RIP Keith Emerson

The Nice's version of 'America' is a heavy duty jam.

― earlnash, Tuesday, 3 November 2020 13:10 (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

i need more music that sounds like this or shares its vibe now. NOW

Have you tried Atomic Rooster? Or Vincent Crane's previous band, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown?

Do you like Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack, imago? I always really liked it, although its reputation is mixed.

I don't know any of that stuff! Let's dive in...

uh.. emerson lake and palmer ?

shall this be the year I finally succumb

I'm guessing imago considers ELP too "clean" for what he's looking for?

yeah what's good about this cover is the overdriven swelling rock dynamism that barely stays in control, if ELP bring that then all well and good

listening to the Nice debut rn - it's sounding quite cool, right kind of ballpark

Ars Longa Vita Brevis is my favorite of theirs, you could argue that it’s the first bonafide prog album

if ELP bring that then all well and good

Probably less and less the further they get from 1970.

If you like distorted Hammond organ, you may be interested in early Deep Purple and (the frequently terrible) Vanilla Fudge as well.

one of the greatest sounds in the universe, so I'll give those a try too ty

Atilla?

How about Trace?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBvH6Z6uHbc

Van der Graaf Generator on 'H to He' and 'Pawn Hearts' - Hugh Banton built all kinds of extra craziness into his Hammond... fuzzboxes, octave divider, what sounds like some sort of ring modulator... alas, when they reformed for 'Godbluff' he went back to a normal, unmodified C3.

Anyway, the middle section of this is amazing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj3CCvQzYd4

I'm guessing imago considers ELP too "clean" for what he's looking for?

then Pictures at an Exhibition is the one to listen to… its super fuckin raw and heavy and dirty!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7NAGTq_IJQ

cheers!

atonar making the excellent point that hugh banton is the master of heavified organ (something i am well aware of...)

Uriah Heep also has that Hammond through a Marshall sound.

In the US, Bloodrock also used that crunch heavy organ in their sound more prevalent in their first couple records.

Aphrodite's Child's '666' might find some interest featuring Vangelis early sound. It's definitely some minor key weirdness.

The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown is some mighty, mighty stuff

Bringing back THAT BIT from Come And Buy at the end of the next song as well is one of the greatest and maddest album construction decisions of all time

Tape-Op had an interview years back with Motley Crue's longtime producer or engineer or whatever, and he said he used the B3 to thicken things up. Exact quote: "I love the Hammond B3 organ. I used it with power chords a lot. There are very few Mötley Crüe songs that don’t have a B3." I've never noticed it myself - maybe that's the idea? - but I've also never listened closely to Motley Crue.

My fave distorted organ might be the end of Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime," which I long thought was guitar.

This popped up on my Facebook memories from when Emerson died and I figured I would share it here in the hopes that seven years is not too soon...

I have a KEITH EMERSON story!

I was not a fan - I always thought they were too pretentious for my tastes, the worst kind of prog-rock excess that stereotypified (I made that word up) the genre - but I was assigned to review an Emerson, Lake & Palmer show for the British Classic Rock Magazine back in the day and to my pleasant surprise, there was a small open bar meet & greet afterwards and I was invited.

I was in full Lester Bangs-wannabe mode, belligerent and not only willing to slaughter sacred cows, but open to doing so directly to their faces. And since I was poor, I always took far more advantage of open bars than I should have (theory being, who knew when I'd get my next drink).

So I am drunk on screwdrivers (my open bar drink of choice at the time) and the band comes by. I immediately saunter up to Emerson and ask him "What do you think of Roddy Bottum?"

Predictably, Emerson didn't know who he was so I told him who he was (and is again) the keyboardist of Faith No More, at the time kinda blowing up and a bit of an anomaly for having a relatively prominent keyboardist in the mix.
He rolled his eyes at me and made some stuffy comment about how keyboardists in modern music were just content to play along with the band, nothing original, nothing worth getting excited about.

I boorishly laid into him, probably spilling my drink on my shoes as I did, about how music has changed and how merely having a keyboard in a suddenly hot guitar-oriented rock band was a good thing he should embrace and that Bottum served the song as opposed to merely showing off his chops.

He wasn't having it and I am pretty sure he rolled his eyes at some point. Though he wasn't rude to me, he did make it obvious he was done with me by moving onto the next people around him lobbying for his time, people who shot me dirty looks for my inebriated line of questioning.

I squeezed out of there, convinced I did a good thing with a solid blow landed against the dinosaurs. I felt so goddamned punk rock. It is possible I vomited later, I can't recall, but that, too, would have been punk rock.

Sorry the guy is dead, but I am glad I have a ridiculous memory with him even if I never much liked his music.

i'm surprised he wasn't rude. Probably had heard it all a zillion times before.