ELP have been my fave band after Zep for as long as I can remember. Keith Emerson was/is nothing short of genius, I could count about 3 musicians in the 20th century that I would apply that to. As a keyboard player he had no equal. Being a keyboard player myself I look at other players and think wow fantastic and then I go and copy what they've done, I look at Emerson and just think WTF!!
As a live keyboard player there has never been anyone like him, forget smashing guitars, this guy would stand on top of a Hammond organ and rock the whole organ across the stage before dragging it upside down on top of himself and playing Bachs toccata upside down and back to front. he even had a full size grand paino to which he was strapped spinning in the air end over end.
Back in the early 70's ELP broke all the rules, if they wanted to play jazz they played jazz, if they wanted to play classical they would play classical, Emerson had an incredible talent for flitting from one type of music to another within a single phrase, talk about breaking down barriers, the barriers just didnt exist anymore. One minute it would be a heavy rock band thrashing the crap out of their instruments and within the same track they would switch to jazz piano trio.
Emerson changed the face of music with his synth playing. When Moog synths were invented, it was Emerson that picked unnatural electronic sounds and used them as an instrument in their own right. When other bands started to use them they dreaded taking them on stage as it was so difficult to control them, changing a sound was a major operation. Emerson didnt care, he put together a Moog the size of a large cupboard, with thousands of wires plugging modules together and he managed to reproduce all ELPs sounds authentically in atime when it was just impossible.
Unbeknown to most people, it was Emerson that changed the Sounds of modern music in all genres probably more than anyone else. The fat funky bass sounds of Funk, Soul, Jazz Funk....they came from bands seeing ELP live and thinking 'we have to have that bass!'
Carl Palmer was a totally different style of drummer to Bonzo, and so the two cannot be compared, but certainly he had no equal, not just the ferocity of his solos but the sheer control of the intricacies within ELP's work.
Just as you had Page and Bonham in Zep, you had Emerson and Palmer in ELP.
Greg Lake was an amazing multi musician, bassist, guitarist & vocalist. His vocals were deep & resonant, I've still not heard a voclaist of that type with the same presence. Instead of wowing audiences with virtuosity like his partners, he would captivate a whole audience with his delivery and timing.
As a live band in many respects there hasnt been anything like it, to see that kind of virtuosity, composition and showmanship and variety of musical genres mixed together or played separately on one stage is something never to be repeated.
by the way a great book to read...Keith Emersons Autobiography..Pictures of an Exhibitionist, not just beacuse its a great read and its a brutally honest self portrayal, but beacuse of the numebr of episodes involving Zep. Emerson and Bonham going off to get smashed out of their heads, Jimmy Page too drunk to stand up wanting a lift on Emersons bike.
thus ends the sermon. my next novel to be released soon
