Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3-24-08 Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Recently, while writing an index for 6 years of blogs, I realized that I have never (that I can remember) had a specific, dedicated blog to ELP! I think I once wrote about how nobody seemed to like “
LP BEST OF (Collection) ATLANTIC
LP BRAIN SALAD SURGERY MANTICORE
7" BRAIN SALAD SURGERY (Excerpts, flexidisc) MANTICORE UK LYN 2762
CD BRAIN SALAD SURGERY kami sleeve JVC JPN VICP-62118
LP EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER
LP EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER ISLAND
CD EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER kami sleeve JVC JPN VICP-63171
LP EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER re-issue MANTICORE UK K 43503
7" FROM THE BEGINNING / LIVING SIN COTILLION
LP IN CONCERT (Live album) ATLANTIC US SD 19255
CD ISLE OF WIGHT 1970 (Live album) EAGLE US EV30135-9
7"
LP LOVE BEACH ATLANTIC
7" LUCKY MAN / KNIFE-EDGE ISLAND NL 6014 041
LP PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION
LP PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION ISLAND
CD PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION kami sleeve JVC JPN VICP-62116
CD TARKUS MANTICORE DE 258.171
LP TARKUS ISLAND DE 85 527 IT
LP TARKUS ISLAND
CD TARKUS kami sleeve JVC JPN VICP-5443
LP TRILOGY MANTICORE DE 87 227 XOT
CD TRILOGY kami sleeve JVC JPN VICP-63174
LPx3 WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS…(Live album) MANTICORE UK K 63500
LPx2 WORKS, Vol. 1 ATLANTIC
LP WORKS, Vol. 2 (Collection) ATLANTIC
Keith Emerson, solo
7" HONKY TONK TRAIN BLUES MANTICORE
CD INFERNO (O.S.T.) CINEVOX IT CD-CIA 5022
LP NIGHTHAWKS (O.S.T.) BACKSTREET
7" I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS / HUMBUG ATLANTIC US 45-3305
LP MANOEUVRES CHRYSALIS
Carl Palmer, solo (?)
LP
1970 was a fun time for me, and a good time for new music. Keith Emerson comes from The Nice,
The Immediate label records by The Nice are good late 60’s
So, Emerson and Palmer were attracted to
In the
I initially had an 8-track tape of “Tarkus”, the 2nd ELP album! It took ages for me to get an LP of it, and I now have several neat variant pressings. I was very impressed with this album at the time, and it’s still my favorite. On a visit to
Hot on the tails of “Tarkus”, I found an inexpensive original Island UK LP of “Pictures At An Exhibition” – a record that took some time to come out in the
I missed “Trilogy” at the time – no idea why, as I now type. I didn’t even hear it until the 80’s, 90’s…uh, much later! But I snapped back to it, for “Brain Salad Surgery”! Snappy cover, even more like King Crimson etc. Great poster / lyrics sheet etc.
I made the effort to see King Crimson in 1973 – but – I somehow completely missed the ELP concert experience. Never went to see them, never even heard their triple live album until 20+ years later. Much better to watch a DVD of them, I suspect. Good friends of mine saw ELP (Ken and Warren), but…I finished with even King Crimson after “Red” – so no hope of me rekindling my interest in ELP – until 30+ years later.
So is it “Rock of the 70’s”, “Wanky Progressive Rock”, “Indulgent” or…? I am still good with the first 5 studio ELP albums. I don’t play them a lot – but the new Japanese CD’s of them sound pretty good. I have original LP’s of everything ELP that matters to me, and I love to find their singles. If push came to shove, I’d stick with just the first two albums. I will continue to buy variant pressings of the debut album, just to see if I can discover even better ‘sound’ for it.
Maybe it’s because they got rather popular – even for a
posted by Ron Kane @ 6:42 AM
4 Comments:
In high school (71-73), ELP was my number one band hands down. I was obsessed with the first five LPs as well, but also bought the tri-fold live album at the time. I saw them live in Tampa (yes Jim, the dreaded Curtis Hixon Hall), and remember staying up until 1:00 A.M. watching them on Don Kirschner's Rock Concert. Palmer's immense drum throne did a complete 360 during his solo and Emerson's piano rose in the air and the whole thing did forward rolls while he somehow stayed seated. ROCK AND ROLL!
I bought Works Vol. 1 and was just bored by it and simply moved on to other things.
I never made it to the triple live LP until years later. I was already working in record stores by the time of "Works" - heard it & didn't care - bought $1 copies years later. I made a point of getting "Love Beach" - it is as awful as it is frequently described.
Got the CD's I was missing in Japan last year, in their elaborate little album cover packages.
Still amused at the variants of the first few albums, could fill a book with the polarizing effect EL&P seem to have on people.
I try to have balance. In 1977-78 after bailing out of top 40 due to excessive disco, and discovering FM rock [in its death throes - not pretty] ELP was my favorite band long enough to just get pushed out of the way by New Wave, which also had lots of even cooler keyboards and was pop, and thus more fun. But the pretentious teenager in me liked what I heard. But for about a few months there Works Vol. 1 was my favorite album! Yeah. A pretentious teenager.
I remember trying to stay awake to watch the Callifornia Jam concert special on late night TV. I can't remeber if I made it to ELP. Now I can hardly listen to a lot of their stuff. At the time I had it all but for Tarkus. At the time I also thought Love Beach sucked wind massively! The most memorable thing about the LP was a sales insert for official ELP Love Beach tour merchandise, culminating in a $70 satin tour jacket! THAT says it all! Juxtaposed next to Devo or The Boomtown Rats it was no contest. Two years later I heard the Ultravox records that were out at the same time! F*ck THAT sh*t!! The ELP was the first to go once I discovered used record stores!
But when Trilogy was issued on CD I bought it and can easily listen to this album with no indigestion today. Not so with Brain Salad Surgery, long considered their acme by the masses. Except for the Crimson-like Toccata, it's a non-starter with me today. I bought the first US CD pressing of BSS just to see if the morons would segue the two halves of "Karn Evil 9 - first impression" together as it always should have been, but nooooooo. Thanks, guys!
It was interesting to revisit the album after 6-8 years away from it. It didn't do anything for me apart from Toccata, as mentioned. I could probably live with the first album again if I saw it cheaply enough. And Tarkus is probably the lost album that should have been my favorite by them. Again, if I should come across a cheap used copy [<$3] I would buy it.
But Pictures At An Exhibition never did much for me. Works Vol. 2 is so weirdly eclectic, I might like that one if I heard it now as an example of a good screwed up album that is completely schizophrenic and knows it. Beyond that, It's never going to happen.
But I still enjoy all of The Nice's oeuvre! That material is much more interesting to me. "The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack" wipes the floor with anything ELP did 5 times over!
Not sure about the other two, but Keith Emerson's book is called "PIctures of an Exhibitionist" Karn Evil 9 Pt. 2 still work for me.
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