Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Difference between revisions

 

Emerson, Lake & Palmer, or ELP, was a British [[Progressive Rock]] supergroup formed in 1970. There were only three members, and the band had a synthesizer-dominated sound with a heavy touch of jazz and classical music.

ELP's defining traits were complex and difficult songs and ridiculously flashy live performances. The band is not as well known compared to the other big names from the progressive rock era despite its initial success. ELP has been often called pretentious and too cluttered to enjoy partially thanks to the large amount of solos and overblown, lengthy songs, and more than one person has been known to declare that they represented the worst excesses of [[Progressive Rock]]. As usual, beware of [[Critical Backlash]].

 

* ''Emerson, Lake & Palmer'' 1970

* ''Tarkus'' 1971

* ''Black Moon'' 1992

* ''In the Hot Seat'' 1994, curiously enough the first letters of the title form the word "SHIT", possibly [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]] the quality of the album acknowledged by the band.

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* [[Album Title Drop]]: Averted with all of their albums. "Brain Salad Surgery", the name of their 1973 album, [[Subverted Trope|is mentioned in their similarly named song "Brain Salad Surgery"]], [[Double Subversion|but that song isn't included on the album.]]

* [[All Drummers Are Animals]]: Carl Palmer was quite a wacky both as a drummer and as a person.

* [[Epic Rocking]]: Taken to its extreme.

** Significant examples include "Take A Pebble," "Tarkus," "The Endless Enigma," "Karn Evil 9," "Pirates," and "Memoirs of an Officer and a Gentleman."

* [[Faux Symbolism]]

* [[Filler]]: ''Love Beach'' is a filler '''album''' made because of a contract mandate.

** Additionally, their big famous single "Lucky Man" was originally written by Lake when he was 12. The band added it on the last day of recording when they discovered they needed one more song.

** "Benny The Bouncer" is also considered to be this to some; in fact, it's possible to remove it from ''Brain Salad Surgery'' and not damage the flow of the album at all.

** His equipment didn’t escape unscathed either. Even without his RSI, he wouldn’t be able to cover The Nice’s "Rondo" as he used to. He played the rapid glissandos in the piece by slapping his open palm across the keyboard. His Hammond L-100s withstood this for quite a time, possibly with running repairs, but now it appears that he doesn’t have a single L-100 left where all the higher keys on the lower manual aren’t broken off, with repair or replacement no longer being possible.

** The album title itself is said to be a euphemism for {{spoiler|fellatio}}, as was the album's original working title, "Whip Some Skull on Yer". Giger's cover art was inspired by the latter.

* [[In the Style Of]]: "Are You Ready Eddy?" is a Little Richard imitation/pastiche/parody/whatever, based on "The Girl Can't Help It".

* [[Ironic Episode Title|Ironic Song Title]]: "Lucky Man", the tale of a prominent young man who goes to war expecting fame and glory {{spoiler|and [[Downer Ending|gets killed instead]]}}.

* [[Refrain From Assuming]]: It's called "Karn Evil 9", not "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends".

** And the section where the mistitling comes from is from the second part of the ''13-minute'' first movement ("impression") of a 29-minute piece. It just happens to lead off the shortest track of the "Karn Evil 9" epic and thus the [[Edited for Syndication|easiest to play on the radio.]] (Not to mention the band rarely played the other 2 2/3 movements during their latter years anyway, if at all.)

** "Welcome Back my Friends to the Show That Never Ends" is the title of their (BSS era) live album, 2 CDs (or 3 LPs) more prog than the law should allow.

* [[Rock Trio]]

* [[Throw It In]]: As noted above, "Lucky Man" - the synth solo was recorded in one single take, which is something that Emerson's been [[Creator Backlash|embarassed about]]. Also, Palmer's Ringo-esque exclamation "They've only got ham or cheese!" at the end of "Are You Ready Eddy?"

* [[Word Salad Lyrics]]: Their most infamous example appears in the song "Still...You Turn Me On."

''[[Painful Rhyme|Someone get me a ladder...]]'' }}

** This makes perfect sense when considering that the song is about an artist lovingly sketching his dead wife before her burial. A ladder to climb out of the emotional abyss would not be out of order.

[[Category:The Seventies]]

[[Category:Musicians]]