But don't be unkind
It don't mean I'm blind
Perhaps there's a thing or two
I think of lying in bed
I shouldn't have said
But there it is
You see it's all clear
You were meant to be here
From the beginning
Maybe I might have changed
And not been so cruel
Not been such a fool
Whatever was done is done
I just can't recall
It doesn't matter at all
You see it's all clear
You were meant to be here
From the beginning
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of the Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) of King Crimson, and Carl Palmer (drums, percussion) of Atomic Rooster. With nine RIAA-certified gold record albums in the US, and an estimated 48 million records sold worldwide, they are one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock groups of the 1970s, with a musical sound including adaptations of classical music with jazz and symphonic rock elements, dominated by Emerson's flamboyant use of the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, and piano (although Lake wrote several acoustic songs for the group).
The band came to prominence following their performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. In their first year, the group signed with E.G. Records (who distributed the band's records through Island Records in the United Kingdom, and Atlantic Records in North America), and released Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970) and Tarkus (1971), both of which reached the UK top five. The band's success continued with Pictures at an Exhibition (1971), Trilogy (1972), and Brain Salad Surgery (1973, released on ELP's own Manticore Records label). After a three-year break, Emerson, Lake & Palmer released Works Volume 1 (1977) and Works Volume 2 (1977). After Love Beach (1978), the group disbanded in 1979.
The band re-formed partially in the 1980s as Emerson, Lake & Powell featuring Cozy Powell in place of Palmer, who was, by then, a member of Asia. Robert Berry then replaced Lake while Palmer returned, forming 3. In 1991, the original trio re-formed and released two more albums, Black Moon (1992) and In the Hot Seat (1994), and toured at various times between 1992 and 1998. Their final performance took place in 2010 at the High Voltage Festival in London to commemorate the band's 40th anniversary. Both Emerson and Lake died in 2016, leaving Palmer as the only surviving member of the band.
I wonder if I would have ever figured out that I really liked classical music if I had never listened to ELP. I have an extensive classical library thanks to listening to toccatas and concertos from ELP.
We sang a song they covered in church today, Jerusalem.
I think Emerson's classical training lead them to do stuff like Pictures at an Exhibition, Fanfare for a common man and other classical stuff.
But Trilogy was probably there best overall album.
It is hard to believe both Emerson and Lake are gone.
Very few folks have ever commented on maybe one of the best bass lines ever written.
It's so good, that it's right up there with: Rikki Don't Lose That Number, My Cheri Amour, What's Goin' On, Little Help From My Friends, Signed, Sealed, Delivered...(hell then, everything that ever came out of Motown for that matter)...I could go on.
In short, if there is a tune you really like, go back and pick out the bass line. I would bet that bass chart is chunky, moving sweet tones, of pure dynamics and emotion.
Greg had that in spades.
Lastly....long live the P-Bass. If you are truly a player, you own at least one. You know what mean!
But for all that it was the freest I have ever been in life with the possible exception of now. So here I am well along and into the other side of that arc of life, still healthy which would shock the shit out of me excepting I've a +90yr old set of parents who're still alive and functional. I guess my biology runs on good coding. The kids that sprung from me are long fledged and flown the nest, the missus gone, too, And here I am right back where I started. Just a bit more bemused by all the in-between from then to now. I find myself asking myself, "Okay....now what?" Don't you? ;-)
While that pantheon has changed since I do like a lot of the stuff now being put out that was the time that defined me, it's the baseline from which I now spring into whatever it is that's setting up to come next. If you bothered to read this far I wish you much luck in doing the same!
Highlow~
I saw them at the Isle of Wight festival l970 so any time I hear them brings back memories.
Stephen_Phillips wrote:
Maybe part of what now makes it (seem like) a magic time was that we were all 45 years younger.
I read that Emerson offed himself out of perfectionism, that he feared that his fingers could no longer do his bidding in his old age and that his performances would be poor. I don't know how true or not that is, but it is a sad loss to music.
Then somebody else wrote:
" Really sucks to get older or "too old" to do certain things. But it doesn't happen overnight. We get time to see it coming and to at least somewhat adjust. That's what retirement is - not doing the same job you did when younger, or any job, right? I don't know, maybe some can't deal with it."
I have had a couple friend parents end themselves in the last 5 years. Just didn't want to deal with the final stages of old age. One guy was a pilot. Wife died, got to old to fly, perfectly good health otherwise. Just got to old to do what he wanted to do and his life long buddy was gone.
Saw them in Jackson, MS, pre-Works and a friend let me into the gen admission portion before anyone else. Like moth to a flame I walked straight up to the railing in front of the keys and stood transfixed. (High point: I yelled "KNIFE EDGE" and Keith looked at me, smiled, nodded - but didn't play it)
Fast forward 8 yrs, I was sitting one evening in my rented room while attending high school. Listening on a transistor radio some foreign station on MW band with a lot of noise. Still I recall vividly the first few bars of 'The fanfare for the common man' and the DJ saying it was ELP.
Vivid memories sems the only strong currrency a man can own these days after all (these years).