Biography
Emerson, Lake &
Palmer were progressive rock's biggest super heroes during the
1970s, and paradoxically responsible both for some of the highlights,
and lowlights, of our beloved genre. Tagged with the "supergroup"
label right from the beginning, ELP were a veritable machine
that stormed across the world, selling millions of albums and
stadiums along the way, bringing the then-innovative melding
of classical and rock to the masses. Clearly, the band
was composed of some already established individuals, namely
Keith Emerson, the manic keyboardist from classical rockers
The Nice, Greg Lake of King Crimson and Carl Palmer from The
Crazy World of Arthur Brown. As far as technical skill,
few could match the pyrotechnics of this trio, who managed to
combine the raw, sledgehammer tactics of a rock band with the
grandiosity and pomp of classical music. Beyond this,
they added the larger-than-life image that was typical of the
biggest 70s rock groups.
The impetus of
ELP came about during the disintegration of King Crimson's first
incarnation during that band's U.S. tour. At that point,
Greg Lake had met with The Nice's Keith Emerson when the bands
had played a show together, and had at that time discussed the
possibility of forming a group. When Crimson faltered,
Lake jumped ship and joined up with Emerson, and the duo began
auditioning drummers. Although Mitch Mitchell was a candidate,
the band ended up picking powerhouse Carl Palmer. By now
the band was good to go and went about playing shows, one of
the first of which was the 1970 Isle of Wight festival.
Apparently, the show was a huge success, helping to vault their
debut album (which had been released a month later) into Britain's
top five, and the American top 20. The follow-up, Tarkus,
featured the band's first stab at an extended composition, and
went to number one on the British charts, simultaneously cracking
the top 10 in the States. During the subsequent tour,
a version of Mussorgsky's composition "Pictures at an Exhibition"
was recorded live and released to sustained commercial success.
Trilogy would be another hit for the band, highlighting
their position at the forefront of progressive rock. However,
the best was yet to come, and in 1973 the band delivered what
would ultimately remain their magnum opus, Brain Salad Surgery.
By this point, the band had started their own record label,
Manticore, which would release albums by Pete Sinfield, PFM
and Banco.
It would seem
that the band was on top of the world. Certainly, the
triple live album Welcome Back My Friends..., seemed
to show the band in their prime. However, when faced with
the possibility of changing public tastes, the band balked,
taking three years to record and release the ponderous, disunited
volume one of Works, a double album on which three sides
featured individual compositions, and one side band compositions.
It was clear that individual egos had overtaken the band.
Though the album saw dismal sales, the band followed it up with
the even worse Works Vol. 2. In 1978 they released
the horrendous Love Beach, and it was clear that the
ELP was, as any kind of inspired force, over. Each member
would go their separate ways, notably Carl Palmer joining the
AOR supergroup Asia.
In 1986, Greg
Lake and Keith Emerson made an effort to reunite the group,
but Palmer declined. As a result, Emerson and Lake invited
journeyman drummer Cozy Powell aboard, and had the revelation
that they could keep the ELP initials! Thus, a new album
was recorded, Emerson, Lake and Powell, though this fared little
better than than the original band's latter day mishaps, and
the new incarnation splintered. Reunification would be
broached again in 1993, probably for the wrong reasons, though
this time with the full original lineup. The resulting
album Black Moon was again significantly less than spectacular,
though it was certainly better than the dreadful In the Hot
Seat, made with Keith Emerson suffering severe hand problems,
and with Lake requiring surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome.
The result is widely considered one of the worst progressive
rock albums in history.
In the end, a
progressive rock fan can look at the career of Emerson, Lake
& Palmer with both awe and amusement. Certainly, the
band had its share of lowlights, and were squarely in the crosshairs
of the punk rock movement of the late 70s for their supposed
pretensions, pomposity and general arena-rock way about doing
things. The band's legacy is perhaps cultural more than
artistic, as their early albums, while certainly good, don't
approach the heights of fellow prog rockers like Yes, Genesis,
King Crimson, or even lesser known luminaries like Gentle Giant
or Van der Graaf Genertor. Their musical achievements
are best illustrated in the Brain Salad Surgery album,
but they will perhaps be more remembered for their gall, ambition
and ability to almost single-handedly pull the genre up from
its bootstraps into the commercial realm. - Greg
Northrup [October 2001]
Source:
All Music Guide
Emerson
Lake and Palmer (1970)
One of the
first progressive rock albums ever, and generally considered
a classic because of this. Looking back on it however, I don't
find it all that special. Admittedly, I arrived at Emerson,
Lake & Palmer pretty late relative to some most of the other
prime bands, and I really expected to be blown away, but unfortunately
I really wasn't. Most of the songs are Emerson firing away on
all sorts of different keyboards, along with some nice playing
by Greg Lake and Carl Palmer. Impressive stuff technically,
but I really don't get any sort of emotional rise out
of this.
There's
also some softer tunes on here, like "Take a Pebble" and "Lucky
Man", which I found sappy and rather lame. I don't see what
all the fuss is about. I understand that this album was groundbreaking
for its time, but objectively speaking, there are tons of subsequent
albums out there that have topped this one. Mediocre.
- Greg Northrup
[2000]
Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info
Tarkus
(1971)
I like this
album much better than the debut, mostly because of the epic
title suite, "Tarkus". This track is very rocking, though
for being some 20 minutes long, doesn't go through the range
of emotions and dynamics that say Genesis or Yes would employ
on tracks of similar length. It's got tons of Keith Emerson
keyboard wizardry, as can be expected, and all the wankery that
comes with it. Actually, "Tarkus" has some pretty memorable
themes throughout it, as well as tons of energy from all bandmembers.
I don't
really enjoy any of the other tracks, except for "A Time and
a Place", which is pretty heavy and has a nice, ominous vocal
part from Greg Lake. Overall this is a so-so album, but
the "Tarkus" suite makes it worthwhile.
- Greg Northrup [2000]
Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info
Trilogy
(1972)
This is a good album, much
more consistent than anything they had done prior, but it
still doesn't compare to the excellent Brain Salad Surgery
album that followed it. This has all the Emerson, Lake & Palmer
hallmarks; extended solos and bombastic playing countered
by soft Greg Lake-penned ditties. The only difference here
is that this time around it's all a little less boring, though
it definitely drags at points.
"The
Endless Enigma" is a particularly cool song, extending itself
over three tracks and featuring some nice melodies. "Hoedown"
is energetic, rocking and pretty amusing, being a fast-paced
instrumental that is adapted from composer Aaron Copeland's
"Rodeo". "Abaddon's Bolero" is one of ELP's better mechanical
wank-fests, playing on some enjoyable classical themes. Overall
Trilogy is pretty decent, though like all of ELP's
pre-BSS albums, overrated. -
Greg Northrup [2000]
Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info
Pictures
at an Exhibition (1972)
Yikes! Full-on ELP bombast
here folks. This Keith Emerson's adaptation of classical
composer Mussorgsky's famous work "Pictures At An Exhibition"
recorded in a live setting, with some lyrics thrown in for
fun. Typically, this shows Keith Emerson in fine form,
annhilating all with his poweful keyboard playing, but like
most of their other works, I find the constant soloing a little
boring. Emerson is obviously an awe-inspiring keyboardist
and pianist, and the playing here is extremely wanky, not
to mention Lake's unneccesary lyrical contributions.
The whole thing is a little absurd actually, but I guess it
can be taken as part of the whole ELP schtick. Doesn't
move me at all though. Next please.
- Greg Northrup
[2000]
Brain Salad Surgery (1973)
Far and away the finest album
ELP ever made, and along with Yes' Close to the Edge
and Genesis' Foxtrot, a total mandatory purchase,
just because it is so definitive of the genre. "Jerusalem"
is a nice opener, a pleasant adaptation of a traditional
English song. "Toccata" is a furious interpretation of another
classical work, which absolutely kills, one of the few wanky-wanky
Emerson adaptations that actually gets to me, powerful and
dark material. The true highlight is of course the epic
"Karn Evil 9", which is clearly the best ELP song ever.
This track just epitomizes everything they were ever able
to do right. It's rocking and bombastic, but thankfully
memorable as well, a ferocious keyboard orgy.
Like all of ELP's albums, Brain Salad Surgey is compromised
by some less than stellar material, such as "Benny the Bouncer",
a throwaway filler track, the second impression of "Karn
Evil 9", a boring jazz workout. Greg Lake's token ballad,
"Still... You Turn Me On", is actually okay, but not up
to par with the highlights of the album. To say that this
is a legendary album would be an understatement, but there's
no doubt that it has its weak points. I'm not a huge ELP
fan in the first place, and I think there are tons of prog
albums better than this one, but this is an influential
work, and ultimately an essential listen.
- Greg Northrup [2000]
Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info
Works
Vol. 1 (1977)
Emerson Lake
& Palmer are the easiest targets when it comes to criticizing
the entire progressive rock genre. They stood for everything
the mainstream rock critics hated: musically ambitious to
a fault and at times, terribly pretentious and meandering.
It can be difficult even for a dedicated progressive rock
fan to defend some of the band's recorded output. After
all, the band hasn't released any new material worthwhile
since Works Volume 1 nearly 25 years ago. Though
they've only worked together sporadically since the mid
1980s, their "comeback" albums Black Moon and In
the Hot Seat frankly sucked.
ELP were a
classic case of too much too soon. In less than 5 years,
they released 6 highly acclaimed albums of progressive rock
and pretty much crashed and burned by 1977. Works Volume
1 shows the band's classical ambitions as well as the
flaws that were making them come apart. The first side of
the original album contained Keith Emerson's "Piano Concerto
No. 1". Broken into 3 movements, it is a modern piece of
classical music. Fans expecting another ELP rock album were
probably pretty confused. I am not an expert at critiquing
classical music, but I imagine that taken for what it is,
it succeeds fairly well. I'm not sure it's such a good idea
to be marketed as part of an ELP product (as is with the
case of most of the music on Works) but if one is in a glass
of wine frame of mind, it's a fairly interesting piece of
music.
Greg Lake's
side of the album is predictably mellow. Mostly consisting
of orchestral love ballads, it's guaranteed to send shivers
down the spine of any Neil Diamond fan. Lake has never been
a great lyricist and thankfully he had the smarts to enlist
Peter Sinfield to assist him in songwriting. Sinfield keeps
songs like "Lend Your Love to Me Tonight" and "Closer to
Believing" sounding sincere where they could have come across
as lightweight and dopey. Trust me, even your mother will
enjoy this side of the album. Then sneak Tarkus onto
her!
Carl Palmer's
side is the strangest but it's also intriguing. "The Enemy
God Dances with the Black Spirits" is an all out ELP style
classical rocker; indeed, the band performed this regularly
on their Works Live tour. Joe Walsh guests on "LA Nights",
a decent straightforward rock track. "Food for Your Soul"
shows the jazzier side of Palmer with a big band arrangement
and a brief drum solo. He closes his side with a rearranged
version of ELP's "Tank". It's good, but I prefer the original
version.
Side 4 is
the band side proper. Their take on Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare
for the Common Man" is quite good, though I find Emerson's
lengthy synthesizer soloing to be a bit overlong. I actually
prefer the single version of this song. The album ends with
"Pirates" and it's one of the band's best pieces of music
ever. The orchestra successfully blends with the band and
a high seas adventure is vividly conveyed through Pete Sinfield's
lyrics. It's too bad that the rest of the album isn't quite
up to the same level.
Without a
doubt, Works Volume 1 is the one ELP album I have
to be in the mood for. At times it's lush and pretty, at
others, long and boring. Though I've heard more successful
classical fusions, it's generally a good listen, but not
a cohesive effort. Yes, I'm on the fence with this one.
If you expect Brain Salad Surgery, stay far away.
But if you want to convince your significant other that
progressive rock is nice and romantic, by all means dig
in. As an aside, the version under review is the imported
Sanctuary Records reissue. It contains 3 bonus tracks of
live versions of songs taken from the Works Tour.
The sound quality is that of a decent bootleg.
- Steve Pettengill [October 2001]
