Emerson, Lake and Palmer: The Show That Never Ends

by George Forrester, Martyn Hanson, Frank Askew

This is the first every biography of Progressive rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer-one of the most successful acts of the 70s who, in terms of sound artistic vision and concept, operated on a scale for in excess of all rivals. Featuring The Nice's keyboard virtuoso Keith Emerson, King Crimson's Greg Lake on lead vocals and ball and Stomic Rooster's drummer Carl Palmer, ELP enjoyed a huge profile from the start. Their 1970 debut album Emerson, Lake and Palmer mixed new compositions with reinterpresations fo classical themes such as Bartok and Janacek, while Emerson's "Lucky Man" Moog solo represented one of the first recorded instances of the synthesiser in rock. After bestselling albums Tarkus, Pictures at an Exhibition and Trilogy brought the synthesiser to a wider audience, the band's recorded sound reached its apogee with 1973's high-concept album Brain Salad Surgery , which boasted artwork by Swiss Surrealist H.R. Giger.

Live, the band was a phenomenon, tearing up European classical music and turing Copland inside out through a giant quadrophonic PA, in front of packed audiences, whiile a shirtless Emerson hammered knives into his keyboard.

The rise of punk changed everything, and ELP split in the late 70s. However, by the 90s they were back with the classic Black Moon and a world tour that culminated in three triumphant shows at London's Royal Albert Hall.

George Foster, Martyn Hanson, and Frank Askew are acknowledged experts on ELP and after five years of research, they have produced a gripping and fascinating document of one of the great rock bands of the 70s. George Forrester also provides a erudite study of the band's complex and challenging music.

Genres: Music

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2001

Reviews

[MB KARAPCIK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strictly for fans of ELP, this book chronicles the beginning of the band and moves toward present day. It is an older book, so it does not cover the deaths of Emerson and Lake. I love their earlier recordings like Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery as well as their Works one (Emerson's pieces are phenomenal--one piece was allegedly inspired by a fire that destroyed his home), so I was very interested to read about them, but once the band breaks up the first time, I lost some interest. I perked up when the authors covered the band Asia -- that album still holds up well, and the original lineup has such strong performers from Yes (one of my favorites since high school) and King Crimson.

The writing isn't exactly mediocre but stumbles along with grammar and style errors, but the content is the purpose, and the authors recognize how skilled the band is and what treasures some of their recordings are. A fan-written book can never be bad.

I preferred reading Keith Emerson's book, Pictures at an Exhibition, which I read at least 15 years ago, because he told some entertaining stories about his life and career. (Btw, the book, which I mistakenly gave away, is worth a lot of money!) He was so extremely talented and innovative, and I cannot imagine how crazy seeing his antics on stage would be.

If I read Greg Lake's book and Carl Palmer's, I'll get an even better picture of the whole dynamics of the band and how each musician fits in. This book does a succinct job in covering the dynamics and personalities of the band, but I'm interested to hear their own thoughts. I did find out some different tidbits I never knew such as Palmer devising a drum program for special needs kids, which is creative in itself.

[Kris Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book strictly deals with ELP albums and how they were made. There are no fun anecdotes about life on the road or rock star stories. Which is fine as there are dozens of books about that. I would have preferred more info on the infamous 1977 tour and the Love Beach fiasco, but overall, a decent (and very well researched) read.