ELP Digest	Monday Augest 28 1995
		Volume 5 : Issue 21

The "You Must Believe In The Human Race" Edition

Today's Topics:
		Rock and Revolt - Impressions of ELP

Prelude
=======

Today's Digest is a single, thoughtful article by Bjorn-Are.  He's been
patient enough to let me leave this in my inbox since May.  Now, I'm sharing
it with all of you. It's a really interesting view of the history of ELP and
their relationship to the times in which the music was created. In ways,
it's similar to a paper I wrote in college for a popular culture-ish history
class but my paper was on the impact of "growing up British in the post-
World War II era on the British popular music of the 60s and 70s.  But
Bjorn-Are really brings it home to ELP, etc.  I hope you find it as
interesting as I did.

The next issue will return us to the typical Digest banter.

- John -

------------------------------------------------------------

From: Bjorn-Are.Davidsen@s.prosjekt98.telenor.no
Date: Fri, 26 May 1995 15:39:31 +0200
To: John E Arnold <arnold@iii.net>
Subject: ELP in Revolt?

ROCK AND REVOLT
- Impressions of EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER

by Bjorn Are Davidsen

With the possible exception of Gentle Giant, no musical group has shown
greater diversity than Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Their career is an
astonishing proof of creativity and musical excellence, as well as a
constant striving to move in new directions and avoid formula. In their
first four years (1970-74) they showed superb artistic judgment. However,
after returning from a two years break in 1976, they seemed to have lost
their touch with the times. After a series of bad musical choices (and some
good ones) they chose to disband in 1979. Their later returns have been
limited successes, perhaps mainly because of a more Middle of the Road
approach to music and stage effects.

REVOLT OF THE 60s

Today it may be difficult to understand the drive behind the sexual and
political revolution of the 1960s. However, at the time it was a force few
could resist. Taking its strength from fundamental sociological changes, it
was reflected in everything from Top of the Pops to theology.

One of the best places to watch the times that were a
scene of rock music. Few exposed the Zeitgeist of the 60
Beatles, Dylan and the Who, as products of the baby boom, rapid economical
growth, mass education and the rethoric of the cold war.

This is not to imply that their art was nothing but a reflection. Truly
successfull art will always transcend the particulars of an age, even if it
also may be a mirror. It can even be argued that it's exactly the marriage
with the age which makes any piece of art interesting.

And as always the avant guard and more experimental side expressed this even
more. With forerunners The Nice, King Crimson and The Crazy World of Arthur
Brown, Emerson, Lake and Palmer was to become a pinnacle of the Changing
60s - which may be argued to have lasted to 1973 - before they went down as
victims of the retrospection of the Eighties, not entirely without faults of
their own. 

The Nice

When blues pianist Keith Emerson (b. 1944), with guitarist Dave O'List,
bassist Lee Jackson and drummer Brian Davison in 1967 turned the former
backing group the Nice into an act of their own, they very much were to
become part of the revolt of the sixties. 

The song <Daddy, Where did I Come From> described the hypocrisy and taboos 
surrounding sexual education in the 60s. Their interpretation of
Bernstein's <America> was a political statement (on the studio record a boy
was heard to say <and was murdered by the hand of the inevitable>) and
became very much more so when burning a canvass with a painting of the
American Flag at a concert in Royal Albert Hall. The single was banned in
the States as it had pictures of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. 

Also as an interpretor of the classical tradition, Emerson was in revolt. He
was not satisfied with playing Bach with a beat - if Bach should be played
it must be with a Bang.  Emerson's fusing of rock groups, orchestras and
classical pieces was no middle of the road compromise. It always had the
flavor of a Hendrix concert, complete with instrument wrestling as Emerson
toppled his Hammond and flung daggers into the speakers and organ keys. One
should always be aware when listening to records by the Nice, that their
classical interpretations tend to have rather disturbing moments as if
performed in Hanoi during a bomb raid.

The Nice demonstrated that classical orhestras could be used for more than 
background on easy listening pop tunes. If rock and classic were to merge,
it must show that rock really was about revolt. When the 25 years old Keith
Emerson was comissioned to make The Five Bridges Suite, he managed to do
something that - though not a little theatrical - contained both intense and
agressive parts of rock and classical, as well as quieter moments. It is not
exactly the best work of modern music, however, it's an attempt at an fusion
which should be studied carefully.

King Crimson

Greg Lake (b. 1947) was originally a guitarist and singer with minor pop and
rock bands like The Shame and later The Gods. However, he was told (not
asked) in 1969 on joining King Crimson to switch to bass, as his friend and
founding member Robert Fripp played guitar. Even if Lake always had a flavor
for hard rock and romantic ballads he went through an important phase of
early progressive rock with King Crimson in 1969-70.  Agressive songs like
<21st Century Schizoid Man> and lovely tunes like <Moonchild> were very much
to his liking. However, when Fripp decided on an even more experimental
sound Lake <chose to move on and do something else>. 

Crazy World

From the age of twelve Carl Palmer (b. 1950) took lessons from a classical
drum instructor who also was into jazz. Palmer joined the King Bees in 1965
and was later to play with Chris Farlowe for some time. In May 1968 he
joined The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and even though the band had a big
hit with <Fire>, Palmer decided with Crazy World organist Vincent Crane in
1969 to form a new band, Atomic Rooster. This was one of the very first hard
rock groups, and Palmer became noted for his forceful and progressive use of
percussion. It was no surprise that he one year later was approached by Lake
and Emerson and persuaded to join them.  

ROCK AND REVOLT - 1970-71

When Emerson, Lake and Palmer attacked the rock scene with blasting canons
at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 29, 1970 (though their debut had
been at Plymouth Guild Hall some days earlier) one very much felt the rock
and revolt that was to be such a part of their act in the early years.

The debut album EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER (Dec, 1970) opened with a 
thundering organ and piano adaption of Bartoks piece <Allegro Barbaro>,
called <The Barbarian>. As a comment on western man in the Vietnam period it
was very appropriate. Then came some quiet reflection with <Take a Pebble>,
a 12 minutes piece for piano and accoustic guitar, on stage always a vehicle
for the improvisations which made ELP so different from album oriented
groups like Floyd and Stones. The next piece, <Knife Edge>, brought the
listener into the cynisism of the modern city with an aggressive elaboration
of Janacek's Sinfonietta, mixed with their own parts and some of
Bach's. Even apart from Emerson's attack on organ and Lake's hypnotic
bass lines, Palmer's percussion work was by itself enough to make one's
heart freeze. 

Then the album left rock all together, with Emerson solo on church organ and
piano in classical inspired melodies, perhaps better intended than
realised. The classical digression was not to last as the next piece was in
yet another musical direction, a jazz/funk oriented thing called <Tank>,
which made a return to the themes of war and destruction. And the finale
with the seemingly naive song <Lucky Man> was also very much an ironic
comment on a romantic view on war and warriors.

Always the musical pioneer, Keith invented on <Take a Pebble> a new way of
playing the piano, using one hand on the strings inside, keeping the other
on the keys. And <Lucky Man> ended with the first solo ever on a syntheziser
(Moog), opening the doors for a new area in popular music. Even if it may be
somewhat dated today, in 1970 this solo was a revelation.

One problem ELP ran into at this stage was their lack of credit to original
composers.  Even if few classical knowledgeable persons would be in doubt
about Bartok or Janacek, many rock listeners felt cheated on discovering that
ELP had picked from others. Emerson was rightly embarrased and ensured that
later editions of the album gave proper credits. And the composers received
due royalties for all quotations. Still, this was to haunt ELP for
years. Whenever Keith used a theme without giving credits (and few rock
listeners discovers quotes from <modern composers> at once), there were
always someone realising this years later and feeling he had been fooled.

For ELP this was all part of the game. They was always absorbing musical
themes, being it classical, rock or jazz, sometimes reinterpreting or
adapting it, sometimes molding it into compositions of their own. And they
were blessedly ignorant of the storm this did arise, until too
late. However, after the first controversy all major themes and composers
were given on the albums. If nothing else, this has developed into a game
for ELP listeners, trying to discover quotes on records and live
improvisations. 

ELP's second album <TARKUS> (1971) was again a new development. The title
track took one side of the album and is still one of the very few
successfull attempts at rock music based on traditional composition
techniques. The lyrics once again dealt with death and devastation in the
story of the fantasy creature Tarkus (a crossover between an armadillo and a
tank) from it's birth in a volcanic eruption to it's last battle. The theme
of peace and war was to become an integral part of ELP's works and a
quote from the <The Battlefield> part of the Tarkus suite is typical of
their approach: 

      <Clear the battlefield and let me see,
       all the profits of a victory>.

The second side of the album showed for first time on record their lighter
side. <Jeremy Bender> was a hillarious story of a man who <finally decided
to become a nun>. <Are You Ready Eddy> was a homage to the album's
engineer Eddy Offord in 50's rock style. 

On the more serious side ELP had several pieces dealing with religion and
human values. Escpecially the piece <The Only Way> is worth mention as it
after an opening with Bach's Toccata and Fugue in F-major on church organ in
a hymnic oriented melody faced the problem of relating human suffering to
human beliefs.

      <People are stood, 
      moved by the wood
      Kneel at the shrine, 
      deceived by the wine
      How was the earth conceived?
      Infinite Space - Is there such a place?
      YOU MUST BELIEVE IN THE HUMAN RACE
      Can you believe, 
      God makes you breathe?
      Why did he loose, 
      Six million Jews?>

ELP's willingness to deal with religious issues was to be a trademark all
through the 70s, and was not lessened by their lyrical collaboration with
poet/artist Pete Sinfield. Even if they never ventured far into possible
answers (except implying the Skeptics position), the questions they raised
were valid for believers and non believers alike. 

The album hit the rock market and critics with force. It very soon was among
the five best selling albums in the world, and one critic (DH, New Musical
Express, June 12, 1971) summed it up with <This is the album that really
shows the true value of ELP. After their initial <Try-Out> album they now
really get to grips with their myriad of instruments. The title track spans
the whole of one side, yet is divided into so many different parts it never
once drags.>

<PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION> (1971) was released some months after
Tarkus. The piece had been a central part of their concerts from the
beginning, and was recorded live in Newcastle City Hall in March. ELP's
interpretation of Mussorgsky's piano suite was to become a rock classic of
its own. It featured versions of some of his pieces, complete with poetic
lyrics, and some of their own pieces. And it was all done in a
characteristic mix of aggressive and rather noisy parts with the quiet,
accoustic parts.  The interplay between Keith on keyboards and Carl on
percussion is nothing less than amazing, and makes one understand why ELP
was such a success in concert. <Pictures> was very much a revolt against any
kind of softening down of classical pieces, and became, rather surprisingly,
a commercial success.

The lyrics dealt with everything from evolution, via childhood and religion
to death. It concluded in the grand finale, <The Great Gates of Kiev>, with
the intriguing line <Death is life>. However, ELP was far from so influenced
by Eastern mysticism as Yes and Jon Anderson. 

As an album <PICTURES> ended on the lighter side, with their version of Ken
Fowler's  <Nutrocker>, originally based on Tchaikovsky's <Nutcracker>.

Once again the critics marvelled. In Sounds magazine (P.V., November 23,
1971) it was described as <the final release of the long-awaited highlight
of all their stage appearences>. The critic went on to say that
Mussorgsky's piece <has been taken by ELP and given a thundering, demanding
treatment that has always made it, more or less from the band's start, music
that defines exactly what ELP are all about more than anything else they
do.... <Pictures> has always live - and certainly again now on record -
tended to leave me rather shattered and stunned by the end... it will prove
yet again ELP's huge standing in the music field (you watch it streak to
No. 1 with no trouble at all).>

POLISHING THE ROCK - 1972-74

Leaving the rough edges from the first three albums, ELP went into a new
phase with <TRILOGY>.  A more mature album, the sound has changed as their
music had moved in the direction of polished compositions.  The time of
revolt was mostly over. The band sold millions of albums and had become
super stars of rock. 

Their musical ambitions were, however, just as strong, and <Trilogy> was to
contain many of their most successfull pieces. Recorded the year before
<Dark Side of the  Moon>, ELP started the album with heart beats before
going into a completely different kind of music than anything by Pink
Floyd. <The Endless Enigma>. part 1 and 2, with the interlude <Fugue> are
one of the best examples of rock music based on classical composional
techniques. Greg Lake showed his genius for the ballad with <From the
Beginning> which was to become their most popular tune, besides his <Lucky
Man>. The Adaption of Copland's <Hoedown> became a concert classic, and
performed with hints of Vietnam, with Emerson's aggressive attacks at the
Hammond, and use of effects reminiscent of machine guns.

The title piece <Trilogy> was a mixture of a beautiful sentimental piano
piece and heavy jazz rock. <Living Sin> along with <The Sheriff> were
parodies and ensured contrasts to the more serious and ambitious pieces,
even if it may be said that <Living Sin> also is an extremely good
composition in its own right. The final composition, <Abbadon's Bolero>, was
perhaps Emerson's best work, done very much like Ravel's Bolero, and
especially impressive when considering it was performed on 1972 state of the
art Moog syntheziser. 

Unfortunately, and despite their high quality composing and performing, with
Trilogy ELP started on a road that was to alienate them from the
contemporary scene. The musical press realised that something was amiss and
felt that ELP was <stuck in a formula>.  The same critics seemed blessedly
unaware of the rigid rhytm and blues formula of most rock groups, and
didn't notice that ELP did move in a new direction on every album, always
changing approach, format and style. Of course, the true musical genius  
does marvels with three chords and a guitar. More common, the range of
musical <building blocks> or expressions available to the musician
determines the complexity and quality of the music. If critics are
unfamiliar with the musical phrases it tends to make it hard for them to
appreciate what the artists does. However, even if they may not have
understood the real issues, the feelings of the press signified a growing
gap between the group and popular culture.

ELP had put a lot of effort into <Trilogy>. For the last two years their
energy had been stunning. It was their fourth album in one year and a half,
and considered the fact that every piece on every album was often strikingly
different, they showed in this short period more creativity than any other
group had done before, or after. However, the heavy recording and touring
program was to leave its mark. Emerson confessed to getting thorough a
bottle of brandy a day in order to keep up the level of intensity. And it
was to take another year and a half before their next album was released.  

And it was to be their apogee. <BRAIN SALAD SURGERY> (1973), was in every
way their Opus Magnificat. Each piece on the album was a perfectly composed,
arranged and performed work of art which neither themselves nor any other
group managed to outdo nor copy in the decades to follow.  

Paradoxically, some critics felt that <Brain Salad> showed a cold and
emotionless band, <frozen in a mechanical style>, without understanding that
the album was a sharp and ironic attack on the very same attitudes. ELP were
portraying a dark future where human values and dignity had succumbed to the
allmighty computer. 

The sad truth about critics is that they often seem to confuse the emotions
the music conveys to them, with the quality of the music. If it makes me
happy or wanting to dance, it's great. Is the music on the other hand
complex and challenging, not to say <pretentious>, it is often viewed as
cold or irrelevant. 

With <Brain Salad Surgery> ELP had in reality made an album that
consistently focused on the tension between man and machine. It was a work
of genius, one of the few album in rock to fulfill the promise of
Sgt. Pepper. ELP showed that rock could be innovative, an intelligent fusion
of musical styles, and speak to our deepest fears and highest hopes. And
some critics liked it. One went so far as saying <I'm not sure of this,
but it seems to me to be their most uncluttered and melodic album to date
and certainly their rockiest>. 

On <Jerusalem> ELP made the traditional English hymn by Blake and Perry into
a majestetical struggle between man's aspirations to build Paradise on
Earth, and the threat from the Machine. The piece set the theme for the
album by the contrast beween electronic instruments and Lake's emotional
singing, as he fights to stand up to the soaring synths.

<Toccata> - from Ginastera's 1st Piano Concert - was to be ELP's finest
classical adaption, a highly aggressive instrumental hammering out of
life's absurdity and struggle. After a quiet synthesizer percussion
interlude, the listener was confronted by a growing alienation by puzzling
noises and ghostly laughing before nearly pounced to death by a thundering
climax.

<Still, You Turn Me on> may be viewed as just another romantic ballad,
although with rather absurd lyrics. Leaving the surface one sees more than a
trace of the album's theme. The title has a mechanical touch, as well as a
more psychedelic one perhaps conveying the need to escape from a harsh
reality. The wahwah sound in the refrain also makes a contrast between
romanticism and realism. 

The more parodic sidestep with the bar tune <Benny The Bouncer> provides
some needed relaxation. However, even the amusing story of the bouncer who
meets his match in Sidney (<A greaser with some nasty roots>), ends with an
image of a mechanical man:

      <They tried to stick together all the bits that would fit
       But some of him was missing
       and <parts of him> arrived to late,
       So now he works for Jesus
       as the bouncer at St. Peter's Gate>

The rest of the album was a masterpiece within the masterpiece.The three
part suite <Karn Evil 9> was to be ELP's most outstanding work, both in
musical and lyrical content.  From the organ prelude to the computer
postlude every part faced the fundamental battle between man and machines,
conscience and computers. The opening lyrics set the stage:

	   <Cold and misty morning, I heard a warning born in the air
	    About an age of power where no one had an hour to spare.
	    Where the seeds have withered, silent children shivering, in the
		  cold 
	    Now their faces captured in the lenses of the jackals for gold>. 

In this Age of Power there is no compassion. We are instead led from the
opening's warning into an absurd world of show and carneval where all human
values are uprooted and turned into a grotesque parody. A few glimpses
should suffice: 

       <Step inside! Hello! We've the most amazing show>...
       <We've got thrills and shocks, supersonic fighting cocks>...

       <Left behind the bars, rows of Bishop's heads in jars
	 and a bomb inside a car Spectacular! Spectacular!

	 If you follow me there's a speciality
	 some tears for you to see
	 Misery, Misery>...

	 <And there behind a glass there's a real blade of grass, be
	      careful as you pass. 
	  Move along! Move along!>

After an absurd and disturbing instrumental Second Impression, space age
machines once again take control when we enter the Third Impression of <Karn
Evil 9>,. 

	  <Man alone born of stone;
	   Will stamp the dust of time
	   His hands strike the flame of his sword;
	   Ties a rope to a tree and hangs the Universe
	   Until the wind of laughter blows cold>

It's a fundamental pessimistic view of man's future as our aspirations are
destroyed by our innovations. In the discourse between Man and Computer,
it's not left to doubt who is the loser.

     <Walls that no man thought would fall
      The altars of the just
      Crushed.... Dust.... in the wind.
      No man yields who flies in my ship
      DANGER
      Let the bridge computer speak
      STRANGER;
      LOAD YOUR PROGRAM, I AM YOURSELF

      No computer stands in my way
      Only blood can cancel my pain
      Guardians of a new clear dawn
      Let the maps of war be drawn>

The Spaceship soars through the universe in a series of musical images
becoming ever more threatening until the machines' final triumph, set
against our diminishing humanness and futile hopes:

	<Rejoice! Glory is ours
	 Our young men have not died in vain
	 Their graves need no flowers
	 The tapes have recorded their names.

	 I am all there is
	 NEGATIVE! PRIMITIVE! LIMITED! I LET YOU LIVE!
	 But I gave you life
	 WHAT ELSE COULD YOU DO?
	 To do what is right
	 I'M PERFECT! ARE YOU?>

As the echo dies away and the computer is left on stage in an eternal cycle
of meaningless sounds, where the only quality left is an increase in speed,
one realises that we may be about to create a future where humanity is
superfluous.

<Brain Salad Surgery> could have been <The Wall> four years early. Both
artistically - and viewed as a sociological commentary - it was on an even
higher level than Pink Floyd's opus. For some reason, also related to
public image and later promotional choices, <The Wall> has become a monument
of estrangement, while <Brain Salad> is nearly forgotten. As with
Kubrick's <A Clockwork Orange> the effects may have overshadowed the
message. It may also have been too divorced from the pure R&B oriented
language which seems a prerequisite for a rock album to remain a classic. It 
still very much caught the imagination at the time, reaching high in the US
charts and being a No. 1 in UK. 

However, it was to be their swan song. After <Brain Salad> there was not
much room left to progress, musically or as sociological commentators. They
had gone as far as they could. Their their next studio album would not be
out for three years, and was to show a quite different type of
ambitions. They had put their life blood as a group into <Brain Salad>, and
it lamed them for the rest of their career.. 

However, they did a triumphant 1974 tour, complete with a computer on stage.
Always in the forefront of concert extragavanza and sound, ELP traveled at
this time with 40 tons of equipment and a quadrophenic sound system which
perhaps Pink Floyd was the only band seriously to rival. Every ELP show up
till 1974 had been an unusual experience, focusing on music and not the
70s preoccupation with costume and clowning. In 1974 ELP outdid themselves,
with stage effects, sheer musical power and sometimes weird
improvisations. The less extreme side of this is found on the 3LP live album
<WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS> (1974), with a 
marvellous reindition of <Tarkus> and several gems of Keith's
improvisations, as on moog in <Aquatarkus> and later on piano.  Carl's
breathtaking percussion solo was also included. However, the many pieces
from <Brain Salad> were interesting only as proof of their ability to
recreate studio playing on stage. 

Most critics found this live documentation a study in grossness, showing a
band that didn't know when or how to stop. Others may have listened more
carefull as in Sounds (P.M., August 3, 1974): <Not being a commited ELP or
YES  fan I can only say that I found this album very entertaining and also
surprisingly easy to listen to. Many a person would dread the thought of
having to put up with six sides of this trio but the album, which I take to
be their entire live set, has a nice flow.... Side one opens up with
<Hoedown> which immediately showcases the versatility of maestro Emerson
when he turns this quaint little country toon into a musical melange of
synthesised electronics... Side two is taken up with <Tarkus> one of my
favorite pieces and shows the band in truly find form, tight, precise but
still with enough guts to make the whole thing rock...  When you first hear
the piano improvisations on side four you'll probably think you're
listening to a jazz trio album. I know people call him a humanoid and a
robot but I still think that Emerson has the most funk in the band... If
you're an ELP fan you'll undoubtedly enjoy it, if not, give it a
listen... you might change your mind.>

The wilder side of ELP's concerts is available on bootlegs only. If they
were to make one of these official, the concert at Buffalo Rich Stadium,
July 26, with the psychedelic version of <Pictures at an Exhibition> is an
obvious choice. 

 
POP GOES THE CLASSICS - 1976-79

After the World Tour in 1974 ELP took a long break.  On their return in
1976, after some rather soft and silly solo pieces (Lakes's <I Believe in
Father Christmas> and Emerson's <Barrelhouse Shakedown>), they and the music
scene had changed. The revolt was back with punk and new wave, very much a
reaction against <pretentious> dinosaurs like Zeppelin, Floyd and ELP, and
it became a challenge to stand up to this image. 

Of course it may be viewed as another revolt, however, other interpretations
are more obvious, when ELP chose an opposite musical direction. 
Unfortunately this was in time to complete their alienatation from the
Zeitgeist and mass audience, especially when wieved from the retrospective
of the 80s.

With the double album <WORKS vol 1> they left both rock and revolt for an
Emerson solo piano concerto (even if the third movement showed the old
aggression), Lake's sentimental and ironic ballads and Palmer's not too
successfull solo pieces. Even if their jam on Copland's <Fanfare for the
Common Man> was intense and an instant hit, the rather badly produced
<Pirates> (though basically a marvellous composition) was in the public eye
a bleak copy of the <Tarkus> suite. Later versions of <Pirates> (as on <Live
at Royal Albert Hall> from 1992) put more blood into it, however, too
late. <Tarkus> had been a fantasy piece, perfectly suiting the early 70
psychedelic scene. <Pirates> became nothing more than romantic escape. Even
if both dealt with blood and battle, <Tarkus> had a peculiar relevance in
its time, which <Pirates> sadly lacked.  

And for the first time since perhaps <Three Fates> on their debut album, the
music was boring, in parts. As one critic put it <the worst thing is that
the title threatens us with more>. 

And more there should be. <WORKS volume 2> (1977) was a lot worse than vol
1, as it contained leftovers and solo pieces only. It was really not an
album at all, a collection of odds and bits only where they seemed to have a
good time themselves, though failing to amuse many others. The critics
loathed it and almost every other piece of music the band submitted in this
period. They had trashed the Volume one pieces like <C'est La Vie> with <ELP
have to be the most fashionable redundant pachyderm in business at the
moment. It must also be one of the times when fashion is absolutely
correct... Obsolescent in extremis>. And <Fanfare For the Common Man> was
treated with <If the common man has any sense he'll tell ELP to ram it up
their collective orifices. Should go down big in Italy>. The public proved
the critics somewhat in the wrong as <Fanfare> went down big in England and
and a cover version of <C'est La Vie> by a French singer was a hit in
France. However, this was to be the last time ELP made any impressions on
the lists. 

Once again moving against the times ELP went on an ambitious tour, with a
symphony orchestra. It was a financial disaster, even if at least the
concert at Montreal Olympic  Stadium late 77 was a triumph with 80 000
attendees. It was later documented both as video and on the rather tame
album <ELP In Concert> (1980) (enlarged and somewhat improved on 2CD <WORKS
LIVE> in 1993), however, only the video really did credit to ELP's musical
achievement that night. 

For financial reason they had to disband the orchestra after a few days, but
managed to complete the tour as a trio and earn back their loss. However,
the program had been too tiering and their musical development too
scarce. With natural tensions growing between the members and a
disappointment with the state of art of electronic instruments, especially
after having tasted the full sound of an orchestra, they chose, although
reluctantly, to stop.  

When <Peter Gunn> was released on single at the time of  <ELP Live> one
critic hit close to the mark with  <Preposterous dinosaur-rock from the band
who can't even live up to their own extinction - they've disbanded but
can't bring themselves to tell anyone. The last tatters of objectivity are
ripped to shreds as they trash blindly away at this one-time hit for Duane
Eddy. Somebody put this beast out of its misery, please.> 

To fulfill contractual agreements ELP made a last album. And with <LOVE
BEACH> (1978) again the themes of war and peace are predominant. Once again 
it never got further than a romantic escape, on the concept piece <Memoirs
of an Officer and a Gentleman>. The lyrics dealt with similar issues as in
Floyds <The Final Cut>, however, very far from the political bitings of a
Roger Waters which so perfectly suited Pink Floyd's musical phrases and the
angry contemporary scene. 

ELP had started with a bang at the Isle of Wight. They ended with a whimper
at the Island of Nassau. In 1970 ELP had been an integral part of a bright
and promising youth culture. 9 years later they were stranded on a romantic
island, a rather fit place for retirement.

INTERLUDE

Despite Palmer's involvement with the successfull Power Pop group Asia, and
Lake's interesting collaboration with guitar star Gary Moore, neither
Emerson, Lake or Palmer did anything remarkable in the early 80s. Especially
Emerson was a shadow of himself, perhaps for very private reasons. From
being one of the towering figures of the rock scene - the only stage
musician truly to follow in Hendrix's footsteps in the 70s - Keith Emerson
made in this period seldom more than timid movie music and some mediocre
solo albums, even if he in glimpses showed that he still was able. One of
the pieces to prove this was the aggressive mixing of organ and choir on
<Mater Tenbrarum> in the Italian movie <Inferno>. However, Emerson continued
for the most with an unfortunate lack of boldness and belief in his own
genius, even if it became somewhat better with time. And even when he had
bold ideas for conceptual pieces, he was turned down by others.

RETURN TO ROCK - 1986-94

In 1986 a reformed ELP returned to rock, if not to revolt. <EMERSON, LAKE
AND POWELL> was a superb album, and their very best since <Brain Salad
Surgery>. Even if some of the rocky banging was from Cozy Powell's
drumming, ELPowell was a new promise. The first side of the album was a
return to the early seventies both in agressiveness and lyrics. The second
contained shorter pieces and gave more room to individual efforts.  <Touch
and Go> became a small hit, even if not being in the Top Twenty. <Lay Down
Your Guns> showed  ELP's old views on the ways of war and there were still
few profits to be seen from a victory.. To the old fans the album signalled
a band who had finally realised they had become lost after <Brain Salad
Surgery>. 

However, critics like Chris Robert found it so irrelevant that he didn't
even bother to write it out clearly. <We are listening to men (we'll let
that one pass) who are even older than me, even fatter than a row of Robert
Smith, even more pompous than Sting... It washes over, which may be a
blessing. It's at least 4,000 years out of date, but then Dire Straits 
sell well, don't they. It's a church getting drunk and showing you the scars
on its knees and chasing a bank down the cosmopolitan high street. Only less
exciting. And so on... Everton Shake the Towel should have realised this
platitude long ago and thus saved me the bother of perpetuating another
fallacious myth. Elephantiasis...> 

Despite a series of rather successfull concerts,  ELPowell chose to disband
after only a year. They quite simply didn't get the quite the response they
wanted, and began to fee; they had other things to do than resurrecting
musical ghosts. 

After a series of other not especially promising efforts, most notable the
band 3 with Emerson, Palmer and Robert Berry, ELP came together again in
1991.  <BLACK MOON> (1992) did show attempts at grasping with contemporary
issues as on the title track about the Gulf War. However, the music very
much followed commercial formulas and fixed patterns, for the first time on
a ELP album. Rhytms and chords were not very developed. Old fans were mostly
disappointed and few new ones were won. 

The ever resurgent theme of war was present also on others than the title
track. <Farewell to Arms> once again was a majestic appeal against the
futility of man's warlike agression.

The band was still able to do concerts in a way comparable to few others
as shown on <LIVE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL> (1993), especially when playing
the old pieces.  Lack of resources kept them from doing a tour with the same
theatrics as in the 70s and ELP didn't make lasting impressions on the
musical scene during the world tour, basically playing small halls and rock
clubs. 

The much awaited CD box compilation <RETURN OF THE MANTICORE> (1993) got a  
mixed reception, mainly because it had too few unreleased pieces. It did
however contain good reinditions of <Pictures at an Exhibition> in a five
channel Dolby Studio version, and their pre ELP pieces <Hang on to a Dream>,
<21st Century Schizoid Man>  and <Fire>, as well as <I Believe in Father
Christmas> and <Touch and Go>.

After having promised at each press conference during their 92-93 world tour
to make long conceptual pieces popular again, <IN THE HOT SEAT> (1994) was a
disappointment. Despite glimpses in <Hand of Truth> and <Man in the Long
Black  Coat>, the album was basically some kind of a Greg Lake solo album,
focusing on ballads and pop more than keyboards and compositions. For some
the only rationale to buy it was to get less expensive access to the bonus
track <Pictures at an Exhibition>, than on the <Return of the Manticore>
box. 

One reason for the downfall may have been Emerson's arm surgery late 1993,
which made it impossible to play with his old vigour at the recording
sessions. Another may have been the producer's fear that conceptual pieces
(which in fact were presented to him) would be a bad choice if the album was
to sell. Combined with an intense non marketing effort from the record
company (fans had to phone them down to get any news on the project before
and even after release), the result was that the album didn't sell much at
all. 

In fact  <Black Moon> and <In the Hot Seat> were rather boring. Even in
their better moments they were a far cry from ELP's First Five and early
willingness to go for the unexpected. Were there previous had been an
ongoing search for rhytmic twists, new chord patterns and different textual
approaches, it was now too predictable. The rock had got stuck in the
mainstream. 

ROAD TO REDEMPTION?

In 1995 there are few hopes that the band will reclaim the position it had
twenty years ago, neither in sociological terms, nor in musical.

As far as ELP still choose to work together, their greatest challenge in the
90's is very much the success of the 70's. They were earning millions,
filling concert stadiums all over the world, at the Top Ten with every
record and getting a lot of press and radio coverage. On rejoining in 1991
they (or the record company) once again expected Big Money. Not getting it,
disillusion crept in, the songs made ever more "poppy" -  and the fun was
gone. 

Their latest efforts are definitely not bad compared to mainstream rock in
musical terms.  However, few doubt they could have done better, had they
been willing to work more like a jazz group, with few commercial
expectations, focusing on what they were unique at in the 70's.

In the 90's the musical scene is a chaos of styles and subcultures. Between
rave and roots, the so called progrock is not exactly the pet of the press
or record companies.  Never being the disco favorite ELP should go on making
Music and not strive at the same popularity as Genesis, Floyd and other of
their 70s peers have today.  The only way for ELP still to make an
impact - and gain a wider audience than diehard fans - seems to be by not
giving in to <popular demands>, but quite simply (which may perhaps not be
so simple) by making creative and challenging music. A new revolt against
the blatant commercialism which so dominates the pop and rock world, is
their only way to redemption.

(Bjo/rn Are Davidsen, May 1995)

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End of ELP Digest [Volume 5 Issue 21]
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