R.I.P.

Keith Emerson.

ELP were not my cup of tea, but this is beyond sad. Apparently Emerson had developed some sort of nerve condition which left him unable to play with his right hand anymore, and the loss of his ability to do what he'd spent his life doing triggered a massive bout of depression.

The fact that ELP remains uninducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame continues to be a joke (yeah, yeah, the entire thing is, but if you're going to have the damn thing, at least do it right). It's hard to imagine a band that more defined their era than ELP, but it's an era that HOF voters don't seem to realize is no longer as universally mocked as it once was. Maybe Emerson's death will change the thinking on that, but then again, Chris Squire's passing didn't seem to gain any sentiment for Yes.

Are any performers from the Classic Rock format going to make it out of 2016 alive?

Sad indeed. Im not a big fan of ELP (or that type of prog) but the ELP lp "Brain Salad Surgery" was a big fave of my young self, esp. "Karn Evil 9." Im losing all cool points here, but i stand by it.

"Are any performers from the Classic Rock format going to make it out of 2016 alive?" DAMN, but the Grim Reaper's been puttin in overtime this young year. What, he hadnt been fulfilling his quota?

> Are any performers from the Classic Rock format going to make it out of 2016 alive?

Dennis DeYoung is the Baron Samedi of the musical undead. He will outlive us all.

For a brief period in the mid 70s, I was a lite-Prog head. The usual suspects: ELP, Yes, Genesis. Pink Floyd. Nothing Italian. I suspect that like members of The Human League, we listened to the records for the brief doses of Moog synthesizers and waded through the rest of it. Once Post-Punk looked at synths from another perspective, that was it. Game over.

Not much of that oeuvre has tenacity outside of that pre-punk bubble. I find that post 1980, I find a lot more to love in The Nice; Emerson's proto-Prog-Psych power trio that wiped the floor with ELP, for these ears. I have most of their albums, but I hold the brightest candle for the singles comp "Autumn To Spring." The US edition also has the finest LP cover of the 1973 by far.

It was not a great time for cover design, to put it mildly, but that cover obviously had a HUGE influence on Peter Saville. The classic serif typography coupled with the power and simplicity of the image and its presentation [the leaves were embossed on the LP as well] must have weighed heavily on his aesthetics. New Order's "True Faith" cover was obviously a knockoff! Nowhere near as strong as the Nice cover, though.

Bits of ELP have dogged me through the ensuing years, though. I always held a candle for the "Trilogy" album and just played it on the commute to work. Still worked for me. That was the one I bought on CD when it came out in 1987. That title cut was always my favorite ELP track. I loved how it began as a Gershwin pastiche, twisted on a Latinate torque point, and then the Moogs kicked in and things got intense.

That was a sad end to Keith Emerson, but I was impressed that Greg Lake's press statement actually acknowledged his suicide. Too often, these painful truths are glossed over or papered over with abstract sentiment. Lake's feelings seemed more honest than we normally get when someone commits suicide. That was definitely a talented band, though the ends didn't always justify the means. I could have seen Emerson perform at the last Moogfest, but didn't bother. I was outside the venue and could hear him noodling away. I was looking for my wife to link up for the Bernie Worrell show and I think she caught a bit of Emerson. In 1977 I would have given my left arm for such a chance.



Post Edited (03-15-16 08:35)

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Oh, what a lucky man he was. Keith I mean, before the nervous condition.

My views on ELP have been stated already. That said (or at least referenced), I will be giving a bit of tribute to Keith on the air tonight.

I clicked on the link to read your ELP notes and saw that it was in response to a long anti-ELP rant I don't even remember writing.

A pretty involved set, including a full block tribute to George Martin's productions and a full block commemoration of Julius Caesar's assassination.

"Stop This Game" - Cheap Trick
"Lettin' Go" - UFO
"Thelonius" - Jeff Beck
"Reap the Wild Wind" - Ultravox

"No Direction Home" - Cheap Trick
"Birds of Paradise" - Your Vegas
"Champion" - The Chevin
"What Use?" - Tuxedomoon (R.I.P. Peter Geduldig)

"King of the World" - Weezer
"Savoy Truffle" - The Beatles
"Where the Boys Go" - The Rolling Stones
"Beatles and Stones" - Beady Eye

"Bad Case of Loving You" - Moon Martin
"Bad Habits" - The Last Shadow Puppets
"Bad Sun" [remix] - The Bravery
"Bad Motor Scooter" - Montrose

"Evil" - Savages
"Cold to See Clear" - Nada Surf
"Break Into Your Heart" - Iggy Pop
"Voices in My Head" - Bob Mould

"Eagles Goth" - Eagles of Death Metal
"Black Country Rock" - David Bowie
"Karn Evil 9" - Emerson Lake & Palmer (R.I.P. Keith)

"The Ides of March" - Iron Maiden
"Night of the Long Knives" - AC/DC
"Stab Your Back" - The Damned
"Coup d'Etat" - Circle Jerks
"B Is for Brutus" - The Hives
"Jerk It Out" - Caesars

"Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin" - Magazine (for Sly Stone AND Howard Devoto's birthdays)
"Galaxy" - War (for guitarist Howard Scott's birthday)
"The Rock Show" - Blink-182 (for Mark Hoppus' birthday)

ELP is the only major prog band I don't like...but that doesn't make them bad people, nor does it make Keith's plight less sad. RIP.

"Beatles and Stones" - Beady Eye

There's also:
"The Beatles and The Stones" - by The Bible (IIRC), or might have been Chameleons U.K. (as they were called stateside in the 80's)

Anyone have a third Beatles-and-Stones selection?

I remember that track. It had the vivid couplet "The Beatles + The Stones/Suck the marrow out of bones." The band in question was The House Of Love.



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Quote

The band in question was The House Of Love.

"Oh, I'm dazed and I'm dazed and I'm dazed."

Metric: "Who would you rather be ? the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?" from Gimme Sympathy.

That's exactly how I feel.

The Clash mention both bands in the lyrics of "1977" (along with Elvis) Hmmm, maybe a block that opens with that song, followed by the Stones, then the Beatles, and then Elvis?

This is a great block in the making. Thanks everyone!

I too wasn't much of a fan of ELP (although I'm seeing the odd interesting youtube post from friends on social media). Surprised however that no one's giving The Nice much of a mention.



Post Edited (03-16-16 19:21)

It's a crying shame that The Nice are all but unknown in America. That was where Keith made his legacy, to my ears. ELP was just cashing in. Those albums were where ground was broken.



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I'd heard that Keith started in The Nice, but I couldn't hum you a song by them. It never even occurred to me to dig into that band's work, to find a track to use as a requiem to Keith.

I wouldn't say any '70s prog band was "cashing in" -- at least, not during the '70s. The ones who have continued, like Yes, can be fairly accused of cashing in.

Great tracks by The Nice:

"Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack" - impossible to hear this euphoric track and be down
"Flower King Of Flies" - Heavy psych
"America" - From "West Side Story"
"Five Bridges Suite" - the best "Rock Band With Orchestra" hybrid I've heard



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Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones"

Back to the original theme, who would you rather be?

Emerson or Lake or Palmer?

Palmer. Easy.



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My brother's back home with his Beatles and his Stones