Emerson, Lake & Palmer
By the end of the 1960s, many artists became swept up in the
wake of The Beatles and their aggressive exploration of the
possibilities of pop and rock.
In the minds of many young musicians (especially the
formally-trained ones), expanding the form by incorporating motifs
and highly arranged extended compositions seemed an appealing
notion.
The results of this concept became known as art-rock (and
sometimes derogatorily, "6th Form rock" as it was a
style particularly favoured by pimply and bespectacled senior
grammar school boys). Depending on your point of view, Emerson,
Lake and Palmer were guilty of encouraging such tonal indulgence,
or they delivered some of the genre's better moments.
Pianist Keith Emerson had already met much success in Britain
with his theatrical pyrotechnics in The Nice.
Greg Lake was the vocalist/bassist for the explosively dark
King Crimson, and drummer Carl Palmer backed up the heavy
blues-based Atomic Rooster, a band that also contained eventual
Fleetwood Mac member Christine McVie.
Months before the arrival of ELP's self-titled debut album,
expectations began running high about what the band would
contribute to the expansion of rock.
The debut was impressive, ranging from delicate acoustic piano
and guitar interplay to explosive free-for-alls, but with the
second album (Tarkus) it became obvious that the band often
placed an enormous amount of finesse on playing to the back of the
bleachers, rather than focusing that energy into a consistently
satisfying musicality.
Tarkus was a pompous, lyrically incomprehensible,
grandiose and flashy 'concept' album. It was also a complete waste
of petroleum by-products to even press the bloody thing! - From
this point though, things could mercifully only decline.
Nevertheless, Emerson, Lake & Palmer became a staple of FM
rock radio during the 70s, even scoring a couple of hits with Lucky
Man (#48) and In The Beginning (#39).
When Keith Emerson and Greg Lake temporarily checked their egos
at the door and decided to re-form in 1986 without drummer Carl
Palmer, they called in Cozy Powell to replace him so at least they
could keep the ELP trademark.
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