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Emerson, Lake & Palmer were progressive rock's first supergroup. Greeted by the rock press and the public as something akin to conquering heroe...
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Emerson, Lake & Palmer were progressive rock's first supergroup. Greeted by the rock press and the public as something akin to conquering heroes, they succeeded in broadening the audience for progressive rock from hundreds of thousands into tens of millions of listeners, creating a major radio phenomenon as well. Their flamboyance on record and in the studio echoed the best work of the heavy metal bands of the era, proving that classical rockers could compete for that arena-scale audience. Over and above their own commercial success, the trio also paved the way for the success of such bands as Yes, who would become their chief rivals for much of the 1970s.
Keyboardist Keith Emerson planted the seeds of the group in late 1969 when his band the Nice shared a bill at the Fillmore West with King Crimson, and the two first spoke of the possibility of working together. After the Crimson lineup began disintegrating during their first U.S. tour, Lake opted to leave the group. Upon officially teaming in 1970, Emerson and Lake auditioned several drummers before they approached Carl Palmer, not yet 20 years old and already an overpowering talent, as well as a former member of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster.
The trio's first rehearsals mostly picked up from the Nice's and King Crimson's respective repertoires, including such well-known numbers as "Rondo" and "21st Century Schizoid Man." In August of 1970, ELP played their first show at the Plymouth Guildhall, just ahead of the Isle of Wight Festival in August of 1970, where they astonished more than half a million onlookers with their sound and instrumental prowess. The group's self-titled debut album, comprised of their strongest early originals and two dazzling classical adaptations — filled with rippling piano and synthesizer playing by Emerson and lightning-fast drumming by Palmer, and anchored around Lake's bass work — was finished the following month and released in November. That album was an instant success, rising to the Top Five in England and the Top 20 in America with considerable help from a last-minute addition — pressed to fill out the running time of the album, the group settled on a composition that Lake had written as a boy, called "Lucky Man." The latter became their debut single and made the Top 50 in America.
by Bruce Eder
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Do you want to be an angel,
Do you want to be a star,
Do you want to play some magic on my guitar?
Do you want to be a poet,
Do you want to be my string?
You could be anything.
Do you want to be the lover of another
Undercover? You could even be the man on the moon.
Do you want to be the player,
Do you want to be the string?
Let me just tell you something,
It just don't mean a thing.
You see it really doesn't matter
when you're buried in disguise
by the dark glass on your eyes,
though your flesh has crystalised;
Still .... you turn me on.
Do you want to be the pillow where I lay my head,
Do you want to be the feathers lying in my bed?
Do you want to be a colour cover magazine;
create a scene.
Every day a little sadder,
A little madder,
Someone get me a ladder.
Do you want to be the singer,
Do you want to be the song?
Let me tell you something
you just couldn't be more wrong.
You see I really have to tell you
that it all gets so intense.
From my experience
It just doesn't seem to make sense,
Still .... you turn me on
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Read my blogpost about Christine:
http://tinyurl.com/37os25a
Too many people underestimate the totality of Christine McVie's role in the dynasty tha...
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Read my blogpost about Christine:
http://tinyurl.com/37os25a
Too many people underestimate the totality of Christine McVie's role in the dynasty that is Fleetwood Mac. While many of her songs are FM [and F.M.] classics, the importance of her contributions as an over-all factor is sometimes lost on the hordes of Stevie Nicks fanatics (of which I am one): in the classic Mac lineup, she was the middle ground -- tying together the wispy, fairy god mother mysticism (and at times, flakiness) of Nicks and the avant-gardism of Lindsay Buckingham. Hers were the straight-Pop gems -- predominantly love songs, nothing more, nothing less...sung in her honey-dipped husky contralto -- one of Rock 'N Roll's absolute sexiest voices.
In her 40+ decade career, McVie recorded only three solo albums, and only one while still technically in Fleetwood Mac (1970s CHRISTINE PERFECT, 1984s CHRISTINE McVIE, and 2004s IN THE MEANTIME).
While McVie never toured as a solo act, she has performed dates to promote her solo work. In this series of clips, McVie was promoting her (at that point) upcoming 1984 self-titled album. The lovely pop-infused record was released in January of 1984 and was a modest success. The album spawned two Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 hits (the #10 "Got A Hold On Me" and the #30 "Love Will Show Us How" which was released with a terrific video) and the LP peaked at #24 on Billboards Top 200. This concert was recorded on December 16 1983 at the Country Club in LA. Assisted by guitarist Todd Sharp, (future FM guitarist) Billy Burnett, bassist George Hawkins and drummer Steve Ferrone (all musicians who also played on her album) -- along with special guest Mick Fleetwood -- she performs a lively set of new songs and a few FM classics.
I have a great audio bootleg of this same concert, and missing here is footage of the 2 encores she performed after "Songbird", the final selection on this video. They were "Say You Love Me" and "Over My Head". This concert was filmed as a TV special, so the final sequence is not the actual succession of the concert (this is done more-often-than-not in live concert videos/films). Here's the actual track listing of the show that evening:
Love Will Show Us How
Keeping Secrets
The Challenge
Who's Dreaming This Dream
I'm The One
So Excited
Don't Stop
Got A Hold On Me/Band Intros
One In A Million
You Make Lovin Fun
World Turning
Songbird
Say You Love Me
Over My Head
But even sans those two FM encores from the Mac's classic 1975 FLEETWOOD MAC album, this was a wonderful concert...and makes one wish McVie would opt to tour solo more often...
In part 1, Christine performs "Love Will Show Us How", "Keeping Secrets" and "The Challenge" -- all from her CHRISTINE McVIE lp.
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for the
ADD!!
- B-More's Hottest Female Rapper!
ps. b52s - great stuff!