Love Beach Cover Ruined ELP Album Says Keith Emerson

Tragedy: the ELP cover photo

Keith Emerson says the cheesy cover of 1978 Emerson Lake and Palmer album Love Beach “kind of ruined” the release.

The three members are seen standing on a sand dune with a backdrop of palm trees and sunset, clad in shirts that reveal hairy chests.

And the keyboardist accepts that the terrible image overshadowed the music contained within.

He tells Something Else: “Let’s tell you the truth – it’s not a bad album. It’s just the cover; the cover kind of ruins it. I think it was unfortunate to have the picture of us on the front looking like the Bee Gees.”

Emerson says the tragedy came about when the aims of the band and their record label were put together towards a single purpose. “The idea was, okay, the Beatles had done Abbey Road and we said, ‘Alright, we’ll call it Love Beach.’” he says. “I wasn’t favourable about that; I really wasn’t.

“The record company said, ‘It’s about time to show your own faces on the album cover, looking happy and smiling.’”

ELP’s 1973 classic Brain Salad Surgery will be released in an “Ultimate Expension Edition” on April 7.

Source Link: http://www.progrockmag.com/news/love-beach-cover-ruined-elp-album-says-keith-emerson/

Rudess Morgenstein Project Announce Four US Dates

Jordan Rudess and Rod Morgenstein are bringing prog-rock nirvana to the Northeast in November.

Prog-rock duo to perform ELP's Tarkus

Dream Theater keyboard master Jordan Rudess and Dixie Dregs/Winger drum icon Rod Morgenstein are getting their old gang the Rudess Morgenstein Project together again for a select number of shows in the US next month. 

Morgenstein tells MusicRadar that the duo have recorded a sizable amount of new material as a possible follow-up to their 1997 self-titled album. "The only problem we have is finishing things," he says. "With our schedules, it's difficult to know if and when we will ever get to it." He adds that "some of it is really, really good."

In recent years, RMP have performed in Poland, Costa Rica, Venezueala, Mexico, Germany and the UK. After a well-received show at Boston's Berklee College Of Music this past summer, the two decided to fit in more dates before the year was up. "We just have a great time hanging out and jamming," says Morgenstein. "Whenever our schedules can line up, we're going to try to do this sort of thing."

Morgenstein figures that setlists will include material from the original RPM studio album along with some selections from Rudess' solo discs. In addition, the two will perform the title track to Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Tarkus, which Rudess covered on his 2007 album, The Road Home.

Upcoming Rudess Morgenstein dates are as follows:

11/19 – Washington, DC – U Street (tickets)
11/20 – Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live (tickets)
11/21 – Englewood, NJ – Bergen PAC (tickets)
11/22 – Bay Shore, NY – Boulton Center (tickets)