ELP Digest Friday, 12 April 1996 Volume 6 : Issue 9 The "Come Inside, the Show's About to Start" Edition Today's Topics: Keith Emerson on the radio, Monday 4/15/96 ELPowell item FS Ride the Tiger Re: Father Christmas Lyrics Watching Over You ELP reference on a classical guitar album just talk Re: ELP Digest V6 #1 Re: The Future of ELP Fans... Greg Lake Band CD The Dream Machine (GX-1) Misc. stuff (more GX-1, etc.) Digest Entry Re: ELP Digest V6 #1 A note for the Digest Re: ELP Digest V6 #1 Re: ELP Digest V6 #1 Prelude ======= Hi. One piece of important news today and one rumor to pass along. And, as usual, lots of good ELP talk. This Digest is a bit bigger than I thought it would be. But please bear with it. There's some good stuff in here throughout. As highlighted in our lead story, Keith Emerson will be appearing on WPYX radio in Albany, NY live from the LA House of Blues on Monday (4/15). I don't know if this will be simulcast in other areas but check your timezone and check it out. Also, notice that Will Alexander and "EmerSonics" has a new email address. They're now reachable at EmerSonics@annex.com. *** The rumor from a reliable source is that ELP will be playing a 50 minute *** opening set for the US part of the Jethro Tull tour that starts in *** August and will be involved in the Japan leg of that tour later in the *** fall. ELP lives!!!!! Maybe Keith will have something to say about that during his radio broadcast on Monday! - John - ------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 19:47:45 -0800 From: Will Alexander To: arnold@iii.net Subject: Keith Emerson on the radio, Monday 4/15/96 KE is doing a radio interview for an Albany NY radio station WPYX on Monday the 15th @ 5:30 PM (LA time) live from the LA House of Blues. WA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 09:47:23 -0400 To: arnold@iii.net From: rl37@cornell.edu (Robert La Duca) Subject: ELPowell item FS In an attempt to raise some dough before my new job starts in August, I am selling off my Russian pressing vinyl (VG+ cover/ NM vinyl) of ELPowell. There are extensive liner notes concerning the history of the band in Russian on the reverse side of the cover. I am asking $23 postpaid within the USA, $25 to Canada, and $28 for other countries. Please email back if interested. Peace, Rob http://HARLIE.ee.cornell.edu/~fragile ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 17:58:04 -0400 To: arnold@kilsythe.banyan.com From: Dave Gallant Subject: Ride the Tiger I recently had to opportunity to speak with Geoff Downes at length. During our chat, he filled me in on the details of the 'Ride The Tiger' project he worked on with Greg Lake at one time. Basically, they worked together for several months in or around 1988-89, with several demos having been recorded. 'Affairs of the Heart' from BLACK MOON, and 'Love Under Fire' from AQUA were the more refined songs from their pairing. Also, Street Wars was apparently born from those sesions, with the final version on ITHS being drastically altered from the original. Enough for Lake to take full credit. According to Downes, all that remains are unfinished demos. In the last few months of the project, he was lured away for the re-formed Asia with Wetton and Palmer. Hope this helps to fill in some holes... Dave ******************************************* Dave Gallant - Dave's Asia WWW Page dave@clo.com http://www.clo.com/~dave/ ******************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 09 Apr 1996 20:58:17 -0700 To: arnold@iii.net From: randall g Subject: Re: Father Christmas Lyrics Mark wrote: >I like your ELP Home Page. Tell me, if you can, I have been searching all >over the web and cannot find the lyrics to Greg Lake's "I Believe In >Father Christmas" anywhere. Would you have a clue ??? My atheist music references page has the lyrics to Father Christmas, along with a short essay I wrote regarding ELP and atheistic lyrics: http://vanbc.wimsey.com/~randallg/asongs.cgi randall g mailto:randallg@telemark.net http://www.telemark.net/~randallg When You let me fall, grew my own wings, now I'm as tall as the sky When You let me drown, grew gills and fins, now I'm as deep as the sea When You let me die, my spirit's free, there's nothing challenging me - James (a band from England, not my name) [ Editor's Note: Please note that this web site contains the author's personal interpretations of a number of songs. As with any art form, there's much room for personal interpretation. But it's a source of some ELP lyrics none the less. - John - ] ------------------------------ Date: 05 Jan 96 10:24:05 EST From: Tony Mongiovi <76604.2156@compuserve.com> To: John Arnold Subject: Watching Over You John, I'm looking for the sheet music for "Watching Over You". Does anyone know where I can find it? Thanks in advance. Tony Mongiovi ------------------------------ From: bcolwell@ichips.intel.com Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 21:00:53 -0800 To: arnold@iii.net Subject: ELP reference on a classical guitar album I got a kick out of the liner notes on a recent album by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, "Labyrinth". The album itself is a hoot, starting with a 20 minute set of variations for 4 classical guitars on Led Zep's "Friends". (I loved this; to my eclectic ears, it sounds great in this setting.) They also do a really stompin' version of Basie's "Jumping at the Woodside." But the interesting thing for us ELP fans is their version of "Hoedown". One of the 4 players also did the arrangement, and he credits ELP for having inspired him to make the attempt. Bob Colwell bcolwell@ichips.intel.com Intel Corp. JF1-19 5200 NE Elam Young Parkway Hillsboro, Oregon 97124 ------------------------------ To: arnold@iii.net From: bobshock@inreach.inreach.com (Valued InReach Customer) Subject: just talk Date: Wed, 10 Jan 96 22:19:05 -0700 I am interested in a lot of the things you are interested in by looking at your home page. I am a huge ELP fan. You have responded to my letters and I appreciate it as I am new to the net. I live in California and I saw ELP the first time in 71 or 72 for the Pictures tour. I then saw then Feb.17, 1974 at the San Francisco Civic Center. Of course, the first song was Hoedown and Keith blew his fingernail off with the ribbon controller pyrotechnics. I have seen this advertised as being different shows, different dates. But I was there to see him throw the ribbon controller down and stomp on it! Regardless, it was a fantastik show. I just wanted to get it straight about when it happened. Keith himself said it may have happened in a rehearsal. But then again it was in 1974. I am a 20 year guitar and synth player and I love the old analog synths. I would like any input from you or anyone you know who is into this kind of stuff. ------------------------------ From: "Sandy Smith" To: John E Arnold Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 12:22:03 GMT+2 Subject: Re: ELP Digest V6 #1 Said "Joseph M. Paslawski" <74552.3551@compuserve.com>: >So what do we do? First of all, I would like to know if other Digesters > feel the same way. If so, I'd like to suggest that we continue to > recommend ELPish music to each other. There are some references to > Refugee and Triumvirat, but perhaps we can expand the base. I plan on > checking out some new music and I will pass along the results. I think I've mentioned them in the past, but now that I have the full CD, ELP fans should try to find and check out Ars Nova. They're an all-female Japanese trio, and they sound very influenced by ELP. Agressive keyboards, classically oriented, but a darker and cleaner sound. They keyboardist is excellent, one of the few I've heard to rival Keith's chops. The CD I've been able to get is "Transi", although I hear there's a new one in the works. Enjoy (and I'll check out Refugee), Sandy Smith email: SSMITH@apus.filg.uj.edu.pl Instytut Polonijny UJ Hotel Studencki nr. pk. 125 ul. Jodlowa 13 30-252 Krakow POLAND ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 10:53:40 -0500 From: barrett@wedgwood.cs.umass.edu To: 74552.3551@compuserve.com Cc: arnold@iii.net Subject: Re: The Future of ELP Fans... On October 2, 1995, Joseph M. Paslawski wrote: >ELP created a new musical form, a keyboard oriented, classically >influenced fusion which got under our skin and made us want more. For a >while there was more - but now what do we do? Thankfully, there are tons of other excellent artists to enjoy that have written music in the same compositional tradition as ELP: intricate, classically-influenced jazz/rock music. It's absolutely astounding how much great progressive rock music went on in Italy during the 1970's, for example: Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM), Banco, Area, New Trolls, Maxophone, Le Orme, Osanna, L'uovo di Colombo, Locanda Delle Fate, and dozens more. See http://www.ari.net/prog/Articles/italy.article for a great overview article. Today, there are bunches of bands playing interesting music, especially in Scandinavia and Japan: Anglagard, Anekdoten, Pekka Pohjola, Happy Family, Tipographica, Isildur's Bane, Il Berlione, .... You generally won't find CDs by these bands in retail stores, but they are extremely common by mailorder. See the progressive rock web site http://www.ari.net/prog/ to find retailers. I recommend Syn-Phonic, Doug Larson, Cuneform, and Ranjit Padmanabhan (Progtron). Ranjit even has a web site with tons of reviews, at http://www.webpage.com/~progtron/ Closer to home (for me, anyway), in North America, there is great music being created by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (including the best bassist I've ever seen/heard), Phish, Mike Keneally, Steve Hahn, Shawn Lane, The Grays, Echolyn, Allan Holdsworth, Praxis (the Bill Laswell project), 5uu's, and Saga (listen to their latest, GENERATION 13 -- it is one hell of an opus!). And any ELP fan who has never heard Gentle Giant and The Dixie Dregs should ABSOLUTELY check them out. (ELP used to be my favorite band, but Gentle Giant beat them out years ago.) Email me for recommendations. For quick reference, here is Dan's list of five semi-obscure but easy-to-find (by mailorder) albums that should be enjoyable by ELP fans. They don't SOUND like ELP, but the music is complex and wonderful. I have intentionally kept the list short -- if I listed 30 obscure albums, which ones would you pick?? Artist Album ====================================================================== Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) Per Un Amico Anglagard Epilog New Trolls UT Area Crac! Yezda Urfa Sacred Baboon In short -- I used to complain about how little music there was that was new and interesting. Now, however, it seems like there is so much good new music that I can't keep track of it all! My conversion started when I subscribed to rec.music.progressive on Usenet. It's required reading now, as far as I'm concerned. Hope this helps!! Dan //////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ | Dan Barrett -- Computer Science Dept, University of MA, Amherst, MA 01003 | | http://www.cs.umass.edu/~barrett/public.html -- barrett@cs.umass.edu | | GENTLE GIANT WEB PAGE - http://www.cs.umass.edu/~barrett/gentlegiant.html | \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\///////////////////////////////////// ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Jan 96 21:36:10 UTC From: "Nigel Hobday" To: arnold@iii.net Subject: Greg Lake Band CD With all the talk about Greg Lake's King Biscuit CD I thought you might like to hear from someone who actually saw the second or third (can't remember) gig that Greg did with his Band on the UK tour. The debut was at the Reading Festival earlier in the summer I seem to recall & the gig I went to was at the Student's Union, University College Cardiff on Saturday 10th 1981 - the first or second date of his UK tour. Most of my mates (& the audience it seemed) had gone to the concert to see Gary Moore, as Heavy Metal seemed to be happening at the time & Gary's work with Thin Lizzy & subsequently solo had brought him many fans. The support group I think was called Voyager, who had had one single hit about 12 months earlier, that had gone to about 25 in the charts then nothing was from heard from them again. I remember seeing Greg on the balcony watching the support & tapping his fingers.... When the set started I had managed to get to very near the front & was about 6ft away from Greg. I remember thinking that he seemed to be built like a Night-Club bouncer - very big, & yes he was standing on his Persian rug. The set opened with the opening bars of Fanfare to the Common Man then went into Karn Evil 9 "Welcome Back my Friends...." then into Nuclear Attack which sounded even better live than on the album. (Gary Moore had a solo album out at the same time which also contained Nuclear Attack on it too. Having listened to both versions Greg's was light years better). The next song was Parisienne Walkway, which Gary Moore had a solo hit with earlier. This seemed to get the loudest cheer of the night ! Then Love You Too Much, then Lucky Man. Having only got into ELP after the New Musical Express gave away a promo single of Brain Salad I had never seen ELP live, & singing along to Luck Man was a life long ambition well fulfilled. Next was The Lie, then You Really Got a Hold on Me (not sure of this title); Long Goodbye; Retribution Drive & last of all 21st Century Schizoid Man. Instead of the standard 'lets keep the best song for last & the encore' all we got was Love You Too Much again. That was it. I remember thinking to myself that was the shortest concert I'd ever been to. I doubt whether Greg was on stage for longer that hour & half. I look forward to hearing King Biscuit - I assume they'll release it in the UK. Yes, you can hear me screaming & clapping on the Albert Hall CD as well ! For info to US people - the whole concert was broadcast in the UK & included the following tracks not on the CD - Close to Home, From the Beginning, Honky Tonk Train Blues, Pictures. (I like the bit where Keith refers to Greg as 'Muddy Lake' after the harmonica playing on Paper Blood. Anyone know what's happened to Lee Jackson ? I've just shelled out an arm & a leg for a German import of 5th Avenue Bus. ------------------------------ From: Jim-Michael Smith Subject: The Dream Machine (GX-1) To: arnold@iii.net (John Arnold) Date: Fri, 12 Jan 1996 18:36:50 -0800 (PST) Hi, folks, I thought that I'd add what I know to the recent discussion about the Yamaha GX-1 (as featured on Pirates and Fanfare...), in hopes that you will find it informative and entertaining, or something like that. The GX-1 was an analog polyphonic synthesizer developed by Yamaha as a test bed for later consumer synths. With its chrome pedestals and curved metallic body, it looked like a 23rd-century version of the Hammond B3. The GX-1 had two full-sized velocity-sensitive manuals, a small monophonic pressure-sensitive manual, a 25-note pedalboard, a neat "relative" ribbon controller (why aren't there any of these on current synths???), two "swell" pedals and a springloaded knee controller. It had at least eight voices (I'm not sure if that was eight-per-manual or eight altogether), plus one monophonic voice. Each poly voice had two analog voltage-controlled oscillators, a 2-pole low-pass filter, at least one (poly-mod) voltage-controlled low-frequency oscillator, and at least two envelope generators. The different keyboard's voices could be coupled together like an organ (there are "stop" pistons between manuals), so that sounds could be layered. The monophonic voice could also be layered onto the polyphonic voices, as the top note. The synth was programmed via a bunch of miniature sets of controls hidden in drawers and panels on the instrument. There were also rows of Yamaha 'drawbar' sliders and some buttons above the middle manual. The GX-1 cost $60,000, and was premiered in the US in 1973 at the NAMM convention. At least seven were built. One was displayed for a time at Leuenberger's in San Francisco. Keith Emerson, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Jurgen Fritz of Triumvirat, and Stevie Wonder all bought one. Stevie Wonder called it "The Dream Machine." You can hear the gorgeously expressive string sounds that it was capable of on Stevie's "Village Ghetto Land" and "The Secret Life of Plants." Jurgen Fritz used his on the Triumvirat album "Pompeii." Keith Emerson had his GX-1 modified with a heavier keyboard touch and a third oscillator in the voices. It was notorious for going out of tune or otherwise breaking down, and could often be seen just before ELP shows with its cover off. Keith developed a palette of brass sounds on his GX-1 which often used the velocity-sensitive pitch envelope to cause the attacks to swoop up. He also used some more delicate sounds, evocative of bell, flute and harmonica, which can be heard in "Pirates" and "Fanfare For The Common Man" off of ELP's "Works, Volume 1." Many of the snarly lead sounds in these pieces are the brass sounds with heavy, high-speed vibrato on them. Keith also made use of the ribbon controller. A good example of this is in "Tiger In The Spotlight" from Works Volume 2. I don't know if John-Paul Jones ever recorded with his instrument (although I've wondered if it's part of the string sound in "Kashmir"), but in the early '80's, Keith Emerson had a studio built in his barn in England, and a runaway tractor ploughed through the wall of the barn and ran over his GX-1. It was repaired, but never really worked right again. A few years after that, John-Paul Jones called Keith and told him that he had a GX-1 that was just gathering dust, and sold it to Keith for an undisclosed amount. That GX-1 lasted a couple of years, and then was caught in a rainstorm on tour, and, like the first one, never worked right again. The principle sounds that Keith used on the GX-1 were then sampled, and he used those samples in the latest ELP incarnation for playing the pieces that needed those sounds. Emerson noted that the GX-1 voices spread out very nicely in a stereo field, which he lamented was not true of the samples from the beast. The GX-1 spawned two consumer synths, the CS-80 and its little brother, the CS-60. A related product, the D-70, was a synth-based organ with digital oscillators and analog filters. A later Yamaha product developed as a test bed was the $25,000 GS-1 digital FM synthesizer, which spawned the DX7 et al. The GS-1 was shown at the 1980 AES convention in Los Angeles. In spite of being completely different in look, sound, and architecture, the GS-1 and GX-1 are often confused for each other due, no doubt, to the similarity of their model numbers. All the Best, Jim Smith smithj@sr.hp.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 10:05:25 -0400 To: arnold@iii.net From: Joe Gerardi Subject: Misc. stuff There have been a lot of questions about the GX-1 in the (not too) distant past. As I'm a synth junkie (I actually have a brochure on the beast) I thought I'd answer some of them. The GX-1 was an analog synth consisting of 3 manuals (keyboards) and a full pedalboard. The bottom 2 manuals were 61-note full size keys, and polyphonic (you could play more than 1 note at a time) and the upper was a 32 note mini-size keys, and monophonic (you could only play 1 note at a time. You could link the keyboards together so that the sound on the top mini keyboard was played via the middle keyboard, and at that time the mono sound became polyphonic.) The pedalboard was 32 note and detachable. There was no programing capability built in to the GX-1. All programming was done via a plug-in board that had all the controls for the oscillators, filters, envelopes, etc. you then stored these sounds in the GX-1 and - believe it or not - on old-fashioned punch cards, and called them up via the selector buttons on the front panel. The other buttons on the panel were real-time performance controls. The synth came with 2 rotating speakers (a` la Leslie) that were about 4 feet high x 3 feet wide x 3 feet deep, were white, and looked for all the world like refrigerators. the whole thing, speakers and all weighed in at more than 800 pounds! An interesting note: At the time of production, the GX-1 did indeed cost $50,000.00. In today's synth market, it probably wouldn't fetch more than $1500-$2000, and even that amount is based solely on its collectibility. --------- Will Alexander was nice enough to respond to my E-Mail for ELP music direct from the source. This is what he wrote: Dear Joe, Thanks for your inquiry. We are working on transcriptions and MIDI Files. It will take about six months or so for this task to take form. Everyone will be notified through the ELP Digest and/or The Fanzine for the Common Man as when exactly what and when it will be delivered and where it can be purchased. Sincerely, Will Alexander --------- Robert Vasseur wrote asking how to get the Hoedown "Hoover" sound (whoever came up that name is a genius.) Robert has a Mirage sampler. He should sample the sound from Trilogy. That way he's guaranteed to have the *exact* timing and sound. --------- The polyphonic synth sound on Benny The Bouncer was an experimental instrument from Moog Music here in Buffalo. It eventually became the Cosmo - a short-lived 2 manual glorified organ type instrument with a few synth controls. --------- Mark Huppert wrote that he was looking for some solid transcriptions to ELP material. There is a web site http://sunrise.sote.hu/~keepnu/ run by Gabor Kerenyi that has alot of ELP. I'm told it has a BRILLIANT transcription of Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression, but as I haven't yet sent KE the money for the transcriptions, I've yet to download anything from this site. [ Editor's Note: Please remember to pay your "royalty" payment to EmerSonics (see previous digests on the web site for the address) before downloading any material copyrighted by Keith Emerson. - John - ] --------- The parody on KE9 is based on a 1-season show called Earth 2 that was on NBC on Sundays for the 94-95 season. It talks about most of the characters, and there was a tremendous write-in campaign to save the show, which failed. --------- Kyle T. Whitlock was asking about the Hammond-Suzuki XB-2. It was featured on the Black Moon album, but in combination with a real Hammond. Keith also had one on the last tour. The XB-2 uses samples of every drawbar at every notch to create the sounds. Pretty good imitation, and has full MIDI implementation. Another excellent module for Hammonds is the E-Mu Vintage Keys module. I use one live and the Hammonds, Moogs, and Yamaha Electric Grands are outstanding. We just picked up (again) KE9 1st part 2 and it creates the sample and hold, and the Hammond to perfection. The best news is that it weighs only 6 pounds. A hell of alot easier than the old days of carting around a C-3, Leslie 122, Arp 2600, and a Shure Vocalmaster. --------- I was browsing my local Media Play the other day and saw 3 copies of the "Welcome Back" video on the shelves. If anyone is interested, their phone # is (716) 837-3722. (You are calling Amherst NY, a suburb (???) of Buffalo.) --------- Now, to start another long and useless thread on the Lyrics. On Karn Evil 9 3rd does Greg say "Guardians of a nuclear dawn" or "Guardians of a new clear dawn" Although I think it the first,(and that's what's in the lyrics) by using the second it sure does change the meaning of the lyric. Let the posts begin. [ Editor's Note: I think it's a play on words. It's written "nuclear" but the society being represented about obviously thinks that it's way of doing things is new and clear. So I think the listener is supposed to get the joke and factor that into the 3rd impression scenario. - John - ] --------- In a future post I'll list all the modules in the monster Moog KE had. There's also a brief history on the instrument. I have to dig up the old Keyboard magazine that had the article from Bob Moog. --------- John: Although alot of peolpe say it, I think it important that we keep saying thank you for keeping the digest up. I know what a hellish job getting all this stuff out to us in a timely manner is and it really is appreciated. ..Joe Gerardi [ Editor's Notes: As always. Thanks for the compliments. I like doing this and have contributed lots of time and even some money to keeping the Digest going. But I think it has proved itself to keep the interest in ELP alive over the years. And because of that we get treated to new music and maybe even a chance to see ELP play live again. I appreciate ALL the readers who've taken the time to thank me for the work that goes into the Digest. I don't always get a chace to reply. But I do always read the mail and appreciate what you say. - John - ] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 20:39:43 -0500 To: arnold@iii.net From: "Roger M. Delisle" Subject: Digest Entry 1. ELP's music is strongly influenced by composer Sergei Prokofiev, the strongest manifest being the excerpt from the Scythian's Suite's 2nd movement on "Works, Volume 1". But I recently discovered that the entire synth (and piano epilogue) on "I Believe In Father Christmas" is actually the theme of one of Prokofiev's Orchestral Suites! Ever since I found this out, I've been on the lookout for more of these references to Prokofiev in ELP's music as I learn more about the composer. Has anyone else found anything? 2. I'm also looking for a CD copy of Keith Emerson's soundtrack to the movie "Night Hawks" (Starring Sylvester Stallone and Lindsay Wagner. I only enjoy watching this film for its soundtrack for it has such a badly written script). Has anyone ever seen it on CD? Roger M. Delisle rdelisle@WorldLink.ca ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Jan 1996 01:32:53 -0500 To: John E Arnold From: ewmuller@internexus.net (Dr. Eugene W. Muller) Subject: Re: ELP Digest V6 #1 Perspectives on the 25-year ELP Saga ------------------------------------ "This above all - to thine ownself be true" Hamlet, Act I, Scene III A few thoughts come to mind after reading some of the letters in the V6 #1 Digest. I'm speaking from the armchair observations of an ELP fan for the past 25 years - take them for what they're worth: When I first heard "The Three Fates" on WNEW-FM back in 1971, I was astounded that music of that nature could be made. I was, like most others, heavily into The Who, Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Led Zeppelin, The Stones, and a number of other groups that were filling the airwaves at the time. I too liked and played songs with heavy, sometimes brash, sometimes "fuzzy" guitars; thumping bass; a strong beat; and screaming vocals that were easy to learn and fun to repeat. ELP was different. Their's was a music that had originality, depth, complexity, style, sophistication, and imagination. Your couldn't just sit down with your friends and play "The Barbarian" like you could play "Summertime Blues" or "Smoke on the Water". This was music on a whole new level. And it only got better as ELP gave us "Tarkus", "Pictures", "Trilogy", and - what I suspect most readers will regard as their apex - "Brain Salad Surgery". They were still able to maintain their ingenuity and power (albeit with a somewhat different format) in "Works I", so let's say that things were on a plateau for them at that point, at least musically. These were all excellent productions, with very few sore spots. ELP was a group who dared to break out of the traditional rock mold, and it worked. They played orchestral pieces, softer classical numbers, romanticism, jazz, ragtime, and even 50s Rock and Roll without the simple, monotonous chords and beats, and the shallow lyrics that usually characterized the music of other groups. Sure, there were similarities between the music of ELP and Yes, as well as between ELP and Lake's earlier group King Crimson, but the style and virtuosity of ELP was in a class by itself. They forged a special place for themselves in the music world that made comparisons between them and others not only irrelevant but also laughable. For many of us, the real downer came with "Love Beach", which left us "groping in the dark, looking for answers", as I remember one writer back in 1986 had put it. Actually, when you compared "Love Beach" with the music of other bands today, it wasn't a bad album at all. But when you judged it by ELP standards, it didn't have the impact or the progressiveness of their other works. The 1979 Montreal concert album was a last reminder of the excellence we knew as ELP, and represented a sad farewell to all the good music we were given in the 1970's. I remember how distant ELP seemed in the punk years of the early 1980's. The way they went into oblivion was almost as remarkable as their music itself. Every once in a while, I'd hear Karn Evil 9 on the radio (1st Impression only) - aside from that, you would've barely known that they had once existed. One time in 1983 I was walking by Madison Square Garden, and was reminded of the "Brain Salad Surgery" concert held there Christmastime 10 years before, replete with a spinning piano and exploding computers. It all seemed so long ago and far away, and I would have bet a fairly large amount at the time that there was no way the sound of ELP would fill that arena again. But in those silent years, I noticed something: ELP wasn't dead among their fans. The older ones would still listen to them, and I would even hear some young kids on the streets in Brooklyn, who were wearing diapers when "The Barbarian" and "Knife Edge" were recorded, playing those numbers on their new portable CD players as if they were the latest hits. And it struck me that it was these older pieces that were attracting this new generation of ELP fans, not the newer "Love Beach" tunes. Then ELPowell appeared a few short years later. I too was at the 1986 Meadowlands concert that one recent Digest contributor describes in his letter, and also remember that roof being blown off. In spite of the personnel change, and a few album cuts that, to me, didn't quite get off the ground, I recall feeling a general sense of satisfaction with this new ELP, saying to myself, "Well, that was quite good, and it's great that they're back. It may take a while for them to fully develop their sound again, but things will go uphill from this point on." But it didn't happen. No new works were issued, and once again, we were left in the dark. When the "real" ELP suddenly came back in 1992 with their "Black Moon" album, I again felt that sense of excitement and expectation to hear music like they produced in the "good old days". In reality, "Black Moon" was no "Brain Salad Surgery". But it wasn't "Love Beach", either. There were a number of places (e.g., Changing States) where I could definitely hear the old ELP reemerge, and this was encouraging. Then, when "In the Hot Seat" came out. I bought the tape, and liked the first few minutes of "Hand of Truth". But as soon as the vocals started, back came that old "love Beach" feeling of dismay, and more so than before. My thoughts drifted to those Brooklyn kids listening to "Knife Edge", and to the Meadowlands Concert, where the crowd loved and yearned for the old ELP numbers like "Pictures", "Pirates", "Fanfare", and "Karn Evil 9" - I don't remember anyone at that concert screaming to hear "Love Beach" or "The Gambler". In light of all that, I've never understood what makes anyone think we want to hear tunes of that nature now. Now, let me raise a question. Suppose the following post-70's cuts had originally been together on one ELP album (not necessarily in this order): The Score Affairs of the Heart Creole Dance Romeo and Juliet Changing States Close to Home Touch and Go Step Aside Mars, The Bringer of War I suspect that a lot of long-term fans would have concluded that this hypothetical album would serve as a "good" ELP product, and a close approximation to the ELP of old. Note that some of the items I've selected are more heavily focused on the instrumental, while others are essentially vocal. A number of ELP "classics" are largely vocal numbers (e.g., Still...You Turn Me On, From the Beginning) but are still in the spirit of ELP. The problem is not the reliance on the vocals themselves - they work in the formula just as much as the Steinway or Paiste Gongs. What characterizes the above- listed numbers is their pure ELPishness, and the way they reflect their own style. The point of all this discussion is that the ELP of old seems to have been alive in a general sense during the 80s and into the 90s. But there's also this stumbling block that they cannot or will not get over. Whenever I hear ELP play "songs" in the manner that The Rolling Stones and more recent bands play "songs", that's when my heart begins to sink. Whenever and wherever ELP attempts to fit in with the Zeitgeist or tries to adopt some of the modes of other bands, that's where the music falls short. And I think the fans, old and new, can recognize when this is happening. As I said earlier, ELP is in a class by itself, but only when it plays ELP. I don't want to hear ELP play the music of other popular rock artists or adopt styles that are not there own (no matter how much success or critical acclaim those styles may have brought those other performers), any more than I would want to hear Michael Jackson sing "Lucky Man". What you have in ELP are three very talented musicians who were and still are well ahead of their time, who created a new level of music that few could imitate, no less master, and isn't that enough for us? Stage antics aside (which, when done by ELP, are enjoyable and do add to the music), can anyone imagine any rock artist today playing anything close to that of KE's sophistication?. How many rock drummers of yesterday or today are at par with CP? And GL's unusual choir boy voice is still one of the best around. It should not be surprising to anyone, by the way, that the press has generally had disdain for this band. Many great artists bold enough to do something different have been scorned and unappreciated by the "establishment" in their time. How any critic can heap attention and praise on some of the talentless, one dimensional simpletons who dare to call themselves musicians today, while at the same time pretending that ELP is playing to nobody but their own four walls is beyond me, but there you have it. Let me go even further. Would Bob Dylan have gotten all the attention and praise he did if he used his whining voice only to sing numbers like "Take a Pebble?". I doubt it. I would speculate that more than a few artists like him were appreciated by critics largely because they were enthralled by the statements that they were making, and not so much for their actual music. In their earlier years, ELP were skilled musicians who at various times were also poets, storytellers, sages, romanticists, and historians. But I don't think ELP could truly have been characterized as social or political commentators like Dylan, Joan Baez or similar artists (nor do I think their fans had ever expected them to be). And yet, efforts to make not-so-subtle social statements through their music seem to have been adopted to some extent by the more recent post-70s ELP (e.g., Lay Down Your Guns, Paper Blood, Farewell to Arms). In my opinion, this sort of thing doesn't work for ELP, and I would prefer that they not bother with such messages - it's not what their audience comes to hear. The thing I've always admired most about ELP is that they were true pioneers in what they did - something that most other groups cannot say. Most of the early rock groups (and certainly the later ones), in spite of their successes, were only doing what others before them were doing. The Stones and the Beatles were immensely popular, and were certainly better known than ELP, but they were not pioneers. John Lennon's idols were Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. Lennon had a model; he had a guide. He may have improved on that model for sure, but the path was laid out for him. Who was doing the types of things that ELP did before ELP came on the scene? What I'm saying in all of this is that ELP should strive to be ELP, and no one else. I'm sorry to read about all of KE's recent troubles, and I hope that he will work his way up from them. I believe their next real success story will come as an outgrowth of their own true style and music, and not as a result of borrowing from other performers who themselves are not worthy of them. If there is another ELP tour or recording this year, will they heed the requests from their hard core long-time fans, and focus on making the kind of music that they used to do so very well? ------------------------------ Date: 14 Jan 96 12:15:24 EST From: "Joseph M. Paslawski" <74552.3551@compuserve.com> To: Arnold Subject: A note for the Digest Hi John - a shorter posting for the Digest. Best wishes, Happy New Year and keep up the great work! Music for ELP fans. To follow up on my recent posting, I'd like to submit these three CDs as ones that might interest ELP crazed fans like me. #1: GOD-SEX-MONEY - Musical Tapestries by Michael West. An awesome piece of work. If you REALLY like the solo in 'Fanfare...' you will love this CD. Over 53 minutes of Yamaha synth - no vocals, just flat out music in about 20 different styles, sometimes within the same piece! This guy can play! It's a little hard to obtain; try the distributor: ZNR Records, P.O. Box 58040, Louisville KY 40268-0040; fax (502) 935-8656. Once you hear this CD, to realize that Michael is having trouble getting his work out, will really cause you to stop and wonder how awful our current musical offerings are. #2: RHYMES WITH ORANGE: Mario Grigorov Mario is a Bulgarian, classically trained pianist who loves jazz. Much of this CD sounds alot like Keith when he just sits at the piano and plays, i.e. when he plays solo piano in 'Pebble'. I hear some Debussy influence as well. I heard about Mario in a interview on Nat'l Public Radio. Beautiful music that keeps your attention . Available at larger CD stores that stock jazz. Distributed on Reprise. #3: CHAPMAN/WANAMAKER Memorial Release. Miestro Chapman was the organist for the John Wanamaker Grand Organ in Philadelphia for many years before his untimely death in an accident. A couple of CDs of his work are available. This one features 'Selections from Pictures at an Exhibition" as well as work by Debussy, Ravel and Franck. If you like your organ a little on the heavy side (E. Power Biggs fans, are you listening???) you might like this. Available from Wanamaker/Hechts, Customer Service - Grand Court Organ. 13th & Market Streets, Philadelphia PA 19107-3321 If anyone would like to learn more about these feel free to contact me. Also, just got my autographed copy of the KE Christmas Album - hurray, I finally got my autograph!!! Great CD of course - I echo all the previous comments. JP ------------------------------ From: pal.giortz@ad.dep.telemax.no Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 07:56:14 +0100 To: arnold@iii.net Subject: Re: The future of ELP Fans Dear Elp-friends, RE: Joe Paslawski's piece in vol. 6, issue 1, wondering about the future of us true loyal ELP-fans. Thanks a lot Joe, good work, I agree too much, I think. I am sorry to have figured out that I use ELP in two ways now: 1. Playing them together with other classics I love. 2. Still using them as a gateway to other composers they (or especially Keith) have been inspired from. I know this sounds a little "old", and that is maybe what it is. I find some of this scruitinizing of twenty-year-old music a little far out, even though the debate over Knife Edge lyrics and interpertation has been interesting (Barry Turner gave me the best answers - putting it in it's English context). I still hope/believe Keith has more to give, however his working conditions hasn't been the best lately. Being on the Digest for the last three years, I think it's content has changed a little over the years. Not strange, since the presentation of albums and a world tour gives people a lot to talk about. Since public attention is so low over the boys for the time being, and the difficulties to find their music in the shops, tells me that the ELP Digest and the Home Page is the best source of information to me. So let us all keep up, sharing what we might have of information with each other. Paul Giortz Oslo, Norway E-mail Internet: pal.giortz@ad.dep.telemax.no ------------------------------ Date: 15 Jan 96 12:50:08 EST From: "Plotczyk, Steve" To: John E Arnold Subject: Re: ELP Digest V6 #1 Infinite Space bass error? In ELP Digest Volume 6 Issue 1 Dan Barrett wrote (concerning the ELP page fingering file): >Infinite Space Ostinato (Left Hand) > > D2 A2 G2 D3 E3 D2 A2 G2 D3 E3 E3 > A2 A2 A2 > >Steve Plotczyk 5 2 3 1 1 5 2 3 1 1 1 > 2 2 2 > >Jonathan Brady 5 2 3 1 1 5 2 3 1 1 1 (same) > 2 2 2 > > I think there may be a typographical error here. Why is the >left hand playing the open fifths with fingers 1 and 2? I suspect you >really mean 1 and *5*. This is not an error. I play it this way because my 2nd finger is already at the A from playing the second note and there is less back-travel to the low D by the 5th finger after playing the open fifth this way. But this brings out a good point about the fingering list. Although each person has their own way of playing things, by keeping a public list of the different fingerings, we have a list of alternatives to our own way of doing things. My thanks to Dan for bringing this up. Steve Plotczyk ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 07:15:08 -0500 (EST) From: David Carswell To: ELP Digest Subject: Future of EL&P revisited Over the last few Digests there has been a lot of banter about the future of EL&P and the problems (or complaints with the last few albums). I have been an EL&P fanatic since just prior to the release of BSS and have remained a strong supporter of the band, individually as well as collectively. What I've been hearing in the comments within the Digest is a group of people who have not been able to grow past BSS. EL&P have changed their approach with the maturity that age brings, but the quality of musicianship and the craft with which their compositions and adaptations have been produced over this time period have remained above reproach. "Live at the Royal Albert Hall" is one of the best live albums of all time, combining ultra-high energy and incredible production quality. "Black Moon" is progressive rock as it should be for the `90's. "In the Hot Seat" is an excellent album when you actually take the time to give it an unbiased listen (as was "Love Beach, unfortunately most people never got beyond the first couple of tracks....) It is unfortunate if you cannot and grow and appreciate different views and directions in music. EL&P will never again be the group that brought us BSS or Trilogy, but are we the same listeners who those albums were produced for? If you cannot accept and appreciate the music being produced currently, then you have no business calling yourself a "fan" and should crawl back into the `70's. It is an era that was great, musically, but it is gone and we have all grown....it least I thought we had. Dave ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 07:55:57 -0600 From: "Andy Below" To: arnold@iii.net Subject: Re: ELP Digest V6 #1 >>> I don't know enough about orchestration but the music for >>> nTommy was probably made easy to play - for the posibility >>> of more performances in the future. Orchestras: the bane of modern >>> composers. >>> >>> Unless you have lots and lots and lots of money! It was interesting for me to read this, and also about Keith's comments re orchestras, since I work for one (I'm the PR Manager of the Milwaukee Symp- hony Orchestra). I can't speak for European orchestras, but from my experience, if Keith and/or ELP were at all affordable they would probably find plenty of interest from American orchestras in offering concerts of ELP with full orch. The issue in the U.S. is an almost total lack of government subsidy for the arts and the fact that ticket sales only pay for about 40 percent of the cost of any given concert. The rest has to be raised privately. Most orchestras don't play in large arenas on a regular basis, but in concert halls seating 2 to 4 thousand bodies. Although we do present a Pops series featuring popular artists (which is just beginning to include rock) we can only afford to pay a certain amount and still have it be at all financially practical to engage the artists. I don't know how much ELP charges, but the other option is to work with a local promoter in a larger arena and hire the orchestra, so that neither ELP nor the orchestra is taking a risk but both receive a fee. In any case, I believe the climate in America is changing in such a way as to favor ELP performances with orchestra. U.S. orchestras are clamoring for newer, younger audiences and one way to do it is joint concerts with pop stars. We recently did a concert with the Moody Blues which I believe attracted about 20,000. A number of artists are now doing concerts with local orchestras (as opposed to touring an orchestra around the way ELP did in the '70s), so why not ELP? ------------------------------ Digest, mailing address, and administrative stuff to: arnold@iii.net ==\ \ => The same for now... ELP-related info that you / want to put in the digest to: arnold@iii.net =/ Back issues are available from the World Wide Web ELP Home Page: URL: http://bliss.berkeley.edu/elp/ Note: The opinions, information, etc. contained in this digest are those of the original message sender listed in each message. They are not necessarily those of the mailing list/digest administrator or those of any institution through whose computers/networks this mail flows. Unless otherwise noted, the individual authors of each entry in the Digest are the copyright holders of that entry. Please respect that copyright and act accordingly. I especially ask that you not redistribute the ELP Digest in whole or in part without acknowledging the original source of the digest and each author. Thanks! ------------------------------ End of ELP Digest [Volume 6 Issue 9] *************************************