ELP Digest Sunday, 6 July 1997 Volume 7 : Issue 13 The "Its Many Faces" Edition Today's Topics: re: ELP Tour (UK tour dates - clarification) Re: Lack of ELP shows in the UK Keith's Latest Project greg Lake's KBH special edition 1975/76 LPO/ELP Recording Session Details What is "IT"? A little humor Biscuits, flowers etc. ELP Digest V7 #11 (catalog numbers) Isle of Wight Video **** SPOILERS **** ELP Concert June 24th 1997 Munich Germany ELP on German TV ELP IN LUXEMBOURG WAS GREAT ELP concert in Munich ELP concert in Luxembourg 26-06-1997 ELP in Kassel (Germany) and Amsterdam ELP-gig at Kassel, Germany, June 28th 1997 2nd Encore in Kassel fwd: ELP in Nurnberg ELP in Dortmund 07/05/97 Prelude ======= I've received an up-to-date tour schedule from ELP's management. All the details can be found on the web site (where you should be looking between Digests for any updates) - http://bliss.berkeley.edu/elp Here's a quick peek: July 7 - Montreux, Switzerland July 11 - Fulda, Germany- Museumshof July 12 - Hamburg, Germany July 13 - Dresden, Germany - Elbufer July 18 - Sardinia (Quartu), Italy July 20 - Mantiva (Castiglione Delle Stiviere), Italy July 21 - Rome, Italy - Centralino del Foro Italico July 25 - Bellinzona, Switzerland ELP 1997 Tour - South/North America August 6-7 - Santiago, Chile - Estadio August 9-11 - Buenos Aries - Tearro Opera August 12 - Porto Allegre, Brazil - Opiniao August 13 - Curitiba, Brazil - Teatro Guaira August 15 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Metropolitan August 16 - Belo Horizonte, Brazil - Mineirinho Gymnasiun August 17 - Brazilia, Brazil - Teatro Nacional August 19-20 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Olympia August 22 - Bogota, Colombia - Palacio de Los Deportes August 24 - Caracas, Venezuela - Teraza Carenho August 26 - San Jose, Costa Rica - Redondel Herradura August 27-28 - Mexico City, Mexico - Auditorio Nacional August 29 - Monterey, Mexico - Plaza de Toros August 30 - Tijuana, Mexico - Plaza de Toros Sept. 6 - Vienna, VA - Wolf Trap Farm Park - Tickets went on sale June 20. Sept. 7 - Wallingford, CT - Oakdale Theatre Sept. 9 - New Brunswick, NJ - State Theater Sept. 10 - New York, NY - Beacon Theater Sept. 12 - Boston, MA - Harborlights - Tickets on sale July 19 (According to ad in 7/6/97 Boston Globe)(Tickets: 617-423-6398) Sept. 13 - Altantic City, NJ - The Sands Hotel & Casino - Tickets are now on sale Sept. 14 - Philadelphia, PA - Tower Theater Sept. 15 - Providence, RI - The Strand Sept. 17 - Cleveland, OH - Nautica Sept. 18 - Auburn Hills, MI - The Palace Sept. 19 - Chicago, IL - Rosemont Theater Sept. 20 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagle Ballroom Sept. 23 - Phoenix, AZ - Union Hall Sept. 25 - Los Angeles, CA - Universal Amphitheater Sept. 26 - Concord, CA - Concord Pavilion Sept. 27 - Reno, NV - Reno Amphitheater Sept. 28 - Fresno, CA - Visalia Center Sept. 30 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey's I've received a lot of mail since the tour began. I'm going to include some "news" bits along with some concert reviews by readers in this edition. If necessary, I'm considering putting out an occasional "concert review only" edition to keep up. I'll try to keep to a weekly or every 2 week schedule. One final thing, I noticed with the last Digest that the mail was not delivered to a number of AOL subscribers because of some spam-filtering settings (that appear to only let known e-mail addresses send them mail). If you know any of the AOL subscribers and hear them mention that they haven't received an ELP Digest recently, please remind them to update their lists of allowed domains to include reluctant.com (the new ELP Digest domain name). Thanks. - John - ------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: re: ELP Tour (UK tour dates - clarification) Date: 6/28/97 9:34 AM To: arnold@reluctant.com From: brianj@mail.ndirect.co.uk (Brian Johnstone) In the last digest I posted a moderately worded comment about ELP not playing in the UK.I did make mention of the staff at Impressions magazine but I would like to clarify the statements. The comments and opinions given were purely mine and had no input or prompting from anyone at Impressions. The staff at Impressions work closely with the bands management, require to have a good working relationship with them and therefore have no desire to publicly criticise or defame the people involved. The staff at Impressions do a great job and I hope they continue to do so. I will continue to offer my support to them in spreading thre word of the world's greatest rock band. All of the comments and opinions in the posting were mine and mine only. And I still stand by them! Thank you for listening up Brian Johnstone (Scotland) ------------------------------ From: estazz99@intonet.co.uk Date: 6/29/97 2:37 PM To: John Arnold Subject: Re: Lack of ELP shows in the UK Dear John, I'm sorry to bring this one up again, but as my name and Impressions was mentioned in Brian Johnstone's message in the latest Digest, I thought I'd just try and put the record straight as far as myself and Impressions goes. Whilst I fully share Brian's disappointment at the lack of UK tour dates, I do realise that putting a tour together of this scale must be a major headache for the management, and whilst they did try to organise something for the UK, unfortunately it didn't work out. They didn't leave the UK out on purpose, why would they - after all, England is ELP's home country and everybody who saw them here in 1992 will remember the great successes of that tour and the subsequent live recording and video from Royal Albert Hall. I must admit that when I first heard of the UK being missed out of the present tour, I did feel a little bit of anger. However, I have since come to realise that if they could have played the UK, THEY WOULD HAVE!! And it's not for anybody to speculate whether they make more money in places like Luxembourg or Prague then in the UK, neither of us know the financial status of this tour and, quite frankly, it really isn't any of our business. The fact is that it just wasn't possible this time around to arrange something for the UK! Very sad for the UK fans, yes, but let's just hope that they can do something for their home fans next time around! And if they can, they will!! Liv G. Whetmore Editor - Impressions ------------------------------ Date: 5/29/97 6:43 PM From: Adam Joel Keeney To: arnold@ziplink.net Subject: Keith's Latest Project Greetings, It has come to my attention that Keith Emerson is recording an album with a guitarist named Stewart Smith. I was wondering what the nature of the album is, if the project is going on tour, or if it even exists at all. Perhaps you can bless me with your Pearls of Wisdom. Yours Truly, Adam Keeney The J.S. Bach Experience http://www.jsbachexperience.com ------------------------------ Date: 6/11/97 10:38 PM From: "Alex Rubli K." To: elp-digest@reluctant.com Subject: greg Lake's KBH special edition Hi co-fans ! I just received my 'special' king biscuit hour cd, and I have to say that I am quite dissapointed, first of all, suposedly they are all signed by greg, I have an old autograph (downloaded from somewhere) and the signature seems to me quite different that the one on the cd, second, I received copy 250 of 2500 0 (the last zero is printed with another machine, I wonder if this is really a UNIQUE number. third, the inner notes are almost the same as the normal KBH version,(they include the notes in french(so what?) the track listings is identical to the 'normal version' with th exceptin of two additional tracks, an interview (short) and a rare ce'st la vie version, horribly taped. I expected a special case, not the normal jewel case... oh well, I could have find a better way to spend 30 bucks.. any feedback ? regards ar ------------------------------ Date: 6/12/97 8:14 AM From: Janell Duxbury Subject: 1975/76 LPO/ELP Recording Session Details To: ELP-DIGEST@RELUCTANT.COM The new book THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC DISCOGRAPHY compiled by Philip Stuart (Westport, CT; London : Greenwood Press, 1997) lists the following LPO/ELP recording sessions (for all you detail freaks): 16 October 1975 Kingsway Hall John Mayer - conductor Emerson - composer (Bolero) Unpublished 18-19 November & 1-3 December 1975 De Lane Lea, Wembley John Mayer - conductor Keith Emerson - piano Emerson - composer (Piano Concerto no.1) Joplin - composer (Maple Leaf Rag) -- does not appear in LPO sources and may have been recorded at the previous sessions on 16 Oct 75 Issued in "Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Works Volumes 1 & 2": (Jun77) 2 LP set K80009 ; SD2 7000 (Piano Concerto no. 1) (Dec77) K50422 ; SD19147 (Maple Leaf Rag) CD transfers (Jun89) 2 CD set 781 409.2 and 781 538.2 (both) (Dec93) 2 CD set 828 470.2 ; 383 484002 (Piano Concerto no. 1) (Dec93) 828 473.2 ; 383 480025 (Maple Leaf Rag) K is Atlantic (UK); SD is Atlantic (US); 1993 is Victory 28 January & 1-2 February 1976 De Lane Lea, Wembley Joseph Horovitz - conductor Carl Palmer - percussion Palmer & Horovitz - composers (Percussion Concerto) Unpublished All information above was taken "as is" from the discography. Bye, Janell Duxbury ------------------------------ Date: 6/12/97 4:41 PM Subject: What is "IT"? From: MikelBiko@aol.com To: arnold@dartmouth.coordinate.com The "IT" referred to by the early concert program you possess is a reference to a UK or Euro music mag of the early 70's. I believe it focused on underground acts. Hope this helps! Mikel Orsborn ------------------------------ Date: 6/12/97 8:54 PM From: Daniel Barrett To: elp-digest@reluctant.com Subject: A little humor >From the Gentle Giant mailing list: aargh! wrote: >this is absolutely true -- I once heard someone who didn't speak >English refer to ELP as "Immerse Your Leg In Palm Oil" 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: 6/15/97 4:13 PM From: To: elp-digest@reluctant.com Subject: Biscuits, flowers etc. Anyone else noticed the ad for the new ELP "King Biscuit Flower Hour Show" to be "out this summer", in the latest Progression magazine? Or better, seen the CD? As we've discussed before if this is real it must be from the 77 show (as the 74 one is fairly well documented on "Welcome Back"). Nothing about this on the KBFS home pages, however... Still a castle in the air, only? Yours Bjorn Are Bjorn-Are.Davidsen@s.nett.telenor.no ------------------------------ Date: 6/16/97 6:57 PM To: elp-digest@reluctant.com From: rigoli@uninetcom.it (Paolo Rigoli) Subject: Re: ELP Digest V7 #11 (catalog numbers) >>Has any ELP Digest correspondent ever made sense/fun of the original >>Brain Salad Surgery catalog(ue) number: 'MC66669'? Is this the only time >>a filing system has produced a commentary on the concept of the recording it >>labels? It must be deliberate... >> >>[ Editor's Note: I agree that it must be deliberate but I've never a "story >> behind the story" on who did it. - John - ] > > Breaking "66669" into "666" and "69", I think it's not much of a *ahem* > stretch to see the reasons behind the choice. Think of the apocalyptic > images of Karn Evil 9, and think of what is depicted on the cover and > denoted by the title... An interesting conjecture but untrue, I suspect. In fact if you analyse the catalogue numbers of the ELP/Manticore records you will discover that: ELP, Pictures at an Exhibition, Cotillion ELP 66666 (I don't know why), 1/72 P.SINFIELD, Still, Manticore MC 66667, 8/73 PFM, Photos of ghosts, Manticore MC 66668, 9/73 ELP, Brain salad surgery, Manticore MC 66669, 11/73 HANSON, Now hear this, Manticore MC 66670, 12/73 etc. So I don't think it is deliberate. All the best, Paolo. ------------------------------ From: Mike_Werkman@oxy.com Date: 6/19/97 11:17 AM Subject: Isle of Wight Video To: elp-digest@reluctant.com This is my first posting. I think the digest is a great service to ELP fans and appreciate your hard work. I recently purchased a VHS copy of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival movie by Murray Lerner so it must now be available in the US. The ELP section is only around 3 minutes long. It contains footage of the cannons being fired at the end of Pictures and a bit of Rondo. So if having footage of the cannons is worth 20 bucks to you, purchase the video. ------------------------------ ******************************************** ******************************************** ******************************************** *************** SPOILERS ******************* ******* Stop Reading if you don't ********** ******* want to see the 1997 ********** ******* tour set list ********** *************** SPOILERS ******************* ******************************************** ******************************************** ******************************************** ------------------------------ Date: 6/27/97 5:12 AM From: Uwe Hoepfner Subject: ELP Concert June 24th 1997 Munich Germany To: John Arnold Hey John, for the first time in my life i finally got the chance to see our heroes life and personally. It was the same concert, that Bernd Prott (see his e-mail in the digest 07.12 about the Munich concert) managed to see. I think, we stood side by side in front of the stage, so if you read this, let me hear from you. Now, on to the show. To begin with, i arrived nearly 3 hours early and took a glimps on the rear of the tent (like one for a circus, e.g. for roundabout 1500 people). So i got the great chance to see ELP arrive with the bus 2 hours before the show started. Carl Palmer seemed to be in excellent mood, smiling all over his this, jumping out of the bus and heading straight to the drums. I only had to wait 2 minutes, and he began to check the drums, playing parts of his wonderful drum solo and something, that came out being the drum part for KARN EVIL 9. Greg Lake was funny. He weared a hawaii-shirt and short trousers, seemed to be relaxed and began to manage by waving his arm and giving orders. He than disappeared into the tent, and you could hear him checking bass and acoustic guitars (no 6-string electric). Up to this point i had the feeling, that i missed someone, and than, after 15 minutes, Keith Emerson left the bus, he looked not very happy. Wearing all jeans, he looked tired and a little nervous (they had the Prague-Show a day before). That was my first glimpse on the three for the first time. With two other guys we managed to get into the tent to hear and see the soundcheck, and it was quite impressive. Greg Lake seems to be in charge to lead that soundcheck. As i read the critics of the first shows in the 07.12 Digest, the problem was that K.E.`s equipment was too loud, and Lakes earphone did not work properly. Carl Palmer didn't seemed to have any problems. They play several excerpts out of BLACK MOON, TOUCH AND GO and KARN EVIL 9. Keith Emerson was on the left (as ever?), with his modular MOOG, piano and organ, very simple if you look and the pictures of the seventies. Greg Lake in the middle, and Carl Palmer on the right. The were some lights above the stage, but no big deal. The sound wasn't comparable to some of their live recordings, the bass was too loud, sometimes you had problems to hear Emerson play. Carl Palmer was LOUD and clear. I managed to stand directly in front oft the stage, only 2 meters away from the keyboard, having Lakes mike 5 meters away to the right. About 7 PM the gates were opened, we heard a munich band for half an hour (sounded much like Peter Hamills "Van der Graaf Generator"), and than the lights dimmed, and the moment i always dreamed of, came: "WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER..." and the three entered the stage, starting with the whole second part of the first impression of KARN EVIL 9. Carl Palmer was pure power, and (wonderful) Greg Lakes voice was clear, deep and thrilling. As mentioned above, Keith Emerson looked not very happy, no smile, no look to the fans, he seemed to see something far away. But after the cheering at the end of KARN EVIL 9 and an outstanding TIGER IN THE SPOTLIGHT, Keith Emerson relaxed. I think, he had all reasons to be calm. In the following HOEDOWN (a dream come true, always wanted to see this live) he showed, that the old Emerson is back again, very fast and accurate. I couldn`t hear wrong notes, no tempo problems and very excellent timing. Here you can notice, there is no playback, all live. TOUCH AND GO was played with the arrangement from the 4-CD Box set (with little differences), powerful, with Greg Lake giving it all. Then came FROM THE BEGINNING. This song they played harder than on the album, with acoustic guitar, drums, bass part and synth by Emerson. And now knife edge, on their live albums always disapointing, the one and only real test for Greg Lakes voice. And he made it! He nearly reached the original. He proved, that he did something for his voice, its much better than on WORKS LIVE or the ROYAL ALBERT HALL-CD. The old Lake is back again. Keith Emerson played a fantastic middle section. They then moved to BITCHES CRYSTAL, which shows, that they want to make a powerful show. There are no silent parts (like acoustic part for Lake), all with powerful drums and speed. The following solo part for Keith was much like the one on the ROYAL ALBERT HALL-CD, but the sound was clearer. Keith Emerson showed no sign or pain with his arm. They then started HONKY TONK TRAIN BLUES, very funky and jazzy. In this part, concentrate on Lakes bass and the drums, its worth it. At this time, all was cheer and fun. Keith Emerson was smiling all over his face and sweating (hard job to do), Lake smiled at Emerson, Palmer to all of them, and they noticed the crowd, waving and laughing. We got louder and louder after each song, whistling and waving, all happy (Except for that damned cameramen who always stood between the fans and Keith Emerson. Later in the show he stepped aside, and we had full view onto the keyboards.) TAKE A PEBBLE came in the whole, played much faster than the original and with no breaks. As ever, there was no chance to leave it off, so they did LUCKY MAN all three together, with a piano solo in the middle and that great synth solo at the end. We all sang along with them. At this point, i cannot remember, which song came first, TAKE A PEBBLE or LUCKY MAN, but who cares, they did it both. After nearly 75 minutes, they started TARKUS in its whole (i think), except AQUATARKUS. There were improvements in the play, very exciting. There where no electric guitar parts by Lake. After 90 minutes they concluded with the end section of PICTURES. I was stunned, the show was over. Much too short!. The audience was cheering to bring them back on stage, and they did an encore much like the one they did the years before. There was the FANFARE, the drum solo and RONDO. This all was the hightlight of the show (if there can be one). Emerson was at his best (except one mistake at the opening of the FANFARE, when Emerson clearly got the wrong key, Will Alexander jumping in and Lake making a frown) Lake performed a thrilling bass line, and Palmer did his drums solo with power and fun. There was hand clapping, whistling and yohoo! all the time. After the drum solo Emerson did his showstopper by bringing his old hammond organ onto the stage. Now i know, where this sounds come from. Will Alexander has a job to do to fit it together again. Covered with scratches, open back, the organ was played by Emerson as we know and love him, at the end lying on his back, the organ over him and playing it upside down. And all this only 2 meters away, I could study Emersons handplay, it seemed to be hard work. And so the show ended, all laughter and fun and cheering, the three smiling and relaxed. We hoped to hear and see another one, but Will Alexander shook his head, and they began to dismount the equipment. This was really disappointing. I really like to know the reason why they wanted to leave so fast (was this the reason why they played so powerful, to get out there fast?). Emerson looked clearly tired in the beginning, but after this show they had one day off, so why not playing another one? The choice of songs shows, that they concentrate on the old ones, the newest was the 1986 TOUCH AND GO. Nothing from BLACK MOON (why?) or IN THE HOT SEAT (we know why!). It is a great show for all ELP Fans, but i think new ones will have problems. Some say, Emerson should stop his organ show and get mature, but like some songs, this was a part of them all over the years and will stay one (hopefully). One word about their outfit: Emerson in all black leather (hooray to the old days), Lake and Palmer as accurate as ever. So, they are in excellent shape, playing all we want to hear, concentrating the show on them and their music, very little lights, no gimmicks. As mentioned in the mail from Bernd Protter, all was taken live for television, but until today i don't know, where and when it will be on air. Let's show ELP, that we all want to hear and see them in that shape again and again, and that we stay as true fans (perhaps with a longer show?). With regards from germany Uwe Hoepfner ------------------------------ Date: 6/27/97 8:46 AM From: Prott Bernd 2933 To: John Arnold Subject: ELP on German TV Hi John, with respect to the initial information on the filming of the Munich ELP concert, I would like to add the following information I got from the 'Bayerischer Rundfunk',. A small portion will be broadcasted on the 29th of July on the German 'B 3' channel as part of 'TOLLWOOD 97'. Later this year a 45 minute film of the show will be broadcasted. I will stay in touch with them to find out the exact date. Best wishes Bernd Prott ------------------------------ From: "N.WELMAN" To: elp-digest@reluctant.com Date: 6/27/97 12:21 PM Subject: ELP IN LUXEMBOURG WAS GREAT The ELP show of 26th August in Luxembourg was a real thrill. The concert appeared to have moved without advance notice from the ice stadium Kockelscheuer near Luxembourg City to the Sports Centre in the tiny village of Petange. Perry and I, who drove all the way from Holland to see ELP, had a lot of trouble finding the right location. This was the best training in how-to-cope-with-stress we ever had! About 1000 spectators filled the small Sports Hall and temperatures quickly rose to inhuman levels. During the concert Greg looked like he could faint any moment and Keith spilled gallons of sweat. This is what they played. - Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression, Part II (complete version) - Tiger in a Spotlight - Hoedown - Touch and Go - From the Beginning - Knife Edge - Bitches Crystal - Creole Dance - Honky Tonk Train Blues - Take a Pebble - Lucky Man - Medley: Tarkus - Eruption, Stones of Years, Iconoclast, Mass; Pictures at an Exhibition - The Hut, The Gates - Medley: Fanfare for the Common Man; 21st Century Schizoid Man; Rondo Afterwards, we waited for ELP to come out at the back entrance of the sports hall. The three of them signed autographs and Greg replied to British fans who asked why they had to travel all the way to Luxembourg. Greg said ELP were working on a new album, planned for spring 1998, which had to introduce a totally new concept. This new concept will have it's live premiere in Britain, Greg claimed. Later Keith came out and confirmed what Greg had said. Keith revealed the artist Giger will be again involved for the artwork of the new album. ELP played fantastic. This concert outclassed everything I've seen so far. (Maybe I'm not that objective.) -- Nick Welman Lecturer Business Communications Company Economics| Faculty of Economic Studies| | Fontys University | E-MAIL : N.Welman@fontys.nl P.O. Box 347 | Phone : +31 (40) 260 5182 5600 AH Eindhoven | Fax : +31 (40) 245 2872 The Netherlands | Home : +31 (40) 281 7899 ------------------------------ Date: 6/28/97 10:00 AM From: Rainer Buerck <101515.3514@CompuServe.COM> To: ELP Digest / John Arnold Subject: ELP concert in Munich I attended the ELP concert at the Tollwood Festival in Munich on 24 June together with my brother. I won't repeat the list of pieces (which you have had the pleasure to read hundreds of times already) and what Bernd Prott has already reported. (Hey Bernd, I think we were standing besides each other right in front of the stage on Keith Emerson's side. You are the guy who works for Siemens, aren't you? We met before the concert. And where is the guy from Berlin who lost his glasses during the show and got them back from security after the concert? Please get in touch with me.) I want to report from a musician's rather than from a fan's point of view. (I work as a composer and pianist in the field of contemporary ("classical") music). First of all, I want to emphasize what Bernd has written about this tv recording. This cameraman who filmed Keith was a real nuisance and blocked Keith away for a good deal of the show. Though the audience kept shouting at him, he didn't care. I called his boss from the Bayerischer Rundfunk next day and complained about his behaviour, and I would highly recommend everybody who felt annoyed about it to do so, too. We didn't pay for our tickets to look at the butt of a cameraman! His boss apologized for this. But anyway, we shouldn't just accept such things. He could just as well have positioned himself behind Emerson (as he did towards the end of the show). As to the date of the broadcast, I was told by the Bayerischer Rundfunk that excerpts of the concert will be broadcast by Bayern 3 television on 25 July at 23:15. I enjoyed the concert, and it was great to see ELP back. But my feelings about the whole thing were very mixed. Forgive me, Bernd. Sorry to say this, but I found the sound just terrible. I could hardly hear the keyboards. I admit that my position right in front of the stage may not have been the best one to judge this quite objectively. But anyway, it shouldn't be that much of a problem these days to achieve a proper sound quality! As a composer I work a lot in the field of electroacoustic music, and the main concern with regard to the sound diffusion in a concert is sound quality and transparency rather than loudness. I would suggest to the people from the mixing desk to work with electroacousic composers for some time and diffuse concerts of electroacoustic music. Go and study what people like Jonty Harrison from the University of Birmingham in England do with their BEAST system! And something very simple: if you'd only put the faders down a bit, you would gain quite a lot! Keith Emerson used different sounds and a different instrumentation in some of the pieces. I wasn't quite happy with this, either. Most of the sounds seemed to be standardized and stereotyped sounds created by the manufacturers of the sythies and sound modules. A composer should create his or her own sounds from scratch! Just as Emerson did in pieces like "Toccata". He used to be a lot more creative in this respect in the seventies. As to Emerson's playing, I found it a bit sloppy and lacking in accuracy. Of course it was difficult to tell to what extent this was due to his technique (or even to the problems he had with his arm) or due to the poor transparency of the sound. No doubt he is a very gifted virtuoso. But there are lots of pianists with an amazing technique these days. Go to one of the piano competitions and see how young people can play! The standard is so incredibly high. For example, all of you who think that "Memories" from the "Love Beach" album contains some great piano parts: have you ever listened to Maurizio Pollini's legendary recording of the Etude op 10,1 in C major by Chopin? As you have read in several reports on the ELP concerts from the new tour, the program didn't include any new pieces. The program wasn't much different from what they had played five years ago. I don't mind to listen to old pieces again every now and then. But in this case I'd prefer the entire pieces to excerpts and medleys. But apart from that, in the seventies ELP used to stand for a kind of pioneering spirit, for innovation and creativity. Complex pieces like "Toccata" epitomized what ELP stood for. (Please don't call the pieces "songs". This isn't the proper term!) And this is opposed to any kind of nostalgia. Many of us who attend ELP concerts are ageing youths in their forties and maybe fifties now, but I think we are still too young just to dream of the "good old days". This is what my grandmother did when she was ninety. Let's all meet up for a session of nostalgia in about forty years, and we'll invite ELP to play their old stuff again, and then we'll all be happy and cry. Artists work and develop for their entire life. Composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen or Iannis Xenakis are in their seventies now, and they still compose from early in the morning till late at night. And they always try to move on. When an artist gets stuck, he or she is sort of dead. So I do hope that there will be some exciting and complex new music by ELP in the future. Come on guys, you can do better than that! Rainer Burck Am Samuelstein 9 Tel: -49-7125-7790 72574 Bad Urach Fax: -49-7125-70685 Germany E-Mail: 101515.3514@compuserve.com ------------------------------ Date: 6/28/97 7:07 PM From: Perry Moree To: arnold@dartmouth.coordinate.com Subject: ELP concert in Luxembourg 26-06-1997 Hello, Maybe something for the great Digest: I am Dutch and went to the concert by ELP in Luxembourg on June 26. This was to be held at the Patinoire Kockelschuer in Luxemburg-City, but was actually held at the Centre Sportif (= Sports Centre) in Petagne (Luxembourg). It was a great concert. Set list: - Karn evil 9 1st impression part 2 (full) - Tiger in a spotlight - Hoedown - Touch and go (box version) - Knife edge - From the beginning - Take a pebble (album version) - Bitches crystal - Creole Dance (Keith solo) - Honky tonk train blues - Lucky man - Tarkus (parts I-IV)/ The hut of Baba Yaga / The great gates of Kiev (encore) - Finale: Fanfare for the common man / 21st century shizoid man (!!!) / Rondo incl. drum solo (and bits of Bach's Toccata and Carmina Burana) A wonderful concert with all three musicians in great shape. And ... with "Shizoid man". A personal note: after being a fan for 25 years I finally met all three guys (after the show) and they were great! I will go to the Amsterdam concert on June 29 also and will let you know of any set changes. Keith and Greg told about their new concept cd, with the cover probably to be made by H.R. Giger. Sounds good to me. Keep up the good - Digest - work, Perry Moree Vlaardingen, The Netherlands Moree@konbib.nl ------------------------------ From: "N.WELMAN" To: elp-digest@reluctant.com Date: 6/30/97 3:09 PM Subject: ELP in Kassel (Germany) and Amsterdam Two days after the strange setting in the village gym of Petange, Luxembourg, ELP's next date was a proper concert hall in Kassel, Germany (Stadthalle, June 28). The atmosphere during this event was truely fantastic, a really party kind of feeling. The set was basically the same as Luxembourg, only they didn't include Schizoid Man between Fanfare and Rondo. Then the unexpected happened! The lights in the hall were already on, the final tune had ended, the audience was already leaving, when suddenly the trio was back on stage. This caused excitement, especially with the hard core ELP'ers, who know by now it's very rare for the band to return after Rondo. ELP played a second encore, a medley of 21st Century Schizoid Man and America. everyone went bananas. Afterwards, we met Keith, Greg and Carl at the artists exit of the Stadthalle. Keith recognized me from Luxembourg and shouted a spontaneous: "Hey! There you are again!" The band posed for some pictures and signed peoples T-shirts. Carl put his signature on one of his drumsticks which was caught by Ursula. Next day, sunday the 29th, ELP played the Paradiso in Amsterdam. I had the impression the band was not as concentrated as the night before, resulting in a strange conclusion to Lucky Man. Keith's ribbon controller had fireworks attached to it. He hadn't used fireworks the nights before. Palmer made up for some absence of accuracy by adding an element to the drumsolo which I haven't noticed before, using the upper and lower end of his drumsticks simultaneously - if I'm correct. This night, the lights weren't put on after Rondo, suggesting the second encore with Schizoid Man and Rondo could get a regular element in the show. Playing list for both Kassel and Amsterdam KARN EVIL 9, 1ST IMPRESSION, PART II TIGER IN A SPOTLIGHT HOEDOWN TOUCH AND GO FROM THE BEGINNING KNIFE EDGE BITCHESS CRYSTAL CREOLE DANCE HONKY TONK TRAIN BLUES TAKE A PEBBLE LUCKY MAN MEDLEY: - TARKUS (Eruption, Stones, Iconoclast, Mass) - PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION (The Hut, The Gates) MEDLEY: - FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN - RONDO MEDLEY: - 21ST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN - AMERICA Though audience response in Amsterdam was fine, the concert didn't have the party time spirit which was so amusing in Kassel. I think in Luxembourg the audience numbered something like 1000, in Kassel probably 1500 (the hall could host maybe a 2000) and the Paradiso in Amsterdam was sold out with 1200. On a personal note: After seeing ELP three times in a row, the next thoughts passed my mind. Carl Palmer seemed very much on his own. Maybe I might say: not so much involved. But what Carl adds to the band, is a distinct and nice touch of glamour. Without Carl, ELP would miss the glamourous element in their charisma. Greg Lake seemed to play with a fair amount of routine. I remember a video where Lake refers to playing music as "working". Maybe this expression is typical. But what Greg adds to ELP is a sharp sense of what is powerful and meaningful to many. I believe it's Greg who makes the music of ELP accessible for a broad audience. Keith Emerson, apart from being a maestro on the keyboards, is a gentle and disarming personality. Keith really seems to get his energy from the interaction with the audience. Keith received lengthy ovations after Creole Dance on all three shows I witnessed. So, I guess, what Keith most of all adds to ELP is the experience of a long and lasting friendship with the band. Many of us should know where this can lead us. Of course, you all knew this already. I did too. But sometimes there's a difference between knowledge and experience. That the show may never end!-- Nick Welman Lecturer Business Communications Company Economics| Faculty of Economic Studies| | Fontys University | E-MAIL : N.Welman@fontys.nl P.O. Box 347 | Phone : +31 (40) 260 5182 5600 AH Eindhoven | Fax : +31 (40) 245 2872 The Netherlands | Home : +31 (40) 281 7899 ------------------------------ Date: 6/30/97 5:42 PM From: Peter Tagliabue Subject: ELP-gig at Kassel, Germany, June 28th 1997 To: ELP-Digest Hi to all ELP-fans! ELP played the City hall of Kassel on Saturday, the 28th of June to about 1300 people, and they definitely did a fantastic show. Since the playlist of songs they played was published in the last ELP-digest, i won't go into detail about that. But there were, however, a few surprises they had up their sleeves. a) During the Piano-Improvisation-part of "Take a Pebble", the whole band did probably one of the most amazing jams I ever heard. Especially Greg Lake, who otherwise didn't really do more than necessary on his bass, really started to groove along at that point. b) In contrast to concerts on ELP's 1992-"Black Moon"-tour, Emerson used his Moog modular synth on more than one occasion. First via his ribbon controller during "Karn Evil 9", and then during the encore with "Fanfare for..." for some spacey effects. c) Apart from their first encore, "Fanfare for the common man" plus Emer- sons knife-slashing of his Hammond, they played a second encore with "21st Century Schizoid Man" and "America" which lasted about another 10 minutes, so the concert all in all was close to 2 hours, which is almost remeniscent to 70s concerts of ELP! d) Surprise No. 4 comes probably as a surprise for noone: NO songs from the albums "Black Moon" and "In the Hot Seat"! So, ELP have done a lot to compensate for their chaotic tour organisation by delivering a fantastic show. People who liked their last two albums - any around?? - should perhaps stay home, but for everybody else it might be worth the trip to whereever a concert might take place. Also, it does make you curious of their new album, to be released spring 1998. SEE THE SHOW! Peter Tagliabue, Bonn, Germany ------------------------------ Date: 6/30/97 10:07 PM From: Volker Helwig To: elp-digest@reluctant.com Subject: 2nd Encore in Kassel Hi! This is the first time I'm posting this ELP-digest. I just want to drop a short note on the ELP-show in Kassel, Germany, last Saturday. The played exactly the same songs as in their first shows of the tour, and after the encore the lights in the concert hall turned on and some classical taped music was played, as usually. But a few hundred fans right in front of the stage still kept on clapping, whistling and shouting for a second encore. And, unbelievable, after 5 or 10 minutes the lights turned off again and the three guys REAPPEARED. You can imagine that we got excited. They played one more song: "America" from "West Side Story". Bye, Volker ------------------------------ Subject: fwd: ELP in Nurnberg Date: 7/3/97 9:31 AM To: arnold@reluctant.com Hi John, yesterday, 1st of July ELP perfomed their show in Nurnberg, it was an almost open air surrounding, kind of roman atrium but build in the 1930ies. This place had room for some 1500 fans. Before the concert we had to take cover against a thunderstorm, but during the show the weather was fine again. ELP performed the same line-up of songs as in Munich. 1. Karn Evil 9 2. Tiger in the Spotlight 3. Hoedown (with ribbon control and some fireworks) 4. Touch and Go 5. From the Beginning (supported by Keith and Carl, not Greg alone) 6. Creole Dance (Keith solo) 7. Honky Tonk Train Blues 8. Take a Pebble 9. Lucky Man 10. Knife Edge 11. Bitches Crystal 12. Tarkus / Pictures (Fusion) Encore: Fanfare to the Common Man, Rondo/Carmina Burana, Carl's drum solo , 'Improvisations' on the L100 The show ended with a 'standing ovation' for the band(even though everybody was standing all the time, this term is the best suited) But this time the fans managed to get them back on stage again after a 15 minutes shouting for a second encore. I think Carl came right out of the shower as he was wearing a bath robe. They performed 21st Century Schizoid Man and America as a second encore. So, to the attendants of future shows, you see it can be done, just be stubborn and fight for it. My general feeling was that ELP performed at a bit slower tempo, sometimes especially during Tarkus they had trouble to stay tuned in their tempo. The sound was a bit better than in Munich, this time I placed myself right in front of the mixing board. Still the piano sounded awful, much to hard and metallic, not anything near a true concert grand piano. Maybe Emo's latest selection of a GEM Pro 2 is not the best choice. The former Yamaha MIDI Grand sounded much better. Personnally I like the KURZWEIL piano samples much better than the GEM samples. Hey Keith, you should spend the additional 300 bucks. Also some of his synthi sounds didn't cope with the patterns he played but smeared them together to a kind of long, bended single tone layer, I think some more tacky sounds would be better suited. But on the other side his MOOG and especially his HAMMOND C 3 sounded nothing but great. As a conclusion I would say, beside my personal critics the show was very good. The idea to add a second encore of additional songs shows that elp still cares for their audience. My neigbour said, he will attend the big festival over the next weekend; I think in Laar??, where they expect more than 80.000 !!! motorcycle fans, even though DEEP PURPLE is the main act, I would like to know how ELP get away in front a such a big audience. I hope somebody will report on this festival. By the way I received a very interesting article about ELP and the contemporary music written by Rainer Burck, he also reported on the Munich show. His viewpoint is the one of a professional musician and composer. I hope he finds the time to translate it into English. His simple conclusion is; ELP can do much better in the sense of modern 'Classical' music and they should be much more daring in the future to step away from simple repetetive work into real progressive work, like they did in the 70ies with pieces like Toccata. He suggest Emo should try his abilities on Stockhausen's X concert. ELP should develop the guts to fight for their kind of music not to follow mainstream pathes, which would be the shure death of the true ELP. I will contact Rainer to suggest that he translates his article. Best wishes Bernd Prott ------------------------------ Date: 7/6/97 5:51 AM From: Frank Moltrecht Subject: ELP in Dortmund 07/05/97 To: John Arnold Dear John, I'm still so impressed of the concert yesterday, I have to write for the digest immediately. Five years after!! I mean after 1992 we made the pilgrimage again. This time we went to Dortmund to see ELP on the so called "Out in the green Festival". I didn't know what to expect, although I read all off the fantastic concert-reports before. Thanks to all the fans worldwide who wrote down their feelings. At 5 pm ELP came on stage. It was fantastic. Emerson at his best. He played so fast and I think even better than in 1992. Greg's singing was perfect. Nothing to compare with his "influenza-voice" in '92. Carl was brilliant as ever. What impressed me most was the fact that there was a kind of back to the roots feeling. The songs were more "accoustic", even some TARKUS parts sounded jazzy. Not to forget "Take a pebble". In my opinion one of the best versions they ever played. For me this concert was better than all the three I saw back in '92. A good omen for the future. ELP is really back!! So if somenone is not sure to go to a forthcoming concert but is reading all the concert-reports. Don't hesitate. It is worth to buy a ticket!!! Best regards to you John . Keep on doing this great digest-work. Bye, bye Frank(Germany) P.S. I forgot to mention the old moog. The sound was just touching us!! ------------------------------ Digest subscrition, mailing address, and administrative stuff to: elp-digest-request@reluctant.com ELP-related info that you want to put in the digest to: elp-digest@reluctant.com 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 7 Issue 13] *************************************