Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Studio album by
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Released20 November 1970
RecordedJuly–September 1970
StudioAdvision, London
Genre
Length41:13
LabelIsland
ProducerGreg Lake
Emerson, Lake & Palmer chronology
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
(1970)		 Tarkus
(1971)
Singles from Emerson, Lake & Palmer
  1. "Lucky Man"/"Knife-Edge"
    Released: December 1970 [1]

Emerson, Lake & Palmer is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It was released in the United Kingdom by Island Records in November 1970, and in the United States by Cotillion Records in January 1971. After the group formed in the spring of 1970, they entered rehearsals and prepared material for an album which became a mix of original songs and rock arrangements of classical music. The album was recorded at Advision Studios in July 1970, when the band had yet to perform live. Lead vocalist and bassist/guitarist Greg Lake produced it.

Upon release, the album went to No. 4 in the UK and No. 18 in the US.[2][3] Lake's song "Lucky Man" was released as a single in 1970 and helped the group achieve radio airplay; it peaked at No. 48 in the US. After a warm-up gig in Plymouth, the band performed songs from the album at their next, a spot at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival which propelled them to widespread fame. In 2012, Steven Wilson prepared a special edition that features a new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes, plus bonus material.

Songs

Side one

"The Barbarian" is an arrangement of Béla Bartók's 1911 piano piece Allegro Barbaro, but original early pressings of the album credit the track to the group.[4][5] Bartók's widow contacted the band shortly after the album's release to request that the credit be corrected.[6]

"Take a Pebble" was penned by Lake, with the primary sections being a jazz keyboard arrangement by Emerson, and the middle section being a folk guitar work by Lake with water-like percussion effects from Palmer, plus bits of clapping and whistling.

"Knife-Edge" is based on the first movement of Leoš Janáček's orchestral piece Sinfonietta (1926),[5] with an instrumental middle section that includes an extended quotation from the Allemande of Johann Sebastian Bach's first French Suite No. 1 in D minor, BWV 812, but played on an organ rather than a clavichord or piano. Lake provided the lyrics, with assistance from Richard Fraser, a member of the group's road crew.

Side two

"The Three Fates" is a three-part "pseudo suite",[4] written and predominantly performed by Emerson. Each section is named after the three sisters of Greek mythology known as the Three Fates, or Moirai: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. The "Clotho" movement was recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London, with Emerson playing the venue's pipe organ. "Lachesis" is a short piano piece that features baroque and jazz influences, ending in grand, sweeping arpeggios. "Atropos" sees Emerson play a piano vamp in 7/8 with percussion accompaniment from Palmer.[7] An improvisational section is played on top, which transforms into a polymetrically played repeated sequence in 4/4 time. The resonance of the final chords is curtailed by the sound of explosions.

Palmer's solo spot "Tank" was composed with Emerson. The first section features Emerson on clavinet and piano, Lake on bass and Palmer on drums. The middle section is a drum solo. The final section features Emerson on clavinet and Moog synthesizer.

"Lucky Man" is a song written by Lake on the acoustic guitar when he was 12. It features an improvised Moog synthesizer solo by Emerson at the end, liberally using portamento.[8][9][10] A 5.1 surround sound mix of the song was released on a 2000 reissue of Brain Salad Surgery.

Artwork

The album's cover is a painting by British artist Nic Dartnell. Although it has been said to be originally intended for the American group Spirit, and that the bald-headed man on the left of the cover is Spirit's drummer, Ed Cassidy, the artist denied this in an interview with Mike Goldstein of RockPoP:

"I'd like to take a moment and dispel a rumor that, according to Wikipedia, the image is somehow linked to the LA band Spirit. The fact is that, at the time I painted the ELP 'Bird', I also painted a portrait of Spirit which I sent to them in LA. A very similar bird was featured in the corner of that painting. I got a message from Spirit to say that if they had received their painting in time they would have put it on the back of Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. I became friendly with Randy California over the years and I took the photograph that is on his 1982 12" EP All Along the Watchtower. The bald image in "Bird" has no connection to Ed Cassidy of Spirit and doesn't look anything like him. Ed still has the Spirit portrait – so I'm told."

— Nic Dartnell, [11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]
Christgau's Record GuideC[13]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[14]
Classic Rock RevisitedA[15]
The Daily VaultA−[16]
Sound & Vision[17]

The album was initially released to highly positive reviews in influential publications like New Musical Express and Rolling Stone, the latter raving "this is such a good album it is best heard as a whole". One notable exception was Robert Christgau, who disdained nearly all progressive rock, who stated: "This opens with 'The Barbarian,' a keyboard showpiece (not to slight all the flailing and booming underneath) replete with the shifts of tempo, time, key, and dynamics beloved of these bozos. Does the title mean they see themselves as rock and roll Huns sacking nineteenth-century 'classical' tradition? Or do they think they're like Verdi portraying Ethiopians in Aida? From such confusions flow music as clunky as these heavy-handed semi-improvisations and would-be tone poems."[13] Retrospective reviews have continued to be largely positive, with AllMusic awarding four-and-a-half stars and The Daily Vault hailing it as a "dizzying mix of keyboard solos, incredible bass work, excellent vocals and powerful drums". Paul Stump's 1997 History of Progressive Rock commented of the album, "Still hailed by many as the band's best effort, it established the blueprint for a musical style which, for all the bullish puffing of the band's 'progressive' credentials, they would develop hardly at all."[18]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."The Barbarian"(instrumental)Béla Bartók (arr. Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, Carl Palmer)4:27
2."Take a Pebble"LakeLake12:32
3."Knife-Edge"Lake, Richard FraserLeoš Janáček, J. S. Bach (arr. Emerson)5:04
Total length:22:03
Side two
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."The Three Fates"
  1. "Clotho"
  2. "Lachesis"
  3. "Atropos"
(instrumental)Emerson7:46
  1. 1:48
  2. 2:43
  3. 3:15
2."Tank"(instrumental)Emerson, Palmer6:49
3."Lucky Man"LakeLake4:37
Total length:19:12

2012 reissue

In May 2012, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree remixed the album for a three-disc reissue containing the original mix, the Wilson remix, and a DVD-Audio with Wilson's 5.1 surround sound version and a higher-bitrate version of his stereo mix.

CD 2 – The Alternate ELP New 2012 Stereo Mixes
No.TitleLength
1."The Barbarian" (Bartók, arr. Emerson, Lake & Palmer)4:32
2."Take a Pebble" (Lake; arr. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but not always credited)12:36
3."Knife-Edge (with extended outro)" (Janáček & Bach, arr. Emerson, lyrics by Lake and Fraser)5:38
4."Promenade" (Modest Mussorgsky, arr. Lake and Emerson, lyrics by Lake)1:29
5."The Three Fates: Atropos" (Emerson)3:11
6."Rave Up" (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)5:02
7."Drum Solo" (Palmer)3:02
8."Lucky Man" (Lake)4:39
Total length:40:09
Bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
9."Take a Pebble (alternate take)" (Lake)3:40
10."Knife-Edge (alternate take)" (Janáček & Bach, arr. Emerson, lyrics by Lake and Fraser)4:19
11."Lucky Man (first Greg Lake solo version)" (Lake)3:02
12."Lucky Man (alternate take)" (Lake)4:41
Total length:55:51

The remixed versions have different track listings from the original album. The first two sections of "The Three Fates" ("Clotho" and "Lachesis") and "Tank" were omitted, for multitrack tapes for these pieces were unavailable; meanwhile, unreleased material was added. "Knife-Edge" has an extended ending; due to the difficulty of reproducing the song's original tape slowdown ending digitally, Wilson decided to include the end of the original album session at its original speed. The 5.1 remix replaces "Tank" with an unreleased instrumental called "Rave Up", which bears some similarity to the instrumental section of "Mass" on Tarkus.

The remixed stereo versions include all of the above while adding more unreleased material: a vocal version of Modest Mussorgsky's "Promenade" (the first live version of which appears on Pictures at an Exhibition) replaces the missing sections of "The Three Fates"; a new otherwise untitled "Drum Solo" by Carl Palmer (similar but not identical to a section of "Tank") is added between "Rave Up" and "Lucky Man"; "Lucky Man" is followed by an unfinished alternate take of "Take a Pebble", complete with some studio banter, an unreleased take of "Knife-Edge" (lacking vocals and final section), and two versions of "Lucky Man", the first being Greg Lake's original demo, the second an unreleased complete band version.

Personnel

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Production

  • Greg Lake – producer
  • Eddy Offord – engineer
  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer – arrangement, direction
  • Nic Dartnell – cover painting

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[32] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[33] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "ELP singles". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
  2. ↑ "Official Charts Company Emerson, Lake & Palmer". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
  3. ↑ "The Billboard 200". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
  4. 1 2 Millward, Steve (2014). Different Tracks: Music and Politics in 1970. Troubador. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-78306-476-2.
  5. 1 2 Macan, Edward (1996). Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture. Oxford University Press. pp. 253 n.35. ISBN 978-0-19-535681-6.
  6. ↑ Macan, Edward (2006). Endless Enigma: A Musical Biography of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Open Court, p. 112. ISBN 9780812695960.
  7. ↑ Macan, Edward (2006). Endless Enigma, p. 121.
  8. ↑ Romano, Will (2010). Mountains Come Out of the Sky: The Illustrated History of Prog Rock. Backbeat Books. pp. 97–98. ISBN 978-1-61713-375-6.
  9. ↑ Couture, François. "'Lucky Man' - Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  10. ↑ "Ultra-Mega-Exclusive Interview With Greg Lake". Horizon Press Company. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  11. ↑ "UnCovered Interview – artist Nic Dartnell on his album cover for ELP's debut LP". Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  12. ↑ Eder, Bruce. Emerson, Lake & Palmer at AllMusic. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  13. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: E". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  14. ↑ Grossmas, Loyd (15 April 1971). "Emerson, Lake & Palmer : Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 11 December 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
  15. ↑ ELP – Emerson Lake & Palmer and Tarkus Deluxe Editions Razor & Tie www.classicrockrevisited.com, accessed 7 August 2021
  16. ↑ Ray, Benjamin (2019). "The Daily Vault Music Reviews: Emerson, Lake & Palmer". dailyvault.com. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  17. ↑ Mettler, Mike. "ELP Reissue Series: Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Tarkus; Pictures at an Exhibition". soundandvision.com. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  18. ↑ Stump, Paul (1997). The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock. Quartet Books Limited. pp. 98–99. ISBN 0 7043 8036 6.
  19. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  20. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 5358". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Emerson, Lake & Palmer" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  22. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Emerson, Lake & Palmer" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  23. ↑ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 17 October 2023. Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Emerson Lake & Palmer".
  24. ↑ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 (in Japanese). Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
  25. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Emerson, Lake & Palmer". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  26. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  27. ↑ "Emerson Lake Palmer Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  28. ↑ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  29. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  30. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1971" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  31. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1971. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  32. ↑ Emerson, Keith (11 November 1971). Emerson, Lake & Palmer Gold (Pictures of an Exhibitionist). p. 217. ISBN 9781844540532. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  33. ↑ "American album certifications – Emerson". Recording Industry Association of America.
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