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Emerson, Lake & Palmer

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Emerson, Lake & Palmer was an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1970. The three members came from other well-known groups: the keyboardist Keith Emerson from The Nice, the singer and bassist Greg Lake from King Crimson and the drummer Carl Palmer from Atomic Rooster. They chose their three surnames as the band name, so that not all the attention would go to Emerson. After a performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970, in front of an enormous audience, they were famous at once.

Music and breakthrough

The debut album Emerson, Lake & Palmer was released at the end of 1970. It contains rock arrangements of classical pieces by Bartók, Janáček and Bach, but also Lucky Man, an acoustic ballad that Lake had already written at the age of twelve. Tarkus (1971), with a title piece of twenty minutes, Pictures at an Exhibition after Mussorgsky, Trilogy (1972) and Brain Salad Surgery (1973) followed. The sound revolved around Emerson, who played Hammond organ, piano and the Moog synthesizer with great showmanship. On stage he used a large modular Moog, which sometimes went out of tune from the heat of the lights.

Influence

After Works (1977) and Love Beach (1978) the group broke up in 1979, although reunions and the albums Black Moon (1992) and In the Hot Seat (1994) followed later. Emerson and Lake both died in 2016. ELP was one of the most popular prog rock bands of the 1970s and showed that the synthesizer could be a solo instrument, just as loud and conspicuous as the electric guitar.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Lucky Man and notice the difference between the beginning, with acoustic guitar and vocals, and the ending. There the Moog synthesizer takes over with a gliding, buzzing solo.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

See also

Categories: ArtistsMoog and the first synthesizer pop