Monday, July 2, 2018
Keith Emerson Interview ELP Legendary Keyboard Moog Synthesizer Wiz Releases Live CD with Greg Lake
Keith Emerson Interview ELP Legendary Keyboard Moog Synthesizer Wiz Releases Live CD with Greg Lake
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By Ray Shasho
-Interviewed July 22nd 2014
KEITH EMERSON is an accomplished pianist, keyboardist, and master of the moog synthesizer, who contributed a unique styling of futuristic and intricate musical arrangements covering elements of classical, jazz, and progressive rock, with such notable bands as The Nice and legendary progressive rock trio Emerson Lake & Palmer.
Cherry Red Records recently released the brand new CD entitled � Keith Emerson & Greg Lake ��Live from Manticore Hall� -Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, two of the founding members of progressive rock legends Emerson Lake & Palmer. The duos forthcoming live album captures their unique two-man versions of a selection of well known material from ELP�s celebrated catalog, including the hit �Lucky Man�. These recordings were taken from a live show during their 2010 world tour and released now for the very first time! -Purchase at Cherry Red Records oramazon.com.
Keith Emerson�s early success began in the mid 60�s with The V.I.P�s which also featured singerMike Harrison, bassist Greg Ridley, drummer Mike Kellie, and guitarist Luther Grosvenorwho later formed the rock band Spooky Tooth.
The Nice: In 1967, Emerson formed the psychedelic/progressive rock group The Nice. The band featured Keith Emerson (organ, piano, vocals), Keith �Lee� Jackson (bass, guitar, vocals), David �Davy� O� List (guitar, vocals), Ian Hague (drums -1967), and Brian �Blinky� Davison (drums).
Their debut album �The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack� (1967) received rave reviews. At the end of 1967 they were included in a tour with Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, and Amen Corner. �Lemmy� Kilmister (Hawkwind, Mot?rhead) became a roadie for �The Nice.� In 1969, the band performed at the �Isle of Wight Festival� to an estimated audience of 150,000 people.
Albums by The Nice � �The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack� (1967), Ars Longa Vita Brevis 1968, Nice (aka Everything As Nice As Mother Makes It) (1969), Five Bridges (1970),Elegy (1971).
The Nice disbanded in 1970 due to a lackluster of commercial success. The band briefly reformed in 2002 for a series of concerts.
ELP: Keith Emerson (The Nice) and Greg Lake (King Crimson) first met at the Fillmore West in San Francisco while exploring alternative band options. After working together they realized they meshed musically well together. Impresario Robert Stigwood suggested that they hire drummerCarl Palmer (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster) to join the band. The progressive rock supergroup morphed into Emerson Lake & Palmer with a lineup of � Keith Emerson (Piano, Hammond organ, moog synthesizer), Greg Lake (lead vocals, bass, and guitars), and Carl Palmer (drums and percussions).
Emerson Lake & Palmer�s self-titled debut album was released in 1970. The album featured, �Lucky Man� a medieval story penned by Greg Lake when he was only 12 years old. The song was originally used as filler on the album but surprised the group when hearing it being played on the radio. �Lucky Man� reached #48 on Billboard�s Hot 100. The song was re-released in 1973 hitting #51 on the charts. The track spotlighted an incredible moog synthesizer solo by Emerson at the end of the song.
ELP�s electrifying performance at the Isle of Wight Festival delivered the band into superstardom.
�Tarkus,� the band�s first concept album was released in 1971, described as a story about �reverse evolution.� �Pictures at an Exhibition� a live album recorded at Newcastle City Hall in England was also released that year. ELP�s third studio album, �Trilogy� featured Greg Lake�s alluring acoustically performed composition, �From the Beginning.� The song became Emerson Lake & Palmer�s highest charting single #39 in U.S. The album also featured,�Hoedown� a live performance crowd pleaser.
In 1973, ELP released �Brain Salad Surgery.� The album featured another Greg Lake acoustical classic, �Still� You Turn Me On� and �Karn Evil 9,� featuring their most noted opening lyric ��Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.� Supposedly the title for �Brain Salad Surgery� came from the lyric �Just need a little brain salad surgery/Got to cure this insecurity� from Dr. John�s Top 10 Hit (�Right Place Wrong Time).The album was also their first under the Manticore Records imprint.
In 1974, ELP was top billing for California Jam I. The concert featured Rare Earth, Earth Wind and Fire, Eagles, Seals and Crofts, Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Emerson Lake & Palmer. The most memorable highlight of the concert was Keith Emerson performing on his Grand Piano while spinning (flying) end-over-end fifty feet in midair. The concert attracted over 250,000 music fans and was broadcasted on the ABC television network.
The album�s �Works 1� and �Works 2� were released in 1977.
Emerson Lake & Palmer disbanded in 1979 but reformed in 1985 with ex-Rainbow drummer Cozy Powell. In 1991, ELP rejoined forces once again issuing the comeback album, �Black Moon� and began touring again in 1996.
After more than a decade, Emerson Lake & Palmer embarked on a North American tour in 2010. ELP celebrated their 40th anniversary by headlining The High Voltage Festival at Victoria Park in London.
Keith Emerson solo releases: Inferno - soundtrack (1980), Nighthawks - soundtrack (1981), Honky (1982), Best Revenge - soundtrack (1985), Murder Rock - soundtrack (1986) , The Emerson Collection (1986), Harmageddon/China Free Fall (1987), The Christmas Album (1988) , Changing States (aka Cream of Emerson Soup) (1995), Emerson Plays Emerson (2002), La Chiesa - soundtrack (2002), Godzilla: Final Wars - soundtrack (2004) , At the Movies (2005), Hammer It Out (anthology) (2005), Off the Shelf (2006), Keith Emerson Band featuring Marc Bonilla (2008), "Moscow" - live album CD & DVD (2010), The Three Fates Project (The Keith Emerson Band) (2012).
Most Recently: Keith Emerson was elected into the Hammond Hall of Fame (2014).
Emerson will also be honored for a 70th birthday tribute concert presented by the South Shore Symphony Orchestra. The tribute will be held at The Madison Theatre at Malloy College -Rockville Centre, Long Island, New York on October 10th &11th. You can purchase tickets[HERE] or got to www.keithemerson.com/#2014-SouthShoreSymphony for more information.
Keith�s Band, The Keith Emerson Band is also busier than ever. The Band�s lineup is �Keith Emerson (Keyboards), Marc Bonilla (guitars and vocals), Travis Davis (Bass), and Joe Travers(drums).
I had the rare privilege of chatting with Keith Emerson recently about � The brand new Keith Emerson & Greg Lake ��Live From Manticore Hall�CD �The legend of the spinning piano� A longtime friendship with Dr. Robert Moog �ELP �.Future projects � Carl Palmer� And much-much more!
Here�s my interview with pianist/ keyboardist/ moog synthesizer extraordinaire - composer/songwriter & legendary founding member of �The Nice� and �Emerson Lake & Palmer� � KEITH EMERSON.
Ray Shasho: Hi Keith, it�s still early morning here in the states, so what part of England am I calling?
Keith Emerson: �Hi Ray, I�m in the southern part of England right on the Sussex coast.
Ray Shasho: Keith, let�s first talk about your latest release � Keith Emerson & Greg Lake Live From Manticore Hall, recorded from the 2010 world tour. The CD was officially released on July 14th. I liked the intimate setting of the show and the concept of sort of bringing the audience into the recording studio.
Keith Emerson: �The idea was put to me by Martin Darvill back in 2010. Martin plays a part in helping Emerson Lake and Palmer individually in their different exploits and also to a degree ELP as a band. He called me up, I was in California, and he wanted me to meet with an agent who I later had lunch with in LA, and they put the idea to me. They said, what about starting with a duo tour with you and Greg. He said, I think it would be a great help for Greg because he hasn�t done an awful lot of touring and I think Greg wanted to get warmed-up. So that was one of the reasons put to me that it would make sense to do a duo tour. Meanwhile Carl Palmer was playing with Asia and with his trio as well. What we were aiming at or what Martin was aiming at� if Greg and I did a duo we could do a big concert at the High Voltage Festival in London which was later on in the year, and it would be a great sort of warm-up. So I thought about it and thought, well actually the ELP repertoire is pretty huge, and as much as I played acoustic gigs with my own band which features �Marc Bonilla (guitar/vocals), Travis Davis (bass) and Joe Travers (drums), and have done duo gigs with Marc Bonilla with some degree of success, so I thought there�s no reason why I shouldn�t be able to do the same thing with Greg.�
�When I spoke to Greg about doing a duo tour he wanted it bigger, let�s take around on the tour our own setup and build a recording studio onstage so it looks like you�re in an actual recording studio. You can see the engineer behind the mixing desk, and when we�re ready to do a song, our engineer in this case Keith Wechsler, who has been with us for a very long time, he would issue all the instructions and then the red light would go on, record, and then we would do the concert. We did have a record label called Manticore so the idea was to recreate a fantasia of what Manticore Hall would actually look like, and of course it was an expensive trip, whenever ELP or E & L get together it does turn out to be that way, it does get very expensive in production.�
�Greg and I had a rehearsal period in Santa Monica and then our first gig was in Cleveland which got off to a rocky start. Greg�s rig was still being adjusted and I had no time to tune the moog up and do my soundcheck which was frustrating to say the least. There�s no doubt that the concert would have been a shambles so we
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