Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percussion). With nine RIAA-certified gold record albums in the US, and an estimated 48 million records sold worldwide, they are one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock groups of the 1970s, with a musical sound including adaptations of classical music with jazz and symphonic rock elements, dominated by Emerson’s flamboyant use of the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, and piano (although Lake wrote several acoustic songs for the group).
The band came to prominence following their performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. In their first year, the group signed with E.G. Records (who distributed the band’s records through Island Records in the United Kingdom, and Atlantic Records in North America), and released Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970) and Tarkus (1971), both of which reached the UK top five. The band’s success continued with Pictures at an Exhibition (1971), Trilogy (1972), and Brain Salad Surgery (1973, released on ELP’s own Manticore Records label). After a three-year break, Emerson, Lake & Palmer released Works Volume 1 (1977) and Works Volume 2 (1977). After Love Beach (1978), the group disbanded in 1979.
The band reformed partially in the 1980s as Emerson, Lake & Powell featuring Cozy Powell in place of Palmer, who was by then, a member of Asia. Robert Berry then replaced Lake while Palmer returned, forming 3. In 1991, the original trio reformed and released two more albums, Black Moon (1992) and In the Hot Seat (1994), and toured at various times between 1992 and 1998. Their final performance took place in 2010 at the High Voltage Festival in London to commemorate the band’s 40th anniversary. Both Emerson and Lake died in 2016, leaving Palmer as the only surviving member of the band. (wikipedia)
And here´s a nice EP with some Christmas tunes from Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
And of course Greg Lake’s “I Believe In Father Christmas” is the best song … a classic … almost as good as John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over) “.
Personnel:
Keith Emerson (keyboards)
Greg Lake (bass, vocals, guitar)
Carl Palmer (drums, percussion)
Tracklist:
01. I Believe In Father Christmas (1) (Lake/Sinfield) 3.31
02. Troika (from Lieutenant Kije Suite) (Prokofiev) 4.18
03. Humbug (Lake/Sinfield) 2.27
04. I Believe In Father Christmas (2) (Lake/Sinfield) 3,18
05. Nutrocker (Tschaikowski/Fowley) 3.50
Track 1 originally issued as a Greg Lake solo single
Track 2 originally issued on “Emerson – The Christmas Album”
Track 3 originally issued as a Greg Lake solo single
Track 4 originally issued on “Works, Volume 2
Track 5 originally issued on “Pictures At An Exhibition”
Greg Lake performs his 1975 classic “I Believe in Father Christmas” filmed live at St. Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, in the City of London with Jethro Tull’ s Ian Anderson on flute, David Arch on keyboards, Florian Opahle on acoustic guitar and the church choir.:
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth
I remember one Christmas morning
A winter’s light and a distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And their eyes full of tinsel and fire
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a silent night
And they told me a fairy story
‘Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
‘Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise
I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave new year
All anguish, pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on earth
Hallelujah, Noel be it heaven or hell
The Christmas we get we deserve
More from Emerson, Lake & Palmer:
The official website:
Keith Emerson:
02 November 1944 – 11 March 2016
Greg Lake:
10 November 1947 – 07 December 2016
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in April 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar and producer) and Carl Palmer (drums and percussion). With nine RIAA-certified gold record albums in the US, and an estimated 48 million records sold worldwide, they were one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock bands in the 1970s, with a musical sound including adaptations of classical music with jazz and symphonic rock elements, dominated by Emerson’s flamboyant use of the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, and piano (although Lake wrote several acoustic songs for the group).
Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends ~ Ladies and Gentlemen is the second live album by the English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released as a triple album in August 1974 on Manticore Records. It was recorded in February 1974 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California during the group’s 1973–74 world tour in support of their fourth studio album, Brain Salad Surgery (1973).
echo, the seeming distance – the listener often gets the impression of being seated in the upper mezzanine of an arena.” (by wikipedia)
ELP is one of my favorite bands right up there with Zep, Floyd and Alice. Theirs is a unique sound and a singular vision. That vision is brought to light exquisitely by this DVD. It is a treat to see the young trio playing their instruments and such, but after a while them just standing and playing would start to get old (especially after repeated viewings). I mean, you can watch Keith Emerson’s hands all day long, but that isn’t going to mean you can play like him.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer took an extended break in 1974. They regrouped in 1976 to record Works Volume 1 at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland and EMI Studios in Paris, France. It is a double album with one side of an LP containing songs by each member and a fourth of group material. Much of the album was recorded with an orchestral accompaniment; Emerson’s side consists of his 18-minute, three-movement “Piano Concerto No. 1”. Lake contributes five songs he co-wrote with Sinfield, and Palmer’s includes two covers of classical pieces by Sergei Prokofiev and Bach. One of the two group tracks, “Fanfare for the Common Man”, is a cover of the same-titled orchestral piece by Aaron Copland, who gave permission to have the band release it. Works Volume 1 was released in March 1977 and peaked at No. 9 in the UK and No. 12 in the US. A single of “Fanfare for the Common Man” was released and reached No. 2 in the UK, the band’s highest charting UK single.
Tarkus is the second studio album by the English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in June 1971 on Island Records. Following their 1970 European tour, the group returned to Advision Studios in January 1971 to prepare material for a new album. The first side is the seven-part song “Tarkus”, with a collection of shorter tracks on side two.
Keith Emerson and Greg Lake met in December 1969 when The Nice and King Crimson, two rock bands that Emerson and Lake each were a respective member of, co-headlined a series of concerts at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, California. Emerson looked to form a new band, and Lake wished to leave King Crimson. During a soundcheck before one of the shows, Emerson described the first time he and Lake played together: “Greg was moving a bass line and I played the piano in back and Zap! It was there.” The pair had met twice before in England in 1969 when The Nice and King Crimson performed at the Jazz and Blues Pop Festival in Plumpton and Fairfield Halls in Croydon.
impressive musicianship here. “Take a Pebble” might have passed for a Moody Blues track of the era but for the fact that none of the Moody Blues’ keyboard men could solo like Keith Emerson. Even here, in a relatively balanced collection of material, the album shows the beginnings of a dark, savage, imposingly gothic edge that had scarcely been seen before in so-called “art rock,” mostly courtesy of Emerson’s larger-than-life organ and synthesizer attacks. Greg Lake’s beautifully sung, deliberately archaic “Lucky Man” had a brush with success on FM radio, and Carl Palmer became the idol of many thousands of would-be drummers based on this one album (especially for “Three Fates” and “Tank”), but Emerson emerged as the overpowering talent here for much of the public. (by Bruce Eder)
ManyFantasticColors 