EMERSON LAKE & PALMER
Symphonic Prog • United Kingdom
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Formed in London, UK in 1970 - Disbanded in 1979 - Regrouped between 1991-1998 - Reunited briefly in 2010
ELP revolutionized the 70's rock scene by introducing a new line-up format. This fact really mattered due to each musician's geniality and unlimited talent that, put together, generated a level of music never achieved by anybody else as of yet. All of the musicians came from established bands before joining forces together: Greg LAKE came from KING CRIMSON, Carl PALMER came from ATOMIC ROOSTER, and Keith EMERSON came from THE NICE.
They explored their capabilities to an extreme, even with the technology limitations of the early 70's, breaking ground, setting the new parameters for a new vein in the english pop music (at the time) which would be called progressive music. ELP released 10 outstanding albums during the 70's, and after a long break, they got back in the 90's with a new approach, but still making good music. In 1986 Cozy POWELL replaced PALMER and they put together EMERSON, LAKE and POWELL, a good effort as well.
They've pushed their ambitions over-the-edge. On "Tarkus" the title suite was an inventive and edgy suite revolving around jazzy textures. Their most popular album "Brain Salad Surgery", was their most grandiose and refined. Next, the more adventurous listener might try "Trilogy" or ELP's self-titled first album. In my opinion, these four albums form the core of ELP's best material. Other good ELP albums include "Pictures at an Exhibition", their provocative, fiery and intense take on a classical work. and "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends", a triple-live album (now on double-CD) with some absolutely stunning playing.
2016 was a sad year for Prog fans, because Keith and Greg left us, Rest in Peace and thank you for everything
Being that some albums belong to a different band with only two members of ELP, we have to make this addition:
Emerson, Lake & Powell (Active between 1985-1986)
Emerson, Lake & Powell, often abbreviated to ELPowell, were an offshoot of a classic prog band Emerson, Lake & Pa...read more
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Videos (YouTube and more)
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EMERSON LAKE & PALMER discography
Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)
4.24 | 2369 ratings
Emerson Lake & Palmer 1970 |
4.06 | 2084 ratings
Tarkus 1971 |
4.14 | 1844 ratings
Trilogy 1972 |
4.17 | 2125 ratings
Brain Salad Surgery 1973 |
2.96 | 898 ratings
Works Vol. 1 1977 |
2.45 | 737 ratings
Works Vol. 2 1977 |
2.12 | 797 ratings
Love Beach 1978 |
3.13 | 553 ratings
Emerson, Lake & Powell: Emerson, Lake & Powell 1986 |
2.77 | 545 ratings
Black Moon 1992 |
1.79 | 461 ratings
In The Hot Seat 1994 |
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)
2.75 | 21 ratings
Welcome Back 1992 |
3.76 | 46 ratings
Live At The Royal Albert Hall (DVD) 2001 |
3.59 | 95 ratings
Pictures At An Exhibition - 35th Anniversary Collectors Edition 2002 |
3.12 | 21 ratings
Inside Emerson, Lake & Palmer 1970-1995 2003 |
4.56 | 38 ratings
Works Orchestral Tour/Manticore Special 2003 |
3.60 | 60 ratings
Live at Montreux 1997 (DVD) 2004 |
4.08 | 35 ratings
Masters From The Vaults 2004 |
3.20 | 5 ratings
Live In Concert (DVD) 2004 |
3.83 | 79 ratings
Beyond The Beginning 2005 |
2.64 | 37 ratings
The Birth Of A Band - Isle Of Wight Festival 1970 2006 |
4.03 | 15 ratings
Rare Broadcasts 2007 |
3.87 | 59 ratings
40th Anniversary Reunion Concert (High Voltage Festival 2010) 2011 |
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Reviews
Showing last 10 reviews only
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by
kev rowland
Special Collaborator Honorary Reviewer
I have always felt the two trio releases involving Emerson in the Eighties are somewhat overlooked by fans of ELP, yet they are both excellent, as this new 3-CD boxed set displays so well. What we have here is the album (with three bonus tracks), their live album, 'Live In Concert' and a CD of rehearsals, 'The Sprocket Sessions'. All material included in the box set has been re-mastered by renowned engineer Andy Pearce which also includes an enhanced booklet with sleeve notes written by Prog Magazine editor, Jerry Ewing.
I fully remember this being released and picked up the pre-recorded cassette (those were the days) as soon as I could. I did not know what to expect but was fully aware of Powell's work with Rainbow and Whitesnake, and even remembered him performing "Dance With The Devil" on TOTP. I certainly did not expect an album which commenced with classic ELP sounds and styles with "The Score", and when Lake got to the chorus and sang "It's been so long you're welcome back my friends, To the show that never ends" I was ecstatic. It didn't matter we had a different "P", the band were back and playing classic music, linking back to "Karn Evil 9" for their fans. The music had shifted in that it was more commercial, especially "Touch and Go", yet not so overtly as Asia, somehow bridging the Seventies and Eighties. Emerson was also convinced by Powell to undertake a recording of "Mars, The Bringer of War" which is one of the standout tracks, albeit the style being somewhat different from other classical covers the band did in the past.
Years after this was originally released I went to see the wonderfully bawdy musical 'Sinderella' featuring Jim Davidson, and I was somewhat surprised to hear some of these songs played during the performance (Davidson and Emerson were friends, hence the use of "Karn Evil 9" for 'The Generation Game'), yet I was also pleased as I felt this album was overlooked by many. The rehearsals and live recording add to the overall story in that we hear Cozy performing on some classic numbers (his style is very different indeed to Palmer), and overall this set brings back to life an album from a band who deserved to be around for much longer than the short time they were.
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by BCook1014
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by
VianaProghead
Prog Reviewer
"An Introduction To...Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a compilation album of Emerson, Lake & Palmer released in 2004. It has tracks from almost all their studio albums. The exception is their last studio album "In The Hot Seat". So, it has one track from their debut, one track from "Tarkus", one track from "Trilogy", two tracks from "Brain Salad Surgery", one track from "Works Vol. 1", one track from "Works Vol. 2", one track from "Love Beach", one track from "Black Moon" and one track from their debut live "Pictures At An Exhibition". It has also two tracks only released as live versions.
So, "An Introduction To...Emerson, Lake & Palmer" has twelve tracks. "Introductionary Fanfare" was never released in studio. It's a little curtain raiser penned by Emerson and Palmer to get us on our way as an overture to a live concert. It's a very pleasant overture with the necessary intones to the introduction of the band with the traditional "Ladies & Gentlemen...". It was taken from "Works Live". "Peter Gunn" was never released in studio too. It's an instrumental by the American composer Henry Mancini. The song was written for the television program of the same name. Emerson, Lake & Palmer decided to release a cover of it in their live album "Emerson, Lake & Palmer in Concert". It's a great cover. It was taken from "Works Live" too. "Hoedown" is from "Trilogy". It's an interpretation from the ballet "Rodeo" of Aaron Copland. Instead of violins we have Emerson's Hammond and synthesizers taking the lead. It's a fantastic piece, a perfect way to bring the classical to rock. "Benny The Bouncer" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's a comedic rocker on the same mould of "Are You Ready Eddie?" and "Jeremy Bender/The Sheriff". It's hardly considered a great song. But, it indicates some of their influences and shows they aren't properly frightened to attempt something more vulgar and simple. "The Gambler" is from "Love Beach". It isn't a great song. It's a groovy blues tune that doesn't sounds like ELP. It reminds me some other silly tracks like "Jeremy Bender", "Are You Ready Eddy?", or "Benny The Bouncer". This is certainly no worse than any of those tracks. Still, I never liked this kind of songs on a band like them. "Tiger In A Spootlight" is from "Works Vol. 2". It's a leftover track from "Brain Salad Surgery" sessions. It's a fun rock'n'roll/blues tune with a nice beat and a strange keyboard work. It's interesting, but it doesn't mean anything more than that. "Take A Pebble" is also from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's a beautiful ballad by Lake. It's a magnificent song with powerful vocals by Lake. His singing is simply amazing, with the final line of the verses building on the legacy of King Crimson's "Epitaph", which sounds even better. "Romeo And Juliet" is from "Black Moon". "Romeo And Juliet" is Emerson's arrangement of the superb "Dance Of The Knights" from Sergei Prokofiev's score for the ballet "Romeo And Juliet". It's a classical epic majestic piece full of a bombastic genius and majesty. The synths forward with bold, swagger and utter poise, a modern rock interpretation on Prokofiev's classical piece. This a perfect piece for the bombastic rock of ELP. "Pirates" is from "Works Vol. 1". It was originally written for the soundtrack of a cancelled film version of the Frederick Forsyth's book "The Dogs Of War". It has a great mix of contemporary classical epic music, melodic, progressive, dynamic, charming and complex. Even Lake sings with passion here. It's an epic tale filled with great Emerson, Lake & Palmer's moments and a full orchestra. This was ELP's last great epic and I really love it. It's not one of their best, but it's still great. "The Sage" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It's a Lake's original composition usually mentioned as one of his best. It has some of his best lyrics. It's the only track on that album not contributed by Mussorgsky. It's a gentle and delightful acoustic piece. Some may find it pretentious, but it works well and I don't see why it shouldn't be there. "Jeremy Bender" is from "Tarkus". It's a comedic rocker in the same mould of "Benny The Bouncer". Sincerely, the song is pleasant to listen to, but hardly worthy of an Emerson, Lake & Palmer's album. Sincerely, I'm not a great fan of these kinds of songs, really. It's not bad but it's nor great too. "Jerusalem" is also from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's a classical British church hymn. This is the band's arrangement of Charles Hubert Parry's hymn, based on the prologue of William Blake's poem "Milton". It was the only single taken from that album. This is really a great version of the original piece. This is a version taken from their live album "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends".
Conclusion: "An Introduction To...Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is really a good compilation album of the band. At the first sight it seems to be weaker than most of their compilation albums. However, if we see it more carefully, and especially, according to its name, we can really say that it's a good introduction to the career of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. So let's see it. This is a compilation album were almost all their studio albums are represented with one track, except "Brain Salad Surgery" with two tracks. It has also one track from "Pictures At An Exhibition". Only "In The Hot Seat" isn't represented here. Besides, some are live versions of the band, which are nice. ELP always was a great live band. So, we can say that "An Introduction To...Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a good introduction to the band living up to its name.
Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by
VianaProghead
Prog Reviewer
"History Of Rock" is a compilation album of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and that was released in 2001. It has tracks from seven studio albums of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It has two tracks from their eponymous debut studio album, one track from their second studio album "Tarkus", three tracks from their third studio album "Trilogy", two tracks from their fourth studio album "Brain Salad Surgery", two tracks from their fifth studio album "Works Vol. 1", two tracks from their sixth studio album "Works Vol. 2" and one track from their ninth studio album "Black Moon". So, their albums "Pictures At An Exhibition", "In The Hot Seat" and the Emerson, Lake & Powell's album aren't represented here with any track.
So, "History Of Rock" is a compilation album with thirteen tracks. "From The Beginning" is from "Trilogy". It's a beautiful acoustic song featuring Lake on vocals and guitar with some participation of Emerson on the end of the track. It's a song with a simple structure. We can say this is one of the best compositions written by Lake for the band. "Still... You Turn Me On" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's the obligatory acoustic number on that album. It's a Lake's classic acoustic ballad in the vein of "Lucky Man" and "From The Beginning". It's one of Lake's best ballads. It was a big radio hit in U.S.A. "Fanfare For The Common Man" is from "Works Vol. 1". This is a great interpretation of a classical piece of Aaron Copland re-arranged for rock. Copland's original is great and ELP didn't make a bad job with the arrangements. Synths are heavily used, especially in the later sections. It sounds like early ELP, being experimental and heroic. "Knife-Edge" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's based on the first movement of the Leos Janacek's "Sinfonietta" classical piece. This is another piece with a great showcase by all band's members, with the particular emphasis on great bass lines. "Tarkus" is from "Tarkus". It's divided into "Eruption", "Stones Of Years", "Iconoclast", "Mass", "Manticore", "Battlefield" and "Aquatarkus". This is a very complex fantastic piece with great creativity, experimental, and certainly, avant-garde for those times. This great epic is their lengthiest studio song until "Karn Evil 9" of "Brain Salad Surgery". It remains a favourite song for the fans and was consistently played live by the band. "Karn Evil 9" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". "Karn Evil 9" is a great opus that is divided into three movements or impressions. This is an instrumental epic track featuring Emerson on piano sounding like jazz and Palmer's drumming showing his percussion skills. "C'Est La Vie" is from "Works Vol. 1". This is a very well known acoustic song. It's probably the most similar in style to Lake's ballads on their earlier albums. I like it a lot, especially the amazing voice of him. "Hoedown" is from "Trilogy". It's an interpretation of the band from the ballet "Rodeo" of Aaron Copland. Instead of violins we have Emerson's Hammond and synthesizers taking the lead. It's a fantastic piece, a perfect way to bring the classical to rock. It was one of their most popular songs when performed live. "Trilogy" is from "Trilogy". It's one of the highest moments on that album and it's also one of their best and most beautiful compositions. It's largely an instrumental piece very much over piano in the beginning, heavily influenced by the classical music. In the middle, the music blasts with all instruments playing in continuo. "Honky Tonk Train Blues {Meade (Lux) Lewis}" is from "Works Vol. 2". It was written by Meade Lux Lewis and it's in the same vein of "Barrelhouse Shake-Down" of that album. This is Emerson having fun with the grand piano in a boogie-woogie style while the rest plays in a swing jazz style. "Black Moon" is from "Black Moon". It was inspired by the Gulf War with the burning Iraqi oil fields. It opens with a tense dark atmosphere created mostly by Emerson's shimmering keyboard choices, including a brief crashing piano solo. The lyrics are biting and the synths give a certain strut to the political lyrics. "Lucky Man" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's a ballad for acoustic guitar. It's a song with acoustic guitar, beautiful singing and a great synthesizer solo towards the end. It's one of the best songs written by Lake. It became as one of the band's most commercial and accessible tracks in their career. "I Believe In Father Christmas" is from "Works Vol. 2". It's a beautiful song, a ballad based on the Sergei Prokofiev's theme with great arrangements and also with good, ironic and controversial lyrics about the negative effects of commercial Christmas.
Conclusion: "History Of Rock" is another great compilation album of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It's very similar to other compilation album from the band named "The Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer", which was released in 1994. It has almost the same tracks and even the alignment of the tracks is also very identical. Thus, as happened with that compilation album, "History Of Rock" is also interesting and has tracks that belong to some of their most iconic, best and most progressive albums. The four first, best and most progressive studio albums of the band are all represented here at least with one track. My only regret is the non inclusion of any of the tracks of their debut live album "Pictures At An Exhibition". Anyway, this is a compilation album without weak points, really. So, we can say that "History Of Rock" is a well representative compilation album and a good starting point for those who aren't familiar with the band.
Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by shantiq
I then realised that he Keith Emerson often wrote pieces of that sort which are really classical but not classical and not modern classical they are really pieces of rock music deeply infused with classical culture and music and yet not of it. Never was really a fan of Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the 1970s I had an LP of Trilogy and was aware of the music on Pictures From an Exhibition but really I was a lukewarm fan I knew who they were I knew what the music was like but I never paid that much attention.
Fast forward to 2022/3 and I have decided to really look into them . What I find there really amazes me; musically they are really really excellent the interweaving of the three very different elements in the group really works exactly what the word chemistry means you have the slightly out of control keyboard man Keith playing some pretty crazy stuff more often than not fast like a quicksilver snake . And then you have Carl whose drumming basically sounds like furniture being thrown down the stairs repeatedly at different angles in different directions; never subtle always present like a marble spine. Then we have Gregg Mr Lake who to me and I really have listened to a lot of singers over the years has one of the most emotional emotive voices ever, his work in King Crimson already moved me and so many others time and time again and once he joined the other two his elegant voice and sometimes interesting lyrics combined with the other two really created something special.
There is much talk online of which album by ELP is the best. I read most of the ones I could. And the amusing thing here is that they do not agree what they do agree on is that at the number one place there is always one of three albums: The first album the eponymous one, Trilogy, Brain Salad Surgery. I think only once or twice it is not one of these which is number one. I personally would be unable to say which one is the best. Out of the 1970s albums to me they are all masterpieces in some way. First of all they are unique none of the other bands from that time let us say Yes or King Crimson or Van Der Graaf Generator or Genesis have a sound that is anywhere near them it is completely and utterly unique. So if ever asked a question what is the best album my answer will be: all of the 1970s albums every single one of them.
But yes Works Vol. 1 for me is definitely close to the very top.
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by
Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer
On the one hand, simplified and unpretentious developments, from the superficial "All I Want Is You" to the soporific and inconsequential "For You", where a very loquacious Greg Lake seriously assumes the role of lead singer and main figure, and both Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer, keyboardist and percussionist respectively, resign their protagonism and limit themselves to being mere accompanists, something unthinkable given the dynamics of all the band's previous albums.
And, on the other hand, a glimmer of the band's past appears in the outstanding "Canario", an adaptation of the orchestral work "Fantas�a para un Gentilhombre" by Spanish composer Joaqu�n Rodrigo, in which Emerson raises the level a little, to finally decline again in the long and dreary "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman", which pretends to be an epic suite, but lacks spark and magic, beyond some salvageable notes from Emerson on the piano. Too little for the size of the band.
"Love Beach" was a blow to E,L&P's reputation and, beyond the rumours of how frayed the interpersonal relationships of its members were, the album probably accelerated their separation process, until their reunion more than a decade later.
2/2.5 stars
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by [email protected]
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by
Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer
Starting with the controversial cover, excessive to the point of being vetoed and retouched due to the demands of the record label, up to the musical experimentation with all the imaginable instruments, and also the unimaginable ones, that could be used by Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer to add textures and spices to the increasingly ambitious creation of proposals, "Brian Salad Surgery" is the maximum point of sonorous boiling point of the band.
From the adaptations of the powerful hymn "Jerusalem" by British composer Hubert Parry as well as the classic and at times psychedelic "Toccata" by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, through the stealthy ballad "Still... You Turn Me On" and "Benny the Bouncer", the third and final chapter of the tavern rock started in Tarkus with "Jeremy Bender", the fundamental protagonist of the album, the extensive and overwhelming "Karn Evil 9", makes its way.
A fundamental contribution to progressive rock from its most symphonic side, "Karn Evil 9" is a compendium of what three virtuoso musicians working in harmony can generate. The suite in its thirty minutes, unfolds in an ocean of effects and instrumentation, highlighting in the 1st First and 3rd Impression above all, Emerson's moog synthesizers, which include more variants than ever, the hyper active percussion of Carl Palmer, and a Greg Lake much more settled to give the tone in the most vocally demanding parts, besides dispatching with a very successful guitar solo in the 1st Impression. Unknown at the time, "Karn Evil 9" not only closes "Brian Salad Surgery", but also the most splendid cycle of the British trio.
Excellent.
4/4.5 stars
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by
Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer
The suite "Tarkus", which occupies the first half of the album, composed of seven intertwined segments, is a constant back and forth of intense instrumental developments and paused vocal parts, where Emerson's display of virtuosity with his arsenal of pianos, hammonds and moogs, at times giddy and anxious as in "Eruption" and "Manticore", constantly take the lead. With the super active and masterful Carl Palmer and his very jazzy percussion, and Lake's bass and deep voice, especially in "Mass" and in the hypnotic "Battlefield", where he surprises with a calm and deep electric guitar solo (a very rarely used resource), the British trio completes one of their best compositions, if not the best. The fantasy story of the heroic armadillo-tank victor over the mythological villain Manticore in the perennial struggle between good and evil, concludes after almost 21 minutes with the agonizing "Aquatarkus".
The second half fails to sustain the brilliance of the first, and except for the brief and fun tavern rock of "Jeremy Bender", and the celestial and imposing organ in "The Only Way (Hymn)", the rest of the songs do not add much to the album: "Infinite Space" is a bit monotonous, Lake is heard too vocally forced for the demands of "A Time and a Place", and finally the fifties rockabilly "Are You Ready Eddy? "a joke on the famous sound engineer Eddie Offord (also a former Yes engineer), is out of context.
While the "Tarkus" suite is one of the proud emblems of the genre, a slightly more elaborate second half would have made the album a masterpiece for sure. But that's pure speculation.
4 stars
Emerson Lake & Palmer Symphonic Prog
Review by
Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer
Virtuosos almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown, it is, however, the brilliant multi-keyboardist Keith Emerson the main protagonist of most of the pieces, both in the adaptations of classical music (the instrumental and over- saturated "The Barbarian" and the demanding "Knife-Edge"), as well as in those of their own label (the extensive and restful "Take a Pebble", surely on the podium of the best of the album), or the also instrumental and jazzy "The Three Fates" and "Tank", in both cases with the impeccable percussion of the remarkable Carl Palmer.
The mole of the album was exposed when Lake, with his grave and serene tone of voice, describes an unfortunate story in the imperishable and beautiful ballad "Lucky Man". Created by the singer and bassist in his early teens and included at the last minute on the album, it unexpectedly became for EL&P one of their most representative songs, and the moog at the end of the song, an Emerson improvisation that remained as is after only one take, in one of the most celebrated passages of their discography.
Emerson, Lake &Palmer developed their own particular style until becoming one of the great icons of the genre without any transitional albums, placing themselves at the top of the progressive Olympus with their 1970 album of the same name, something that they would confirm with their later works.
Excellent
4/4.5 stars