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ELP Thread


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  • 2 weeks later...

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

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Miss Honeydripper

If you buy a compilation (there are lots) make sure it has Fanfare for the common man (full version) and Pirates, because it sure as hell is not worth buying Works for anaything else.

Otherwise Brain Salad Surgery, Tarkus or Trilogy..............in that order.

The live one would be a good place to start as it contains all of Tarkus and Karn Evil 9 and some serious wigging out in Aquatarkus.

ELP live

Aquatarkus, Emerson is just ripping on that song!!! B)

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All three members are still touring : Lake with his solo-band , Emerson with his band w/Dave Kilminster on guitar , and Palmer with Asia.I saw them on their last tour 1998 , and they rocked the place HARD!Try to get the Live At Montreux dvd : excellent recording , or Live At Royal Albert Hall.

And play it loud....

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Amazing band!! I only started to listen to them last years but I love them now. The my favourite prog rock band after Pink Floyd and Genesis. My favourite albums are Brain Salad Surgery, Trilogy and Tarkus, but I like them all, even Love Beach!

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ELP fans? Yeah!

ELP has always been my second favorite band (after Zep, of course). Pirates is one of the greatest songs ever written.

Keith Emerson is the greatest keyboardist alive. He could do things with his left hand that most keyboardists could only dream of doing with their right hands. Not many keyboardists were that amazing (two who almost equal him are Oscar Peterson and Rick Wakeman, IMO, both keyboardists I also love).

I wish Greg Lake did more work with the guitar. He was really was an incredible guitarist. Just listen to his solo in Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2. How is it that that solo is not rated in the top 10 guitar solos? It's amazing! Emotion, power, attack, technique... that solo has it all. And Greg's acoustic stuff is just extraordinary.

Carl Palmer, IMO, is good enough to be rated with the likes of Keith Moon, Bonzo, Neil Peart, Sonny Emory, Neil Rich, etc. He was an incredible percussionist. And only Palmer worked well with the band. When it was Emerson, Lake, and Powell, it just wasn't the same.

Yet another band I'd love to see reform, along with Pink Floyd, Cream, and the Yardbirds with all 4 of the guitarists at the same time (Anthony "Top" Topham, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page).

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ELP is starting to become what Pink Floyd was last year. I'm obsessed with ELP. I've gotten Atomic Rooster's debut so I could hear Carl's drumming on it and I have some of The Nice, but the albums are all a mess, so I'll have to get the actual cds. And I know about Greg's stuff with Crimson. I'm more obsessed with ELP and the live album. I think I should listen to Tarkus and Trilogy more.

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Its great to see 'new' ELP fans here. One of my big disappointments in music is that bands like ELP will be lost newer generations. Its encouraging to see people starting to listen to them.

Someone above mentioned Keith Emersons left hand...yes it was like a machine that he could switch on and put on automatic.

Greg Lakes guitar - on Pictures at an Exhibition (the live album) Greg lake plays a beautiful classical piece, in complete contrast to the virtuosity of Emerson & Palmer, the way he leaves the audience hanging on every note that he plays or sings is amazing.

Check out the In the Beginning DVD, it has lots of ELP from different stages, well worth having alook at. there are some backstage scenes where both Emerson & Palmer can barely stand up after the concert, physically and mentally their concerts were marathon preformances.

By the way, on the Works album Keith Emerson plays his Piano Concerto with orchestra. This is still being played today by various pianists and orchestras as part of their repertoire.

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Its great to see 'new' ELP fans here. One of my big disappointments in music is that bands like ELP will be lost newer generations. Its encouraging to see people starting to listen to them.

You're right about that, it's a shame. I watched their In The Begging DVD and I realized how HUGE they were back in the 70's, and now everybody I spoke about them doesn't even have a clue about who they are. By the way, that DVD it's amazing, it's got a lot of live stuff. Now I'm thinking of getting Pictures at an exhibition on DVD.

Edited by SgtPepper67
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The In the Beginning DVD is incredible.

One of my fave ELP DVDs, though, has to be "Birth of a Band." That is a lot of fun to watch.

I need to get Pictures at an Exhibition on DVD. I actually have it on vinyl, but not on CD or DVD.

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ELP? Love 'em. Bonkers, overblown, pompous, insane. What more could anyone want from a prog band?

Anyone else heard that Palmer is expected to link up with Emerson and Lake for touring plans after the current Asia cycle is wrapped up? A source on ELP Digest reckons this came from Palmer himself.

I shall be very keen to see that!

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  • 1 month later...

ELP-PaaE.jpg

Underrated? You bet your sweet ass it is.

I really think people should stop saying they are douchebags for trying something new that hadn't been done before (taking classical music and adding rock to it and making it their own) and it's no good to do that to them.

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ELP-PaaE.jpg

Underrated? You bet your sweet ass it is.

I really think people should stop saying they are douchebags for trying something new that hadn't been done before (taking classical music and adding rock to it and making it their own) and it's no good to do that to them.

I just watched a 15 minute video of ELP playing pictures on Cox Cable free zone pretty cool.

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I just watched a 15 minute video of ELP playing pictures on Cox Cable free zone pretty cool.

There's a dvd video of ELP playing PAAE (which was recorded in either 1970 or 71, I'm leaning more towards 70) and it's about 50 minutes and it's excellent. There is a couple things I don't like about it (adding comic book backgrounds during The Curse of Baba Yaga) but other than that, it's great to see them young and full of energy.

I actually saw ELP "Live at The Isle of Wight" some time ago and I wish I had money and I had it now. :'(

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ELP tends to play their instruments too quickly and often forget that passion in music is more important than technical viruousity

One thing that I read, was that during live shows in the beginning for songs (like Tarkus for example) they played it at a normal pace, and then soon realized that while people enjoyed it, they were wanting more, so they sped up.

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ELP tends to play their instruments too quickly and often forget that passion in music is more important than technical virtuousity

I know what mean you cos that's what I hate about some bands, but that's not the case with ELP in my opinion. Plus not all his music was about technical viruosity, listen to Greg Lake's ballads for example like Lucky Man, there's not virtuosism at all there.

Edited by SgtPepper67
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I know what mean you cos that's what I hate about some bands, but that's not the case with ELP in my opinion. Plus not all his music was about technical viruosity, listen to Greg Lake's ballads for example like Lucky Man, there's not virtuosism at all there.

Greg Lake made a great contribution n the first King Crimson Album In the Court of the Crimson King

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