boo boo

Most misunderstood prog band ever?

I say yeah.

Surely the most polarizing prog band of them all, of course I understand why, they're the definition of acquired taste.

But anyone who says this band was "self serious" and "stiff" is full of sh*t and knows nothing about the band, just watch a clip of them, seeing ELP was like going to the circus or a Sigfred and Roy show, or vaudeville. Emerson was like a man possessed, ELP did a lot of goofing around yes, but that was all part of the fun.

Exessive? Self indulgent? Ridiculous? You bet, but rock n roll is inherently all of these things, ELP just did it in a different way.

ELP, while I don't consider them the brilliant composers that Yes, King Crimson or Genesis were, and they certainly did some terrible stuff, few bands compare to them in terms of intensity and just straight up fun, they had the rock n roll energy more than the other prog bands at the time.

And Tarkus and Karn Evil 9 are still among my favorite prog songs.

And Keith Emerson, what can you say about the guy?

I'm not quite sure what to say about him actually. So I'll just post a picture of this frightening gatefold from one of his solo records.

Moderator cut: image removed

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Guybrush

I agree with you, Boo I've said so many times over, but I guess it's worth mentioning again that Tarkus was the first prog epic I ever "got into" and it's just a brilliant song. I like a lot of what they've done, but - as you mention, they're a polarizing band. It's easy to see what people don't like about them.

Still, I think most appreciators of prog who don't like them, if they could forget Love Beach and gave ELP a proper chance, they would find something to like. Tarkus and Karn Evil 9 are obvious selling points and they have a good debut record as well.

For a bit of fun, here's Keith going knife crazy on his Hammond organ in 1971



I once read he got those knives from Lemmy sometimes in the 60s.

edit :

By the way, that is a godawful picture, yet so fascinating.

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Something Completely Different

boo boo

Tarkus is rather uneven outside of the title track.

But I think the self titled debut, Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery are straight up awesome records.

After BSS though, it went pretty downhill from there.

On a related note, Emerson's old band The Nice were pretty groovy too.

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Guybrush

Ain't that the truth .. Title track is followed by Jeremy Bender, a song about gender bending with a line about fisting a nun. When you're listening to Are You Ready Eddy?, Tarkus (the track) feels like a distant memory. It's like they're trying to be two different bands at the same time. One of them is good, but I'm not so sure I like the other one.

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boo boo

Yeah, add The Only Way among those two and you have the sh*tty portion of the record.

Bitches Crystal and Time and a Place are pretty good though, and Infinite Space is a nice little piano piece.

Also, Carl Palmer <3

Tank is probably the best drum solo I've ever heard in a rock recording, definitely better than Moby Dick.

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crash_override

Great band, very misunderstood and under appreciated. Greg Lake is in my top 10 as a bassist, and is a more than capable guitarist as well. Not to mention the Lake's voice is top notch as well. Carl Palmer is an incredible drummer, especially when it comes to solos. I've always thought Emerson was extremely overrated, but still a very good keyboardist, even if I sometime wish he wasn't in the band, but then the band name would suffer.

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boo boo

Why do you wish he wasn't in the band?

Lake and Palmer are great, but Emerson is the main attraction. Watching him perform live is a spectacle in itself, his stage persona, his gaudy outfits, the guy's hysterical.

As goofy as he is though, the guy is an incredible keyboardist.

The guy was like Hendrix on the organ, he tried to get as much noise out of that thing as possible. I guess that kinda thing is only cool when guitarists do it though.

I also love his piano work, the piano solos from Take a Pebble and Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression are fantastic. And of course the moog solo form Lucky Man is kickass and played a major role in popularizing the use of that instrument in the prog genre.

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snacklover

I'm surprised to hear that not many people like them, I've always thought they were one of the most influential prog rock bands.

Anyway, I love them. I can't stop listening to Brain Salad Surgery. Karn Evil 9 is definitely their best composition IMO, and I totally agree with you, amazing piano skills on Emerson's part in 2nd Impression. Just hauntingly inspiring, a bit like Toccata in some way. Benny the Bouncer has cool bluesy piano riffs too

duga

I remember the only reason I picked up Brain Salad Surgery was because I was deep in my progressive rock phase, I had heard the name thrown around a bit, and the cover was done by HR Geiger. Any band that gets HR Geiger to make album artwork for them is at least worth a listen in my book.

It took my a few listens to get into since the first couple of times I was really wishing there was more guitar in there, but once I "got" what their band was about, I loved it. I can also credit this band for getting me into Yes. I love Steve Howe's guitarwork, but that band is all about Rick Wakeman for me.

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boo boo

ELP were comprised of well respected musicians because of the bands they used to be in, their early albums had a good deal of acclaim at the time but their "everything including the kitchen sink" stage shows led to them falling out of favor within the prog community and ELP often get most of the blame for prog getting too big for it's britches.

When punk came about because lower class musicians with no classical training felt like they were being marginalised by prog rock's ideals, they found ELP to be the easiest target for ridicule.

Since then, ELP more than any other prog band has been the primary target for critics who froth at the mouth whenever the genre is mentioned. Putting the band's oversized egos aside though (lol at the concept of lambasting bands for having ego problems), they should be judged for their actual musical output.

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