of those proto-prog groups were simply finding a way of expanding psych & blues by lacing it with jazz and classical ... Unfortunately for The Nice (and unlike Procol Harum, King Crimson, The Moody Blues and even Colosseum) ... their final product was fatally flawed by the presence of Lee Jackson's vocals. I've got Ars Longa Vita Brevis, Five Bridges Suite and Elegy and each of these three records has some amazing moments from Keith Emerson (in many ways he is at his freshest here, even if his songwriting was to get better and he was yet to develop his love affair with the Moog) ... but his two cohorts ... Jackson as a bassist and drummer Davison also acquit themselves very well. There are moments of classical fluff (parts of Five Bridges can be very boring) ... but really even Elegy (a kind of rarities collection) has stunning playing, plus an unbelievably bad vocal from Lee on a cover of My Back Pages. I certainly think any ELP fan ought to listen to some of The Nice, which is more interesting to me than of the post Brain Salad Surgery stuff I heard  (but then I'm also a big psych fan) ... to me, The Nice clearly served as a blueprint for ELP, and what a major improvement in vocalist the latter outfit showed ... Anyway, Three Fates, sorry I'm so dense, but what is the audience doing? In the first shot it looks as if Keith's keyboard is going through the stage!!!

yes please explain 3fates

and i don't find the vocal's that bad in the nice.

The Nice is one of my favourite groups. If any Progressive Rock fan reading this has not heard them, they are worth checking out. Their first album “The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davejack” was released in 1967 (the first Progressive Rock album?).

You can pick up the 3-CD set “the nice – here come the nice – the immediate anthology” (Castle Music, CMETD 055) which includes a colour foldout with a biography and photos, for GBP 11.99 from amazon.co.uk. The track list is given below:

Disc: 1

1. Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack

2. Azrial (Angel of Death)

3. Sampler for the Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack LP

4. Flower King of Flies

5. Bonnie K

6. Rondo

7. War and Peace

8. Tantalising Maggie

9. Dawn

10. Cry of Eugene

11. America: I) America /II) Second Amendment

12. Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon

13. Daddy Where Did I Come From

14. Little Arabella

15. Happy Freuds

16. Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite

17. Don Edito el Gruva

Disc: 2

1.      Ars Longa Vita Brevis (Symphony for Group and Orchestra) /I) Prelude/II

2.      Brandenburger

3.      Azrael Revisited

4.      Hang on to a Dream

5.      Diary of an Empty Day

6.      For Example

7.      Rondo "69" [Live at Fillmore East, New York]

8.      She Belongs to Me [Live at Fillmore East, New York]

Disc: 3

1.      America [Live Newcastle '68]: I) America/II) Second Amendment

2.      Rondo [Live Newcastle '68]

3.      Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack [Long Version]

4.      Flower King of Flies [Alternative Version]

5.      Bonnie K [Alternative Version]

6.      America [Alternative Stereo Version]: I) America/II) Second Amendment

7.      Dawn [Alternative Version]

8.      Tantalising Maggie [Alternative Version]

9.      Cry of Eugene [Alternative Version]

10.  Daddy Where Did I Come from [Alternative Version]

11.  Brandenburger (Demo Version)

12.  Pathetique Symphony 4th [Live Fairfields Hall '69]

13.  Lt Kije (The Troika) /Rondo [Live Fairfields Hall '69]

The cardboard sleeve states “Three albums, stray B-sides and a whole CD of demos and previously unissued live tracks: Here Come The Nice is the definitive document of the late 60s psych/prog pioneers, led by the organ theatrics of Keith Emerson.”

Well worth getting in my opinion. The band’s name may have slipped into obscurity today, but they were well known in the heyday of Prog Rock. If you say ‘Brandenburger’ to veterans of the era they should know immediately what you’re talking about. Emerson’s burning of the American flag on stage during their performance of Leonard Bernstein’s ‘America’ was such a 1960s thing to do, a protest of its time.

"Sgt Pepper's" is certainly progressive but often not considered Progressive Rock, if you follow the distinction. Whilst I own and love "Sgt Pepper's", and indeed think it is a progression from the music the Beatles -- and other popular bands -- had released before it, I personally don't lump it into the same genre of music as that played by e.g. Genesis, Yes, ELP, The Nice, King Crimson, VDGG, PFM, Banco, Tull, and so on. Even when the Progressive Rock scene was in full swing I don't think "Sgt Pepper's" was regarded as being in the same basket as bands labelled as Progressive Rock bands; back in the late 1960s and early 1970s I certainly didn't think of "Sgt. Pepper's" as being Progressive Rock, and I don't recall others thinking that either at the time.

The debate about Sgt Pepper's has conducted many times before in these forums, and I think you'll find that the majority considered it progressive, but not Progressive. Whatever genre it is, Sgt Pepper's is a hugely important, influencial album.

Honestly guys... those pictures were taken at a Nice concert in Bath England in 1969.... and I have not a clue why everyone is under the stage.  I showed it to Keith and asked him.. and he didn't remember either... but I know it wasn't raining.. and those people under Keith's hammond should well of been careful... looks like he could of gone thru the stage...

And as a few of you know.. I'm actually friends with Davy O'List also.. (but don't tell Keith).  Davy's playing around the UK this summer, so those of you who get the chance to see him... let me know how he's playing... I'm very curious about it...

This is Davy and me last November in London...

Dick,sorry I was being a bit lazy in referring to Made In Japan without being more detailed but there is a point on the album when they launch into something that sounds remarkably like 'Rondo'.

threefates wrote:   This is Davy and me last November in London...

Should I ask: why are his eyes closed with that look of pleasure.........................

Pugs wrote: Davey is playing Swansea (Patti Pavillion) and he has a special drummer for that gig:)

Nah, Davy has his usual drummer... Just Davy's  band is warming up for Carl Palmer's band...

UKenGB wrote: I'm trying to find a particular Nice track and hope someone can help. I used to hear a track that ended with a little girl's voice saying something about "...promise and anticipation, but was murdered by the hand of the inevitable". I thought this was America, but of the several versions I have (Elegy and 5 Bridges) they end differently. I actually thought it was from Ars Longa Vita Brevis, but America is not on that CD. Where did this come from? I know I didn't imagine it since a friend also remembers it, but not from where it came. Anyone help?

The little girl in question is Dawn Arnold (daughter of PP Arnold) and appears on some edited mono versions of 'America'.

''America is pregnant with promise and anticipation and is murdered by the hand of the inevitable.''This was at the time of America's involvement in Vietnam and was promoted as the world's first 'protest instrumental'.

You can find it on a 3CD set box set called ''Here Comes The Nice -The Immediate Anthology''.This is an excellent collection of tracks taken from their early albums and includes some previously unreleased tracks.All remastered as well! 

'America' was never released on an album at the time, yet has now been appended to the 'Here Come The Nice' set and the 2cd remaster of their first (and best) album, 'The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack'.

I have a film clip where Lee Davidson says the whole 'murdered by the inevitable' schtick in a live TV version, and it's unintentionally amusing.