| Revisiting Emerson Lake & Palmer
Posted: 11/19/2008 1:55:25 AM | I was going through some boxes of vinyl and seeing what I was going to donate to the Salvation Army this year.... hmm, Bay City Rollers, Bee Gees, ...... whoa, a spider just darted out of that old KTEL compilation?
Kiss.... what was I thinking?
Then I spotted the ELP albums. Brain Salad Surgery, Trilogy, and the first (and best) album Emerson Lake & Palmer.
These three guy's were it back in the 70's.... well, until Nov 1978... when they released one of the truly crappiest records ever made. Love Beach.
Actually, they sort of nose dived during the Works albums. But it wasn't their fault completely. The world suddenly changed with Punk, New Wave, Disco ....
ELP nearly went broke while hauling around a ton of musicians for that tour in 77.
They were pretty desperate and posed ala Bee Gee's for the album cover...and put together some really crappy tunes. You can catch a video All I Want Is You on youtube to see how bad it went?
They never really fully recovered even though they tried with Black Moon, In the Hot Seat and several live albums later.
But.... I put on these old albums and realized how good these guys were?
Anyone have any ELP memories and did anyone see them live? | |
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| Revisiting Emerson Lake & Palmer
Posted: 11/19/2008 4:00:17 PM | | I think I have an old ELP album kicking around here somewhere.....I believe it was a live album recorded at the olympic stadium in montreal.If I remember right it had the sound of being recorded in a big concrete cave,which is pretty much what the olympic stadium is.Not really an exciting or cozy sounding album. | |
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| Revisiting Emerson Lake & Palmer
Posted: 11/19/2008 4:33:49 PM | I think its the Emerson, Lake & Palmer In Concert LP. They re-released it in the 1990s as Works Live.
Not really an exciting or cozy sounding album.
That because Cozy Powell joined later. 
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| Revisiting Emerson Lake & Palmer
Posted: 11/19/2008 5:13:11 PM | Oh, yes. I have several of the ELP Cd's. Being a drummer myself, Carl Palmer was a giant to me. That's guy's control and technique were other-wordly in the early albums, and jaw-dropping on Brain Salad Surgery (which had one of the all-time best album covers, BTW). The live stuff was really great, too. Pictures at an Exhibition is an all time favorite of mine. Carl's drum work on that was fantastic.
I love to put on headphones, and play along to "Hoedown" and "The Barbarian". So much fun! And a pretty good workout, LOL. | |
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| Revisiting Emerson Lake & Palmer
Posted: 11/20/2008 9:11:50 AM | I think ELP is possibly the worst band of all time. Nothing irritates me more than overinflated egos and pompous, insipid "art rock." Peter Gabriel and Rush are exceptions to the "art rock" genre, in that they're actually interesting. ELP is just a big, bombastic bore. They're even worse than Yes and The Moody Blues.
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| Revisiting Emerson Lake & Palmer
Posted: 11/20/2008 2:18:03 PM | | Big Time ELP fan.Saw them twice.First time in 77 or 78 when they toured with Quadrophonic sound.Next timein 96 with Jethro Tull.Carl Palmer was the best I ever saw.I'm not a drummer but he awed me. Surfguitar1 what you call Art Music takes talent to play.Most of those musicians went to famous Art and Music schools.After that style of music it went back to basic chords and notes.Yes is one of my favorite bands.Saw them 13 or 14 times. Nothing personnel we all have our own taste in music.Most people under 40 doesn't like that kind of music. | |
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| Revisiting Emerson Lake & Palmer
Posted: 11/20/2008 2:28:01 PM | Surf -
Not denying that Brain Salad Surgery and after, went downhill. But the early stuff was really good! | |
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| Revisiting Emerson Lake & Palmer
Posted: 11/20/2008 2:58:06 PM | You have to have a bit of an ego to get up in front of a lot of people and do your thing. There is no doubt that the three members of ELP had egos and clashed with each other, but at the same time, that friction led to some great music.
I think at times, ELP tried to play the loudest, fastest and at times strangest... live. But my favorite ELP moments are with Greg Lake's Take A Pebble, Still, You Turn Me On, Father Christmas, and a few other mellow moments. He had a beautiful voice.
The guy came from a very modest poor background and worked hard to get his musical career going. Yes, ELP became overblown and a bit big headed at times. But from 1970-77.... they had some fantastic musical moments and they entertained us.
In the end, that's all that matters.... if you enjoy the music, cool. If you don't, there's a million other bands you can listen to. Personally, I never understood how people liked Grand Funk Railroad? But that's just my personal taste? It's all subjective. | |
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