Armadillos ahoy! Let's get ludicrous!
Somewhere deep inside of me (OK... quite near the surface) there lies a soft spot for those acts to whom time hath not been particularly kind. Those rock behemoths that bestrode the planet with their Persian rugs, giant articulated trucks full of gear (medicinal or otherwise) and Zeus-sized egos... those bands whose gargantuan appetites laid waste to city after city on interminable world tours... the same musicians whose pomposity was pricked by punk's stiletto heel.
Let us now celebrate - however briefly - those poor misguided souls whose vaulting ambition far outstripped their meagre talent... they tried, bless 'em.
I shall kick off this nostalgia fest with the one, the only... Emerson, Lake and, yes... you guessed it, Palmer.
PS: don't be shy... there's no such thing as a guilty pleasure in this here parish, remember?!
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Armadillos be damned ...
it's Larks' Tongues for me! Now don't get me wrong, there was a time when I loved this band to the exclusion of all others. I scorned the lightweight early seventies output of Pink Floyd and Genesis, and laughed in the face of anyone who clung to the notion that Eric Clapton could play guitar. Even now I still from time to time dust down my vinyl copy of 'A Young Person's Guide ...', the booklet lovingly annotated and updated by my own hand with each new release.
This however was where I started to lose faith - it was Jamie Muir's live antics that did it. This was serious sit down music after all. I adore the Bonzos and loved King Crimson but surely never the two should meet on stage.
Well...
...I do enjoy their 1970-3 albums. I play keyboard to some extent and love the old vintage synthesiser/keyboard sounds on those records. From 1977 onwards though, I don't like their stuff much- I don't like that Yamaha keyboard Emerson was using in that period for a start, the same naff sounds can be heard on Led Zeppelin's 'Carouselambra'.
Whilst we're on that subject, it's interesting that ELP always get singled out as the whipping boys for 70s rock excess, whilst Led Zeppelin who were arguably even more excessive back then (on and off the stage), seem to have got off scot-free for it. I do listen to Zeppelin more often but there is a paradox at play.
Led Zep got off Scott-free because they had proper songs
I like ELP but you can't exactly tap your foot to Karn Evil 9, while The Song Remains The Same is an easy to digest SONG. If ELP had been a bit more melodic then their reputation with more casual listeners would probably be a lot better.
Interesting point about 'Carouselambra'...
I've always thought that if Zeppelin had stayed together there would have been excessive use of squelchy keyboard sounds on their records... and can you imagine Bonham being subjected to '80s drum sounds? Makes my skin crawl at the very thought...
I still love Slippery When Wet
Focus!
Yodelling their way through The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1972
Yamaha DX7
whatever happened to Lake and Palmer?
find out here:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=183711...
Whatever
Carl Palmer is back with Asia, sorry, The Original Asia.
Greg Lake toured as part of Ringo's All-Starr Band in 2001, alongside Sheila E, Roger Hodgson, Ian Hunter & Howard Jones. He also surfaced on stage with this band last Christmas, just to prove that Pomp Rock is not dead.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Tull and Greg Lake Together At Last!
In a transcendent prog moment, Greg Lake did a guest spot at the Jethro Tull 40th Anniversary concert at the Royal Festival Hall in May.
He sang Lucky Man, backed by Tull and with Ian Anderson having a delightful stab at providing some vocal harmonies.
Although ELP does absolutely nothing for me, there were plenty of people in the audience clearly getting into this temporary marriage of prog giants - Lake got a bigger cheer than many of the Tull songs. And 5 people gave him a standing ovation.
Damn your posting Patrick Crowther!
Have just come back from a Flaming Lips gig - which was rubbish by the way - and, hankering after long lost vinyl, have ordered 'Welcome Back My Friends ..." on Amazon. It's bound to end in tears.
Just take a pebble......
....and smash it all to bits.
Nah, just kidding, Pictures (at an Exhibition) and Tarkus buoyed me thru' my awkward adolescence. Rot set in just about Karn Evil 9 time.....
And all those snippets used as filler on the Alan Freeman afternoon show on wunnerful R1.
Not 'arf!
Dear God
Can anyone like this stuff? I mean come on.....this coming from someone with a soft spot for the great "Tangerine Dream"!
But I was probably dropped on my head as a child. What's your excuse?
I blame John Peel
Who really did play this sort of stuff in the days of yore.
Nobody mentioned Rick Wakeman and his King Arthur show on ice. Now available on DVD in a boxed set from his website. A friend told me. Honest.
I grew into other music but never outgrew the mighty Prog, even searching out new music, especially japanese artists. I commend this amateur musician to the massive. Tiny Symphony.
http://www.myspace.com/tinysymphony
Plus all his tracks can be downloaded free here:
http://www.mp3.com/artist/tinysymphony/summary/
Let's have an excess of excess!
ELP were part of the pantheon of Prog Gods whose every twiddle and diddle I delighted in during my teens. Yes, they were over the top - that was the point. It was all about playing faster and harder than anyone else, and the elaborate time-signatures and multi-section songs were all about showing they could not only play fast, but stop and turn on a dime, too. It's often suggested that they appealed to the snobbishness and pretentiousness of teenage boys, but to me it always felt more like it tapped into the surges of adrenaline and other hormones that were washing through my teenage body - I was just picked up and swept along on a wave of excitement whenever I heard "Tarkus" or the first section of "Karn Evil 9". Sheer adrenaline rush.
In a similar vein, I loved Van der Graaf Generator (first band I ever saw, at the age of 14) for Peter Hammill's screeching histrionics, for the way Dave Jackson played two saxes at once (a la Dick Heckstall-Smith), for the way Guy Evans looked as though he was trying to batter his way through the drum kit to get at the audience, and that fact that we KNEW Hugh Banton had a Special Extra Key on his keyboard which would play a note SO LOW that we would all vomit.
The fact that being into Prog Rock, in the 70s, was all about Getting Excited, just like any other kind of Rock, seems to be forgotten all too often.
Quote of the month, nay year.
"The fact that being into Prog Rock, in the 70s, was all about Getting Excited, just like any other kind of Rock, seems to be forgotten all too often."
Well said that man.
Been there
Done that. Which is why I could appreciate punk rock when it came because Prog had just about tipped everybody over the edge with it's Topographic Oceans twaddle. It was not one extreme to the other because fortunately I had the likes of Dr.Feelgood, Graham Parker and Brinsley Schwartz to wean me off the extended mellotron solos.
Having said that I still get a frisson whenever I hear the track Still by Pete Sinfield. There's no hope for me.
At least with prog...
...one doesn't have to contend with certain music journalists spouting pseudo-intellectual drivel and pontificating like they do with punk! I have to admit, not being 'there' for punk a lot of its appeal passes me by save the odd tune and to me the miserable likes of Rotten and Weller (and I like some of their music) are now the boring old farts! I like post-punk though.
As for Zeppelin, I like 'Carouselambra' but that Yamaha keyboard that John Paul Jones, Emerson and even Stevie Wonder was using at that point does nothing for me. There's still a nostalgia for Moog and Mellotron sounds but I don't see much for that Yamaha...and rightly so!