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From: PLANx
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  • This is so awesome seeing them rehearsing the basics and building the piece from it. Thank you for posting!

  • Absolutely fantastic tone Greg was getting out of that Fender Jazz back then. 

  • @hairball1726, what about Rush? They are an amazing power trio.

  • Keith teaching carl drums ........classic !

  • As much as I like King Crimson, I am glad Greg Lake left to help form ELP. One of the best bands ever.

  • This one goes up to 11.

  • Carl Palmer is still good looking. Greg Lake was hot back then. Keith is a wild child.

  • 1:17 keith emerson showing calr palmer how to play his drum parts ... lol!

  • Is this an out take from Spinal Tap?

  • is this from a dvd or something'?where did you get this magnific display of awesomeness?

  • To be a fly on the wall......

  • I've been in many grueling rehearsal sessions, and what I see in this video is the norm for musicians who care about their profession.

    Emerson was 29 in 1974. Assuming they are all around the same age, these guys were not kids!

    Greg Lake in a recent interview published in Bass Player magazine stated that Keith was not formally trained. This does not mean he can't read/write. Keith composed a song for the victims of Japan recently and in the video is a signed manuscript of the piece.

  • @gigantorrrrrr Holy shit! NOT formally trained? I just assumed he was. Christ - that makes him even more abnormal. It would be something else to see what his IQ is - seriously. I guess he just taught himself how to read...

  • I've been listening to ELP for years & I'm a Fuzion bassist myself & this is why they were & to me, still are incredible musicians. They didn't stop on a song until it sounded just right.

  • How fortunate we are that this collective genius was captured working thru yet another brilliant tune.

    .

    Incredible glimpse inside the studio.

  • Excellence in action....namely, three supremely talented individuals sweating over their work.

  • sooo much practice! this entire part goes by in a couple seconds

  • geez, this vid is so cool \i just pulled it up to use as background music while i "do" my homework! ELP and YES and KING CRIMSOM and GENTLE GIANT are the best!

  • dam this is awesome

  • @kennethelp Thanks for the civil debate.... So few happen on here. I'll check that band out. I on and off have been a prog rock fan over the years..... ELP, Yes, Rush, Dream Theater etc.

  • @kennethelp Are you stating it was not popular rock music? Think again, they co headlined the California Jam with Deep Purple and sold millions of albums. The Cal Jam were the biggest concerts of their era.

  • Lake did have formal guitar lessons - same teacher as Robert Fripp. His acoustic guitar work shows a classical background.

  • Lake did have formal guitar lessons - same teacher as Robert Fripp.

  • ... AND could actually read music-------------

    Regarding ELP, it's only Keith Emerson who was able to read music.

  • Keith reminds me so much of Roger Waters.

  • Watching this makes me appreciate all the hard work they put into this 30+ epic! They had to rehearse and perfect a 10 second part :o

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  • have absolutely fallen in love with carl! even decided to cut my hair like his.... sigh, thank you for the colour footage!

  • i wonder what's in that mysterious bottle at 0:07...

  • @Interst890 whisky obviuosly, you know, shekaspeare smoked marihuana before writing, why emerson can't get one or two shots before palying?

  • @Akron162 haha true, sure looks like he needed it sometimes...

  • ...and Keith showing Carl also?

    What an awesome band!!

  • Definitely ahead of their time

  • fuckin' priceless..one of the most overlooked bands..nice post

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  • KEITH EMERSON WAS THE BOSS

  • popliphaha, what disorder have you been overcome by, you twit, do you even know an e chord from a d? Go back to school and get your brain together before you try to criticize one of the most intelligent rock bands of modern times. Shut up, and draw another pint of crappy ale, you nitwit.

  • Poor Greg, he just don't get it! Later he would develop an eating disorder.

  • I love this segment of the Beyond The Beginning DVD, especially when they rock out playing the 3rd Impression....priceless.

  • And yet, as obviously brilliant as Keith Emerson was (is), he miscalls the time signature as "waltz time" (3/4) what is definitely 6/8. Which goes to show nobody's perfect, I suppose. And what really counts is what you play, not what you know.

  • @videoeer I think he was just saying it was in three time to save the bother of things over complicated even for them! Trying to keep in 6/8 for the drummer in this would be a nightmare, 3/4's an easier time to deal with in this.

  • This is the best ELP-video ever! Now, after 40 years beeing fan, I REALLY understand, why these 3 guys could sound like they did!

  • Wow...no wonder Carl Palmer sounds so just average in Asia..He didn't have Keith's guildance.

  • @sanstitle Carl plays a much more basic drum style in Asia is because there wasn't anyone like Keith there to offer the kind of complexity he's used to. Actually, it must have been a refreshing break for Carl to just rock out.

  • What an interesting insight into ELP. When I was younger and listening to these guys, I knew they were really talented but I took it for granted. I just assumed it was easy because they made it sound so. However, just look at how painstakingly they work out such as small part of this song. This 2 or 3 bars of music is a drop of water in the musical song glass yet, they arduously work to get it right - Commitment, talent and love of music.

  • The second impression is a great compostion and very difficult to play on a technical level. it really shows that the entire group were outstanding misicains eventhough Emrerson was the composer. Considering Greg lake had no formal music training, he is fluid on those technicasl bass runs at the end of the video and palmer can rock those drums.

  • 1973, New York City...could u imagine gene simmons going over odd times with peter criss?? (love KISS tho...)

    This is a great vid!!

  • Keith's facial expression at 3:27 cracks me up!

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  • A fantastic glimpse into the creating of one of the most incredible pieces of music ever. Keith is such a dominatrix, God love him. ;)

  • It looked to me like they were having fun, even with Keith in charge. For god sake, does it matter? It was amazing to see them working through that little bit of the song. Thanks for the post.

  • fans were running

  • why is it windy in the studio?

  • Carl has a fan to keep cool.

  • Poor Carl ! Haha earnt his sticks that day!

  • epicness in the making

  • Keith could now put the piano down on track digitally first, and let the other guys work it out on their own time. However, my reasoning doesn't cut it if he could have done it on tape also. Maybe he did, and this was for film, or maybe this was a real working out, in which case Lake might have smoked and stressed less if the digital option were there. If this was true collaboration in that room among three rock n roll instruments, then you guys gotta fire that up again, or not.

  • I think Keith wanted to teach Greg and Carl the exact notes he heard in his head as opposed to letting them work out their own parts. I guess that made it a more efficient writing process even if it wasn't very democratic!

  • I would say that that is the "composer" in Keith.

  • This was not collaboration this was one musician telling the other musicians what to play. Yes he could have played the bass part on tape for Lake from his moog but his options in 1973 for using drum sound were not a lot since we didn't have sampling back then. I have done this method of recording everyone's part in the band but it always seems I go back to just working it out with the musicians.

  • I guess what blows me away is the fact that this was popular music. Man has the world dumbed down.

  • Yeah, it was quite popular, wasn't it? I mean, it didn't sell like Carole King back then, but ELP sold a lot of LPs, didn't they?

    A fact which does damn the tastes of people nowadays.

  • @jfrockon

    Great comment, dude.

  • @jfrockon

    I couldn't have said it better.

  • @jfrockon To the likes of you and I and those who enjoyed/had time for inventive self indulgent music. Many just enjoyed pop/funk/bubblegum.

    Where this is different to most of today's music, is the musicians here had a love of classical and jazz, AND could actually read music.

  • @chrisguygeezer And don't forget disco. I was surrounded by discofreaks.

  • @jfrockon THANK YOU. Complex classically-based music WAS very popular in the 70's.

    ELP, YES, Jethro Tull, Renaissance, Gentle Giant, Tangerine Dream, Genesis, etc. etc.

    It's been down hill ever since. Popular culture HAS been dumped down.

  • This is a comment for you @jfrockon. You are so right ! You must be over the age of forty to see this. Young people now-a-days have few good bands that are based on talent to listen to. They don't know to compare the junk they listen to alongside the good music we listened to. Sad really. And this threesome have in common what another threesome I like does. . . they get along. They behave like grownups. This is why I like Sting/ The Police. Emer, Lake, Palmer, are wonderful to watch.

  • WOW

  • I've watched this over and over and never get tired of it. What a pleasure to see ELP in their prime LEARNING how to play their masterpiece. Karn Evil 9 was my favorite song back in 1974 and I was simply amazed by it. To see the process involved in ELP's learning it is fascinating! I wish that we could see the entire 3 parts in rehearsal.

  • Watching Greg with that cigarette in his hand makes me wonder how much they damaged his voice.

  • keith needs to put on a goddamn shirt...

  • Why would he want to put on a shirt, damned by God?

  • I have this one on one of my DVDs Beyond the beginning I believe...of the DVDs in me collection;this is great material as the title progresses as though polishing a Gem

  • Brillant, young, rich, & admired

  • seems like a happy LP to work and and in many respects it was their best.

  • LOL! At 1:29, Keith says to Carl: "Oh, I can't do the whole lot".

  • "the whole line"

  • Good to see that my hero, Carl Palmer is just a human being!

    Rehearse and listen to Karn Evil some thousand times and you'll be able to replay it. I succeeded in replaying First Impression's two parts more or less the same (not more but less :))) some years ago and captured the final result on a cassette. I am the happiest drummer when I listen to it again sometimes!

    Do the same, try to replay, capture, listen to the mistakes, then start it over and over again until the satisfactory outcome.

  • out standing pure genius at work

  • At 2:41 Carl looks like Kurt Cobain

  • i think you never saw a joint before? ;))

  • it looked like it to me, maybe im wrong haha.

  • it could be a cigarette....or not?

  • Are there any drummers here who have tried playing the bars of the piece they are rehearsing, here, in KE9 2nd Impression note for note? It is easy playing it slow--but once it's played at the original tempo Keith wrote it at, this part throws you for a loop!

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  • Trying to replay any of Carl Palmer's stuff from Karn Evil is basically virtually impossible. It's a masterpiece.

  • Not if you rehearse it, it isn't impossible. It is, however a "masterpiece"!

  • They sound so great even when they're just practicing!! Emerson sounds so much better without those Moog gimmicks. This video really shows how talented and musically advanced these 3 guys were.

  • he's great with the moog also.

  • Awesome ELP!

  • this is some coool shit to see them rehearse =)

  • greg lake smokes during bass playing.

    lol... gangster.

  • That (and touring, and coke) is what happened to his voice. Sad. Learn from this Amy!

  • yeah I stopped smoking myself... 3 day ago lol.

    sometimes I simply can´t avoid it.

    I´ve restricted it on 1 time a week.

    but why has he become so fat?

    does he like mcdonalds as well?

  • He's OLDER now ya dope! I can only hope when you are old, that you look like a freakin beach ball. Greg looks good still. It would be real nice if we could all stay young and cute, wouldn't it?

  • it would. and some1 should teach you some manners as well.

  • also he didnt train his voice properly, but there you go. :\

  • very confortable....so carl palmer is a human being...good to know!!! [2]

  • its nice to see how much effort they put into a transition that you only hear for 5 seconds and that most people dont even notice

  • very confortable....so carl palmer is a human being...good to know!!!

  • keith showing carl what to play?

  • @frymahhide1982 that's what it looks like, doesn't it? it looks like the guy had the whole arrangement in his head. He gives them the notes and the tempos. Having said that, the tight feel they had when played all 3 together , that was all down to them 3..

  • @frymahhide1982 I think it's just because Keith had all the idees. I guess Carl is a better drummer ;)

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  • "Prove it"? To what, *you* "flammuth"? Someone who can't complete a sentence w/o using profanity?

    Get a life.

  • Jesus. I come here to check out a bit of Emerson Lake & Palmer and what do I find?!! Flammuth. Flammuth arguing. Flammuth arguing!! What a surprise... I've stumbled across this character before, so I wouldn't take any notice of anything that comes out of his mouth. (check out his asinine comments on my page). I think that's ALL he does ALL day on youtube - looking for someone to argue with ("lonely git" springs to mind...).

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  • More!

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  • what is palmer singing at 5:19?

  • Keith was a genius.

  • Keith *IS* a genius, you mean.

  • It,s surprising to see Carl Palmer have a bit of a problem with such a simple fill,maybe after working on the music for some time without notation it can get a bit mushy in the brain. Why bother with all the trickery of a recording studio,they sound great even through the film microphone.

  • as simple a fill as it is, beating stuff to death is what it takes to make a piece of such perfection

  • Jon Lord from DEEP PURPLE would not agree with you on that,he himself said after the first take you are just making variations on the same piece.

  • but still... you have to keep on trying, until it's just right. Kind of refreshing to watch these guys,(my teenage heroes ) thrashing it, until the sound was as Emerson heard it.

  • That isn't s simple fill by any means. It is off count.

  • I cant begin to imagine the music running thru emersons head..he's such an amazing genius (they all are)

  • At 3:28, that's what a father does.

  • Carl Palmer is quite the singer.

  • This is AWESOME stuff! Geniuses at work! ELP RULE!

  • Emerson showing Palmer how to handle a drum segment.... priceless! I suppose it is similar to the way Pete Townsend showed Keith Moon the way he wanted all his songs played.

  • Studio works is a very strong job.

    Great valuation for a group.

    Magnificent group.

    Silver from Poland.

  • keiths expression at 3:28 is hilarious.

  • The good old expression of Emerson smiling XD

  • that end was fucking brilliant!! after you take a look at the rehearsal.. you get an idea of how they worked their songs.. pure discipline

  • I absolutely ***hate*** the volume control that You Tube has supplied on its videos!

  • I always felt that some elements were "lifted" from Karn Evil for the Star Wars theme music.

  • I've always felt this as well, surprised to see someone else thought the same thing--certainly in the 3rd Impression, towards the end, some of the hammond parts sound remarkably like SW. ELP was first and they were influential--perhaps moreso to composers than their contemporaries in the "rock world". ELP did there fair share of "lifting" so it's all good!

  • Man this is a killer. I have been trying to get this part down at 3:22-3:25 for years, and, I still mess it up. There is one little tiny pause you have to do on the high hats, or it throws you off.

  • keith emerson has alot of jazz influence in his playing

  • ... and if only they could play right? I just love how fluid everything is regardless of the "rough" patches being worked out. There are few groups that could handle this type of composing, let alone performance. Thanks for posting.

  • Clearly you have no idea what you are even talking about.

  • SakaWannabe - Is there a language barrier here? Or was my sarcasm about the player's abilities far too subtle for you to grasp? Or is it that you're actually disagreeing with my insinuation that these are in fact exceptional musicians? If you had actually taken the time to read the entire comment you might actually have understood it's intent.

  • Anything complex needs study. These guys did some complex things. Give 'em a break. Think of this as an orchestra, and Emerson is the conductor as well as 3/5ths of the orchestra. So if he looks like he's conducting, you're right...he is. And thank God for that, otherwise they'd fuck around for days and never get it right. And boy oh boy, did they EVER get it right! I have every one of their discs and I've seen them twice, 1 at California Jam and 1 in Anaheim, amazing. Simply astounding

  • Geez. After watching this. Someone needed to say to Keith... yo motherfucker just play, we'll try to keep up.

  • WHAT ABOUT READING FING MUSIC

  • I love the fact that Greg is playing bass with a cigarette in his hand.

  • what about the assorted bottles which were always on Keith's keyboard... looks like drambuie, whiskey, lemonade and cornhusker's lotion...

  • this reminds me of spinal tap. "If you knew the fucking paht you'd play it."

  • Carl kills me at 1:28, when he wants Keith to play " the lot...the lot". LOL! Then, listen to Keith say" Oh, I can't do the whole lot..." then starts laughing! Too funny!

  • IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING!? its what started the whole King Crimson/Mellotron balance man, theres Mellotron everywhere in that album

  • 5:34!

  • i find it strange that since Greg Lake was in King Crimson, a heavy Mellotron using group, that Greg wouldnt influence the use of a mellotron in the studio

  • Yeah, I guess so, although I don't think Greg was a big keyboard player. I think Keith used the Mellotron a bit here and there, on Tarkus I beileve. Overall my assumption is Emerson wasn't a big fan of them because they were so touchy and you couldn't really play that fast on them because the individual tapes had to rewind, although I could be wrong.

  • They didn't really use a mellotron much on the album Lake was there for though.

  • Emerson never used a Mellotron.

  • I can think of only 2 times he used one.

    The first one was during "Diamond Hard Core Apples of the Moon" on the first Nice album('67)for a small effect. He never used a synth with The Nice so he was probably looking for what was available at the time.

    The second time was years later on the Emerson, Lake & Powell album('86)in "Touch & Go" during the vocals and the finger snaps. The mellotron effect was most likely on his synth.

  • My impression is that it seems like Keith and Greg's tracks, during this part of the song, were sped up in the final album version. If you listen closely there's no physical way Greg could have played his bass notes that fast. I imagine once their tracks were nailed down, Carl probably could have played along at whatever speed was dictated by the other two.

  • possible because this is the only Karn Evil 9 impression that wasnt performed live

  • Actually, it was performed live on the BSS tour. You can find a live version of it on the Welcome Back CD.

  • yes I have the whole song from that album on my youbube page.

  • theres only one thing that truely sucks about being this good, over time when youre playing the same thing over and over again it doesnt sound as good to the musicians as it does to the listener

  • Theres not much brandy left in the bottle on Keith's keyboard. Must be thirsty work....

  • it'a incredible how much time they put in small bits of songs...ELP RULES!

  • The geniouses within 10 feet of one another. I'm suprised the atmosphere didn't catch afalme due to their brilliance. God, this is amazing to watch.

  • to Rubymooncats - I don't think Greg was thinking "whatever Keith". I think he missed his playing his part & they started without him. If you watch, he makes a face like "crap" & then starts playing his part again.

  • Keep an eye on Greg Lake's expression at 4:32. What do you think he's thinking? "Whatever, Keith...."

  • This is AWESOME stuff! Geniuses at work! ELP RULE!

  • Anyone notice how they're playing this a half step up from the recording on the album? I can't imagine how much of a pain in the ass it must have been to transpose this section to a different key.

  • Actually it's an effect due to the different velocity of shooting and playing on film.

    Often it happens, for example, when movies are played on television at a different frames/second ratio...it shifts the soundtrack half a tone higher.

  • yes, you can hear how they sound a little 'chipmunky' when they speak; the video is sped up slightly.

  • The Manticore film where these clips came from was somewhat damaged in the cold before it was copied onto reels, apparently. The film itself varies in quality, but you can tell by the scene changes and their voices that certain reels were damaged.

  • K.E.may have written portions of this piece in musical notation,just to refer back to when it was needed,the more complex a piece the more chance to forget the bits that link one section to the next. It,s certainly interesting to see them just jamming on parts of a piece,greg lake,s reaction seems as though it,s the first time he,s heard the music let alone played it.

  • Fantastico !!!

  • This shows people how really tedious it is rehearsing and putting together a rock album. Making a film is like that.

    I like stuff like this because it's not slick like documentaries are today. It shows how meticulous you really have to be when creating art.

  • You mean, how tedious it is rehearsing and putting together AN E.L.P. RECORD! I find this particular section incredibly interesting, considering the time I spent in my teens tearing it apart when trying to learn it on the drums. I think the complexity of it attracted me because you could show off once you had it down. Also, my ego is repaired slightly after seeing that Carl Palmer even had trouble learning Emerson's absurdly difficult compositions, it wasn't so much because I sucked.

  • Wow interesting watching an uncut rehearsal- thanks for posting. Have to say regarding ELP & the "progressive rock" fad in the seventies-was long on progressive but short on rock. Rock fortunately survived in it's more pure forms.

  • I am in the process of transcibing tarkus for guitar

  • can you believe the amount of work and focus they put into those little parts? unreal.

  • Jeez, i would have loved hangin' out in that room while they were workin' thru some of their stuff. I'd bet there was some great creative music that was never heard outside this room.