North American syndicated rock radio show and website InTheStudio: The Stories Behind History’s Greatest Rock Bands hosts Greg Lake and Carl Palmer of progressive rock’s first supergroup, Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

If you asked any followers of the white hot London music scene in 1969 to wager on who would emerge as the most innovative bandleader, the smart money would have been on Jimmy Page’s Led Zeppelin, King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, and the featured soloist fronting a three piece called The Nice, the impressive keyboard player Keith Emerson. So when Emerson surprised everybody by announcing his departure in order to team up with King Crimson bassist, singer, songwriter Greg Lake and Crazy World of Arthur Brown/ Atomic Rooster percussionist Carl Palmer, the stage was set for “the maximum amount of music by the fewest musicians”, as Greg Lake tells us.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer elevated the progressive rock movement by taking the synthesizer out of the science lab and onto FM rock radio, where ultimately millions of listeners would respond in favor. “Lucky Man” from their debut may have been their most famous song, and their fourth album Brain Salad Surgery may have been their best seller, but 1972‘s Trilogy came at the high watermark of progressive rock’s quality and popularity, and has remained a favourite over years of changes in rock music.

The final curtain did indeed come down on “the show that never ends, my friends...” in March of this year with the sudden death of Keith Emerson. The keyboard maestro had been struggling with a repetitive stress injury in his right hand for almost twenty years, according to Carl Palmer. “In July 2010 we played the High Voltage Festival, one of the first Prog Rock festivals…and I noticed that the standard we reached really wasn’t where we’d left off…Keith understood immediately. He’s a realist. He knew the game was up.”

Listen at the following links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer were one of the most successful, innovative and ground breaking British groups of the golden age of progressive rock. As well as creating spectacular ‘live’ shows that incorporated advanced technology and showmanship, they also recorded a cascade of powerful albums that sold in millions around the world. During 2016 and 2017 the band’s musical legacy will be celebrated by BMG with an important and comprehensive re-issue programme that will put the spotlight on ELP’s nine studio albums as well as their ‘live’ recordings and compilations. The trio’s remarkable style, combining original compositions with rock, jazz, folk and classical influences, was performed with passion and integrity by the founder members:

Keyboard maestro - the late great, Keith Emerson
Singer, guitarist and bass player - Greg Lake
Drummer and percussionist - Carl Palmer

Their phenomenal mix of melodic songs, dynamic arrangements, brilliant musicianship and electrifying sound broadened the audience for progressive rock and guaranteed ELP massive international appeal, as they headlined stadium tours throughout the 1970s and 1990s and achieved sales of over 40 million albums. ELP also enjoyed two major hit singles with “Lucky Man” and “Fanfare For The Common Man”, and their 21 minute epic track “Tarkus” is hailed as a milestone in prog rock history.

New and old generations of fans will now be able to enjoy ELP’s music afresh, as their albums are released in a range of different formats, from CD and freshly cut vinyl LP to digital download, high definition digital and mastered for iTunes. Vinyl connoisseurs will be pleased that following a special request from Greg Lake, the LPs will be presented on 140 gm vinyl to ensure a superior high quality sound. LP inner bag features an explanation of this by Greg.

The Albums:

The group’s first three albums are scheduled for re-release on Friday, July, 29th.

All the CD version booklets will feature authoritative liner notes and interviews conducted in 2016 with Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, by legendary rock journalist Chris Welch.

The band’s debut album, Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1970) will be available as a 2 CD set with CD1 comprising the original album in its 2012 remastered edition. CD2 offers an Alternate Album in a 2012 Steven Wilson stereo mix, with bonus tracks. The LP version will be the original album, newly cut for the first time from 24 Bit/HD 2012 remasters. The Standard Digital Download will comprise the remastered 1970 album and an Alternate Album (2012 Stereo remix) with bonus tracks. The same contents will be available on MFiT and HD digital formats, all taken from the 2012 remasters.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer was first released after the group’s critically acclaimed debut show at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, when they performed to 600,000 people. Its dynamic original compositions and classical adaptations are brimful of Keith Emerson’s superb piano and Moog synthesizer work, Greg Lake’s magnificent vocals, bass and acoustic guitar playing and Carl Palmer’s lightning fast drumming.

Bartok’s “The Barbarian”, together with originals “Take A Pebble”, “Knife Edge”, and the three part suite “The Three Fates” are followed by “Tank” and Greg Lake’s ballad “Lucky Man” which was the band’s debut single and a huge UK and US hit. The Alternate album has 12 tracks peppered with bonus items notable an informal “Rave Up”, a Carl Palmer ‘Drum Solo,’ and alternate versions of “Take A Pebble”, “Knife Edge” and “Lucky Man”.

The band’s second album, Tarkus (1971) saw ELP take a new direction with yet more complex keyboard sounds. The title track took up the whole of side one of the original LP, and defined the band’s exultant, bombastic approach. “Jeremy Bender”, “Bitches Crystal”, “The Only Way (Hymn)”, “Infinite Space (Conclusion)”, “A Time And A Place”, and the rocking “Are You Ready Eddy?” complete this #1 UK album that also shot to #9 in the US charts.

CD1 comprises the 1971 album remastered in 2012 by renowned rock remastering engineer Andy Pearce. CD2 is the Steven Wilson Stereo Mix of the 2012 remaster, with bonus tracks taken from the original recording sessions. They are “Oh My Father”, “Unknown Ballad” and an alternate take of “Mass” from the extended piece Tarkus. The LP version is newly cut from the 2012 remaster, with original gatefold sleeve and artwork faithfully reproduced. The three Digital versions are also taken from the 2012 remasters.

ELP’S third album, Pictures At An Exhibition (1971) has been credited with inspiring many young musicians to embrace and study classical music. Based on the group’s enthusiastic interpretation of the famous work by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, it was a major hit and reached #3 in the UK and #10 in the US album charts. Pictures was recorded on March 21st, 1971 at Newcastle City Hall, where Emerson made use of the hall’s thunderous pipe organ.

The LP and Disc 1 of the CD comprises an excellent new remaster of the Pictures album from the original master tapes. On the 2CD set, tracks on CD1 include “Promenade”, “The Gnome”, “Promenade”, “The Sage”, “The Old Castle”, “Blues Variations”, another reprise of “Promenade”, “The Hut of Baba Yaga”, “The Curse of Baba Yaga”, “The Hut of Baba Yaga”, “The Great Gates of Kiev” and encore number “Nut Rocker” a hit by B.Bumble & The Stingers. Bonus tracks are a medley of ‘Pictures’ recorded ‘live’ at the Mar Y Sol Festival, Puerto Rico, on December 4th, 1972. Disc 2 has another live performance of the extended work, recorded at the Lyceum Ballroom, London, on December 9th, 1970, complemented by live performances of ELP favourites “The Barbarian”, “Knife Edge”, “Rondo” and “Nut Rocker”.

Accompanying these three albums is a special 3 CD and Download release Emerson, Lake & Palmer - The Anthology. Produced by Greg Lake, this superb, career-spanning set has 39 tracks from the years 1970 to 1998, the choice of material approved by all three band members. It is presented in special ‘casebound’ book packaging with detailed, informative sleeve notes by Chris Welch, illustrated with rare band photographs.

The songs are selected from the albums Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Tarkus, Pictures At An Exhibition, Trilogy, Brain Salad Surgery, Welcome Back My Friends To the Show That Never Ends, ‘orks Volume 1, Works Volume 2, Works Live, Love Beach, Live At Nassau Coliseum ‘78, Black Moon, In The Hot Seat, Live At The Royal Albert Hall 1993 and Then & Now.

Among the highlights are the band’s performance of Copland’s “Hoedown”, and their version of “Jerusalem” by William Blake and Hubert Parry. CD3 includes the stirring “Fanfare For The Common Man”, Keith Emerson’s hit rendition of the famed “Honky Tonk Train Blues”, Greg Lake’s 1975 solo hit “I Believe In Father Christmas” and the group’s menacing interpretation of the TV theme Peter Gunn. “Tiger In A Spotlight” is another live track, recorded at the group’s comeback show at the Royal Albert Hall.

Subsequent batches of important original ELP albums will be released by BMG later in 2016. They are Trilogy, (1972), Brain Salad Surgery (1973) and the unique triple live album Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends (1974).

Footnote: All these albums now serve as a fitting memorial to Keith Emerson, who died aged 71 on March 10th, 2016. When speaking about ELP’s career and achievements for the re-issue project he said: “Emerson, Lake and Palmer are very proud to have brought this great music to a new generation of musicians and fans.”