Language : English
Hardcover : 272 pages
ISBN-10 : 1910978647
ISBN-13 : 978-1910978641
Reading age : 14 years and up
Dimensions : 9.69 x 1.18 x 11.26 inches
Website
Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar), and Carl Palmer (drums and percussion) were three extraordinary musicians that came together to create some of the most groundbreaking music in the progressive genre. While leading entirely separate lives with no friendships conceived outside the studios or stages, they could make magic happen where it counted the most.
I have had a great interest in the music of ELP and found all of the remastered catalog to be excellent. I did not know all the details about the men of this band or what made them so successful. This book, titled Emerson, Lake and Palmer - ELP, tells the tails of a run of success for several years that led them to exhaustion and the end of the band for many years.
The book is hardbound and quite beautiful, serving as a detailed remembrance of what it was like being a rock star in the 70s that produced unique music in rock. Today the only surviving member is Carl Palmer, who continues to bring the legacy of ELP to fans around the world. There are great pictures to enjoy while taking in this very personal account of a famous band. Nothing is sugar-coated. It is all based on reality and the words of each member of the band. I found that refreshing and intimate without any needed embellishments or cover-ups of good or bad feelings about the members.
The book is extensive and a tell-it-like-it-is account of an eight-year continuous recording and touring run. Brain Salad Surgery was the high watermark of their career, and they never reached those heights again. What I found interesting was reading about how they got that point of creativity. The music contained in their recordings and subsequent tours and adding an orchestra and going on tour changed the face of music forever. Progressive music took a giant leap forward thanks to ELP, and this fantastic account of that story is in this book's pages.
Of course, this is a highly recommended resource for any prog rock or ELP fan, and music fans in general, I believe would find a lot of enjoyment from reading the text and flipping through all the photos. Books about bands do not get much better than this! The 70s was a great time for rock music, and if you were there to experience it all, that says it all. If you were not there, this will give you a glimpse of what it was like and never will be again. It serves as either a remarkable memory or a lot of newfound facts and realizations that are well worth your time to experience.
Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-Progressive Music Reviews Founder
April 24, 2022
