Emerson, Lake and Palmer began ca. 1970 and were made up of Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer. ELP was, perhaps, the first group of hard rockers who truly wanted to incorporate other genres of music into the rock field — some say this was because they loved music of all types and wanted their audiences to learn about and love other types of music too… others say differently. Most of all ELP seemed to respect the common man.
“Fanfare for the Common Man”
In this post I would like to touch upon the different types of music that ELP has given us to enjoy. So “Welcome to the Show”, my friends.
ELP put out many songs that made it into the charts and stood the test of time. “From the Beginning” is a song that many out there may remember.
Lucky Man was a huge hit for ELP. The song told the story with a lesson we all can learn from. The story is about a man who had it all, yet in the end he found out none of his earthly acquisitions could forestall the eventual.
Lucky Man
Emerson, Lake and Palmer put out a song called “C’est La Vie”. This hauntingly beautiful song was inspired by the more classical French sound that we have heard for years in movies and it delighted the fans immensely.
C’est La Vie
ELP also did a remake of the theme song to Peter Gunn in, or around, 1977. They up-dated the theme from the old TV show, but yet managed to retain the integrity of the original musical score… and it delighted ELP fans around the world.
ELP released “Father Christmas” on their Works Vol. 1 album. It, like all of ELP’s songs, did not let down the fans.
ELP tried to incorporate classical music with rock, some say it was an effort to try to make the single minded rocker more aware of how “Cool” classical Music could be… other say differently. One of the ways they attempted this is through the release of the Album “Pictures at an Exhibition”, which was their version of the classical artist Mussgorsky. Promanade and The Gnome are just the beginning of ELP’s journey into the Classical Genre.
The Great Gates of Kiev and The End finish the album.
ELP took the classic “Nutcracker”, a song which many of us hear snatches of year after year around Christmas time, and turned it into “Nutrocker”.
Filed under: Music Tagged: | Cavalcade of Rock, ELP, Emerson Lake and Palmer
