RIP Greg Lake

[Stadler]

Just a few weeks ago I was thinking I should really try to get into ELP. Needless to say, I'm listening to Brain Salad Surgery for the first time now. Karn Evil 9 is very good. I also gained a new appreciation for In The Wake of Poseidon listening to it today. Cadence and Cascade and the title track are beautiful songs.

RIP.

Pretty big ELP fan, and I'm not even sure that BSS is their best.  Personally, I'd go for any of their first five (counting "Pictures..."), or even Side Four of Works Vol. 1 equally. 

[Imaginos]

Just a few weeks ago I was thinking I should really try to get into ELP. Needless to say, I'm listening to Brain Salad Surgery for the first time now. Karn Evil 9 is very good. I also gained a new appreciation for In The Wake of Poseidon listening to it today. Cadence and Cascade and the title track are beautiful songs.

RIP.

Pretty big ELP fan, and I'm not even sure that BSS is their best.  Personally, I'd go for any of their first five (counting "Pictures..."), or even Side Four of Works Vol. 1 equally. 

Thanks I'll definitely give them a listen. I just went with that one because I at least knew part of Karn Evil 9 from hearing it on the radio

[LudwigVan]

Yeah, BSS is probably their most bombastic and best known, but I tend to pull out Trilogy, Tarkus, Pictures or their s/t debut before BSS.

[Shattered Glass]

Greg Lake - Asia in Asia -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H65D4u6zIiY

[KevShmev]

Yeah, BSS is probably their most bombastic and best known, but I tend to pull out Trilogy, Tarkus, Pictures or their s/t debut before BSS.

Same here, except replace Pictures with Black Moon.

[bundy]

RIP

Lake's vocals were integral to what makes those first two KC albums so special for me. Also loved his vocal work with ELP. While ELP are so often remembered for their musicianship and "bombast", Lake's vocals were often overlooked.

Man this has been a shocking year. 2015 was awful as well (Chris Squire, Lemmy, Edgar Froese and David Allen off the top of my head) As others have posted, I think this going to be the norm now for the next decade or so. 

[PROGdrummer]

RIP

Lake's vocals were integral to what makes those first two KC albums so special for me. Also loved his vocal work with ELP. While ELP are so often remembered for their musicianship and "bombast", Lake's vocals were often overlooked.

Man this has been a shocking year. 2015 was awful as well (Chris Squire, Lemmy, Edgar Froese and David Allen off the top of my head) As others have posted, I think this going to be the norm now for the next decade or so. 

I hate this.

When Keith died I listened to Tarkus on loop for 2 weeks straight, and the Brain Salad Surgery.
Not sure whether or not I should spin In The Wake of Poseidon tonight or listen to ELP again.... Ugh


I'm going to lose it if Jon Anderson or Phil Collins pass next year. Make it stop.

[Cool Chris]

Never got in to ELP, so gave Tarkus a listen just now. Boy do my ears need a break, not really my thing, that keyboard sound is....eek! Great vocals though.

[KevShmev]

Never got in to ELP, so gave Tarkus a listen just now. Boy do my ears need a break, not really my thing, that keyboard sound is....eek! Great vocals though.

I think you mean that keyboard sound is...classic! 

I'm going to lose it if Jon Anderson or Phil Collins pass next year. Make it stop.

Even though it is a bummer when it happens, the death of musicians don't affect my mood, but I will admit that if I woke up one day and found out that one of the members of Rush, Steven Wilson, Neal Morse, Roine Stolt or Brian May died, any of those would affect my mood that day big time.

[Cool Chris]

Maybe if he played a note or a thousand less. But for some reason I don't like his sound.

To your second point, I have never been adversely affected by the death of someone I didn't know personally. I have been touched, or moved, by actions done to or done by celebrities, but I can't say it has ever affected my overall mood for that day.

[?]

Out of the releases he's appeared on, I've only heard the King Crimson debut. It's not a favorite of mine, but playing on one of the first prog albums ever is enough to make him a legend in my eyes. RIP

[Mladen]

Emerson's keyboard sound was a bit too far-out for me as well. It's obvious keys were the most important and prominent instrument in the band, whereas I'm more into keys being crucial but no more important than guitars, like it is the case with Genesis, Yes or Dream Theater. Probably a big part of me never being crazy about ELP. The influence can't be taken away, though.

[KevShmev]

I don't get not liking his sounds.  He used a ton of piano; he basically popularized in rock music the moog, which is one of the most awesome synth sounds there is; and he made a living off playing the hammond organ, which is also awesome.  Sure, he'd occasionally go off the rails, like with the sound he uses in the  first part of the Aquatarkus part of Tarkus or in Karn Evil 9's 2nd Impression (the 3rd part of 4), but, by and large, the piano, the moog synth and the hammond organ were his bread and butter, and they were three of the most used keyboard sounds in 70s rock. 

[PROGdrummer]

I'm going to lose it if Jon Anderson or Phil Collins pass next year. Make it stop.

Even though it is a bummer when it happens, the death of musicians don't affect my mood, but I will admit that if I woke up one day and found out that one of the members of Rush, Steven Wilson, Neal Morse, Roine Stolt or Brian May died, any of those would affect my mood that day big time.

There are are a few artist's who's work I really connect with on a deep level, and artist's who are crucial in my development as a person just in how theyve inspired me to pursue arts or how their lyrics affect my outlook on life. So yeah, a select few people's deaths would hold  significantly more weight. 

[PROGdrummer]

And yeah, I guess Keith's keyboard sound is an aquired taste?    I just have an extreme love for lead keyboards, especially how Keith plays to the point where I can sing along to every note of Tarkus from beginning to end and not forget a single part. (The lyrics as well, for that matter.) Its been imbedded into my mind from countless hours of looping that song over the past 5 years or so when I first heard that magical album. That was one great summer.

[Fritzinger]

I am a guitarist and I don't get what people mean by saying they don't like "the" keyboard sound of Keith Emerson. As KevShmev said, he used a ton of different sounds, most of them pretty traditional (organ, piano), especially on the first 5 albums, combined with some experimental sounds, some of which he was the pioneer of.
I have to say, and I'm sure, Jordan Rudess would agree with me if he could read this, Keith Emerson was one of the greatest keyboard player the world has ever seen, definitely in the top 3. I met Jordan on a meet & greet two days after Keith died, he wasn't quite himself. He was all mellow and looking on the ground not saying much. I could imagine this being because one of his idols died.

Greg Lake certainly had one of the greatest voices in Prog history. Just listen to Karn Evil 9, there's barely a melody to sing, and yet he makes it sound great. Also he was an underrated bass player. Pictures At An Exhibition never fails to amaze me. Three people (3!!!) on stage creating THAT wall of sound. Wow.

[KevShmev]

Back in the 90s, I went through a phase where I had personalized license plates, and one of them was ELP-related:

TARKUS

No one but a few friends had a clue what it meant.

But I was pretty bonkers over that song for a long time. I don't listen to it that much anymore, but I am pretty sure I could turn it on and still hum along note for note and know most of the lyrics (except the ones so weird that I didn't even know them back then ).

[ytserush]

I am a guitarist and I don't get what people mean by saying they don't like "the" keyboard sound of Keith Emerson. As KevShmev said, he used a ton of different sounds, most of them pretty traditional (organ, piano), especially on the first 5 albums, combined with some experimental sounds, some of which he was the pioneer of.
I have to say, and I'm sure, Jordan Rudess would agree with me if he could read this, Keith Emerson was one of the greatest keyboard player the world has ever seen, definitely in the top 3. I met Jordan on a meet & greet two days after Keith died, he wasn't quite himself. He was all mellow and looking on the ground not saying much. I could imagine this being because one of his idols died.

The main difference (in my view) between Emerson and Rudess (probably my two faves) is that Rudess is on the cutting edge of the instrument whereas Emerson was and got to a point where he just mastered what he had to the point where those sounds (while very dated)are attributable to him. Now much of that is Jordan's interest in the technology. At a certain point, Emerson just went with what he had after a while.


Emerson hit me the hardest. (Didn't listen to any music for more than a week.) and Lake hit me harder than I thought (especially after seeing Carl Palmer a month before)  Nobody in Emerson, Lake and Powell is around anymore and it's a really sad thing.