Emerson Lake and Palmer were a seminal band. As the vocalist and bassist, Greg Lake was the man who fronted for the group, but it was a supergroup with two other seminal talents. If anything Greg Lake was the quieter star in a triptych of Keyboard God, Drum Prodigy and the guy who sang and played bass really well. That was probably unfair, but that was the perception.
In many ways Greg Lake was the right man at the right time. He debuted with King Crimson on their first album, which is remarkable enough a feat. From there, he formed Emerson Lake and Palmer because King Crimson were moving in less of a popular direction according to him. Ironically, his new band would come to rival King Crimson as Progressive Rock's standard bearer, and create albums with no less progressive or difficult rock music than King Crimson.
There are reported stories that that Greg Lake wanted his new band to be more 'punchy', with shorter pieces. He allegedly threatened to walk out on the band when Keith Emerson came in with material for the second album 'Tarkus'. Yet, it is Greg Lake's contribution to the long, one-side-of-an-LP title track 'Tarkus' that makes it so subtle and have a popular appeal, bringing the esoteric and abstract composed elements closer to the common punter..
As a bass player, he wasn't quite in the same league as his Progressive Rock contemporaries. He was not as flashy as John Entwistle or Chris Squire, probably not even as daring as John Wetton or as singularly unique as Tony Levin. He wasn't idiosyncratic like Geddy Lee. His bass playing was melodic without being showy, and very much complementary to his musical partners who were out-of-control virtuosos. He had a great deal of presence as a vocalist and he played great electric guitar; he played elegant, elegiac legato runs on ELP albums and more.
After Progressive Rock was sent into critical exile after Punk, Greg Lake put out solo albums that features blues rock numbers. One of them had Gary Moore on guitar and rested on fairly common chord progressions and arrangements. He had an abortive engagement where he filled in for John Wetton for a tour of Japan with Asia. In the 90s, ELP reformed and went on the road again. Perhaps this was the role that suited him best, but Keith Emerson became too erratic for them to stay together for long stretches.
It is genuinely sad to hear of his passing, not long after Keith Emerson's suicide earlier this year. 2016 has been a terrible year for these deaths. It gives me no joy whatsoever to be writing an obit for yet another one of my heroes from when I was a teen.
No comments:
Post a Comment