Emerson Lake & Palmer s/t debut 50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY: A Supergroup's The Most Honest Masterpiece.

Greg Lake, as many rock stars, was keenly aware of having a sartorial sense of self. Going back to the 70’s when freeform rock FM radio existed, Greg Lake stopped by WNEW-FM in NYC and was interviewed. GL was headed home shortly but mentioned by name that he was to go shopping at Barney’s before leaving NYC. Barney’s is/was a men’s clothing store then on 7th Avenue & 17th Street, a beautiful store on a nice block surrounded by a lotta bad crap the was NYC at that time. But back then, Barney’s was the place - they were the only place to get an Armani suit before that brand went global. Greg knew where to go.

This same Barney’s diversified and expanded into high-end men’s/women’s everything and declared bankruptcy in 2019 ending a legacy of a department store in NYC. Times change; brick and mortar is tumultuous. There is an insert in The Sunday New York Times announcing that Bloomingdale’s is closing the fur salon department of their store. The Carl Palmer of 2020 wouldn’t be wearing fur-trimmed overcoat, he’d be wearing Moncler.

ELP were a great band. I kept all my original Cotillion vinyl pressings. Shame what happened with Emerson.

 

I love the styles back then. It was hip but not slick. My question about Carl's overcoat wasn't meant to be taken seriously. He was pretty thin back then, and that's 50 years ago. Gulp!

 

I know we are not talkin’ about wearing retro clothing, just talkin’ about what was then.

Brother, we were ALL thinner back then. Time waits for no one...there’s that saying that “youth is wasted on the young”. HaHa but life is good in how we choose to live it and every day is a blessing.

 

The reviewer only said it was a 40 minute composition, which is true. He/she didn't say it was a composition by ELP.

I was lucky enough to catch their first tour in September 1970. A really great show. I loved the first album and 'Pictures', but became less and less interested with their music later in the decade.

 

What? It is not a shame, but called depression!

 

Together with Purple's In Rock, this was my first record that introduced me to rock music > it opened a world of sounds, thrills and happiness that I am still pursuing to this day.
Growing up in a small town in Switzerland, we had to wait until 1972 to witness ELP at the Hallenstadium in Zurich and it turned out to be an incredible experience. Waiting to get in, we heard Emerson tuning his moog and producing sounds from another world. Once inside they kicked off with Hoedown and we were transported into another universe! Greg Lake's acoustic guitar prowess, Emerson's destruction of his piano, the sound patterns of Tarkus > all blended into an experience that is to this day on top of all concerts I attended.
But it was their debut album that started it all: Side one, track one: all you need is a couple of seconds to recognize it: The Barbarian - what a title for a killer tune!

 

I just heard "The Barbarian" in my car last week (via iPod). Had it cranked up good and loud (as it should be), and I'm just marveling at all of the attributes of that song that so aptly showcase what that band was all about. Hammond organ, grand piano, fuzz bass, virtuosity from all members, it covered all the elements. This is one of those songs that after all these years, I never tire of hearing it.
Add to this "Take a Pebble" and "Knife Edge", it made for an incredible debut. These guys had me right through "Brain Salad Surgery".

 

According to this account on Wiki, it wasn't for lack of trying. Given the hardware & personnel involved, it should have yielded a better product, sonically. Personally, I felt this tour was this band at it's apex.

From Wiki:
The album was recorded in February 1974 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California during the group's 1973–74 world tour in support of their fourth studio album, Brain Salad Surgery (1973). Its title comes from the introduction to the show spoken by the show's Master of Ceremonies (Pete Murray, the UK disc jockey) and the opening line of "Karn Evil 9: First Impression, Part 2".

To record the album, staff and equipment were brought in from Wally Heider Studios in Los Angeles, including a 24-track mobile recording unit and a 40-input console. Peter Granet, one of the engineers, called it "the finest recording experience I've ever had".[2] The band used a 4 channel quadraphonic PA system on the tour. A quad mix of the album was released as a three 8-track tape set. A quad LP record edition was planned for release in the Quadradisc format but was scrapped due to engineering issues in master recording which prevented JVC, the manufacturer, from cutting a stable master to meet the format's specifications.

Most of the recordings on the album were first used for broadcast on the American rock music radio show, The King Biscuit Flower Hour. In 1999, the radio recordings were released on CD.

 

The Barbarian was actually composed by Bela Bartok for solo piano. It wasn't credited to him on the lp. Bartok's widow wanted legal action against
them. Minus the drumming, it's almost a note for note copy.

 

I've got a copy of Bartok's original recording of this piece that I acquired decades ago. It's an incredibly dark, haunting piece, I'm not surprised that Keith Emerson chose to cover it.
Not sure why he would have chosen to leave the author uncredited. IIRC, those in the know knew right away who the composer was.

Here you go:

 

“Knife-Edge” also based on classical pieces.
Janácek
and some
Bach

 

Emerson stated : “At that time I thought the record company sorted out copyright “
“ And we just played the music . In fact I thought that until I had a letter from a Mrs. Bartok..”
Source
Emerson Lake an Palmer , the Show that never ends.
George Forrester , Martin Hanson and Frank Askew
2001

 

Studio version of Pictures? Who can tell me more about this? Like, recorded when?

 

At 4:50 you can see him grab the music that he is reading from to play that particular passage.

 

It first appeared as a single 15:28 track on The Return Of The Manticore 1993 Disc 1 It was specially recorded for this box set.

First 6 tracks of disc 1, quoted from Wikipedia entry.

1. "Touch and Go" (Emerson, Greg Lake) (New recording, originally recorded by Emerson, Lake & Powell for the album of the same name (1986)) – 3:01
2. "Hang on to a Dream" (Tim Hardin) (New recording, originally recorded by The Nice for Nice (1969) (Keith Emerson's band prior to ELP)) – 4:27
3. "21st Century Schizoid Man" (Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Lake, Ian McDonald, Peter Sinfield) (New recording, originally recorded by King Crimson for In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) (Greg Lake's band prior to ELP)) – 3:07
4. "Fire" (Arthur Brown, Vincent Crane, Peter Ker, Mike Finesilver) (New recording, originally recorded by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown for the album of the same name (1968) (Carl Palmer briefly played with them in 1969) – 3:24
5. "Pictures at an Exhibition" (New recording, originally from Pictures at an Exhibition, 1971) – 15:33
   a) "Promenade" (Modest Mussorgsky) – 1:46
   b) "The Gnome" (Mussorgsky, Palmer) – 2:07
   c) "Promenade" (Mussorgsky, Lake) – 1:44
   d) "The Sage" (Lake) – 3:10
   e) "The Hut of Baba Yaga" (Mussorgsky) – 1:16
   f) "The Great Gates of Kiev" (Mussorgsky, Lake) – 5:30
6. "I Believe in Father Christmas" (Lake, Sinfield) (New recording, originally from Works Volume 2, 1977) – 3:26

It then appeared the following year as a bonus to In The Hot Seat 1994, this time split into 6 tracks, same overall length.

 

Studio version of PROMENADE is on the deluxe editon of s/t mix by Steve Wilson.

 

After I posted about the Bartok , The Barbarian piece, I got to thinking while I was preparing a soup for this evening.

When I saw Carl Palmer play live over the past few years, he would come to the microphone and give a little background information on the music he was about to play. Interesting things that sometimes were never written about.
I recall him saying this about The Barbarian.
“This next piece is from our very first album. It is a piece based on music from Bella Bartok. I heard Keith playing it on the piano one day, and started drumming to it. I asked him where it was from and he said a dead composer. After the record was released , we were hanging around a room one day , and a man knocked on the door. He came in said said he was a Lawyer , and started to ask questions about a piece of music on our album.
It just so happens that Keith was seated in a chair next to a window, and outside was a fire escape. As we turned towards Keith we could see him crawling out the window. And now... The Barbarian”

 

In The Hot Seat is the only album of theirs that doesn't do a lot for me.

 

It doesn't hurt that the album was well recorded and that the UK pressings capture every nuance and clap of thunder.

 

Brilliant debut. An absolute masterpiece.

Their first five albums and the triple live album are some of the most unique and powerful records ever made. One of the all time great runs!

 

This is actually my favorite ELP album followed closely by Trilogy. There are 2 primary reasons why I like this better than any of their other material. The first reason why is that I find it a little less polished than their other releases, in a good way. It has a little more of an edge to it. It also features more of Emerson's acoustic piano playing than their other albums. I really enjoy listening to him play. He was an amazing pianist and I think his talent is somewhat lost with the Moog and other non acoustic keyboard instruments.
The second reason is sentimental. I fondly remember my Dad listening to this album and being totally blown away by the musicianship, especially Emerson. My Dad was a Jazz pianist and he had never heard anything like this before. He was very impressed with Emerson's playing. I thought it was very cool that my Dad appreciated them and actually enjoyed listening to this excellent album. This is the ELP album I reach for the most when I'm in the mood for some great prog rock.

 

Theres something wrong sonically with BSS and Welcome back, they just don't sound as good and are probably missing Eddie Offord as Engineer !

 

Yes and Eddie Offord's production keeps it nice and crisp.

 

Weirdly if you went in a record shop and asked for original copies of In the court .... and Red that would set you back maybe £250, for Elp First album and BSS , £25 !