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Emerson vs Wakeman


ELP71

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Lowest common denominator:

 

http://www.connollyco.com/discography/elp/love.jpg

Side one of Love Beach still trumps both Zodiaque and Suite of Gods (Rick - what were you thinking!?!?!) Unlistenable!

 

http://www.spirit-of-rock.com/les%20goupes/R/Rick%20Wakeman/A%20Suite%20Of%20Gods/A%20Suite%20Of%20Gods.jpg

http://www.spirit-of-rock.com/les%20goupes/R/Rick%20Wakeman/Zodiaque/Zodiaque.jpg

 

much worse than "to the power of 3" (which was saved by Desde La Vida - other than that the album was gah-bahge).

 

 

 

 

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Its like comparing Eddie Van Halen and John Petwait, we did that already. Maybe more like comparing Tony Iommi and Jimmy Page.

 

I like them both, but for different reasons. I always thought that Wakeman wore his classical training on his sleeve, and that really dominated his delivery of all things. Ricks true musical personality really is in full bloom on Going For the One. His playing is very pretty, rich, and flowery. Its great stuff. I love Going for The One and Close To The Edge, but Tony Kaye is still my favorite Yes keyboardist. (Yes, I do love Relayer, although that really doesnt sound like Yes to me, and I like Drama a lot too.)

 

Keiths playing is definitely meaner, darker, and more visceral. Where Rick wears classicism, Keith definitely wears the jazz hat. And he was definitely the superior Hammond player. (Roundabout is more an aberration than an example of Ricks Hammond playing; but it does rock!)

 

As a kid in the 70s, keyboard heroes were hard enough to come by, so I wasnt choosing between either of these guys.especially once Elton started wearing a duck costume.

 

Hitting "Play" does NOT constitute live performance. -Me.
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Side one of Love Beach

 

But side two is pretty good. ;)

 

A hunch: if one had a DeLorean and Flux Capacitor, went back and temporarily kidnapped the guy who approved the "Love Beach" cover, the album would have done much better. :laugh: The same goes with "Trilogy", it looks like a high school senior painted it in art class. It doesn't even look like them, it looks like a 3-headed naked monster with gold chains. :laugh:

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A slight dust-up on the 'ask Emerson and Wakeman a question' thread got me thinking where everyone stands on the water-cooler pissing match of Emerson v Wakeman. One wore a cape, the other an armadillo suit, so let's stick to the playing (if possible). Haven't seen a thread on it in a while...so here we go.

 

My feeling is, and has always been, that Emerson is the superior player on a visceral, aesthetic level and is clearly the finer composer. I like Wakeman, but have always felt his stuff was decidedly less ballsy although he probably fits better in the confines of a band context, and has really clean technique. Wakeman has always seemed very 'math music' to me (not an insult - just a take), whereas Emerson has always felt much more 'rock' with a strong jazz influence.

 

Aside from the fact that I enjoy Emerson's catalogue much more, the fact that I can play/learn most of Wakeman's stuff more easily in comparison to Emerson's has always been a tipping point in this type of ridiculous discussion for me.

 

They are both boring to me but fit the style of music they play really well. Problem is Prog Rock is not something people really get into except musicians.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

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Side one of Love Beach

 

But side two is pretty good. ;)

 

A hunch: if one had a DeLorean and Flux Capacitor, went back and temporarily kidnapped the guy who approved the "Love Beach" cover, the album would have done much better. :laugh: The same goes with "Trilogy", it looks like a high school senior painted it in art class. It doesn't even look like them, it looks like a 3-headed naked monster with gold chains. :laugh:

Yeah, attempts to make prog "sexy" are severely misguided. Shoulda just put a bratwurst on the cover and been done with it....
A ROMpler is just a polyphonic turntable.
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Problem is Prog Rock is not something people really get into except musicians.

 

And people that like weed.

And people that have a wiener.

And teenagers that hate pop music.

And people that have long hair but are bald on the top of their head.

 

:wave:

It's not a clone, it's a Suzuki.
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Several million in album sales suggests you're wrong :)
Yeah, even more than that. IIRC Yes alone sold 30 million over the course of their career (granted that would include some Rabin era stuff but still). ELP played to hundreds of thousands of fans back in the 70s. It was a very popular form of music for a while and still has a sizeable if more diversified and disseminated following.

 

A great book on the sociology of Prog Rock is Rocking The Classics by Edward Macan.

"The devil take the poets who dare to sing the pleasures of an artist's life." - Gottschalk

 

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Tony Banks.

I'll see your Tony Banks, and raise you an Eddie Jobson, a Kerry Minnear, and a Jürgen Fritz.

 

 

Edit: Not suggesting that these guys are better or worse than Emerson/Wakeman, just that they are some other players that I feel deserve to be mentioned in the same breath...

Agreed. I listen to the Hammond/Moog solo from UK's "Carrying No Cross" all the time these days.

"The devil take the poets who dare to sing the pleasures of an artist's life." - Gottschalk

 

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Side one of Love Beach

 

But side two is pretty good. ;)

 

A hunch: if one had a DeLorean and Flux Capacitor, went back and temporarily kidnapped the guy who approved the "Love Beach" cover, the album would have done much better. :laugh: The same goes with "Trilogy", it looks like a high school senior painted it in art class. It doesn't even look like them, it looks like a 3-headed naked monster with gold chains. :laugh:

Yeah, attempts to make prog "sexy" are severely misguided. Shoulda just put a bratwurst on the cover and been done with it....

 

I was thinking more of an adorable puppy or kitten. Who doesn't like an adorable puppy or kitten? :laugh:

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Problem is Prog Rock is not something people really get into except musicians.

 

And people that like weed.

And people that have a wiener.

And teenagers that hate pop music.

And people that have long hair but are bald on the top of their head.

 

:wave:

 

Hey hey heeyyyyyy! I have a weiner!

What we record in life, echoes in eternity.

 

MOXF8, Electro 6D, XK1c, Motif XSr, PEKPER, Voyager, Univox MiniKorg.

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Side one of Love Beach

 

But side two is pretty good. ;)

 

A hunch: if one had a DeLorean and Flux Capacitor, went back and temporarily kidnapped the guy who approved the "Love Beach" cover, the album would have done much better. :laugh: The same goes with "Trilogy", it looks like a high school senior painted it in art class. It doesn't even look like them, it looks like a 3-headed naked monster with gold chains. :laugh:

Yeah, attempts to make prog "sexy" are severely misguided. Shoulda just put a bratwurst on the cover and been done with it....

 

I was thinking more of an adorable puppy or kitten. Who doesn't like an adorable puppy or kitten? :laugh:

 

...sounds like y'all spent more time reading Rolling Stone's album reviews than

listening to the records themselves.

 

The critics hated ELP.

As a keyboard player, I loved 'em.

 

As we all know, those who can-do.

Those who can not-teach.

Those who can neither teach nor perform-become

paid critics.

 

Surely y'all didn't buy into their crap...

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Ok, I think that Keith Emerson, hand problems aside, is musically a few steps above Rick. His compositions touch a world of modern harmony (fourths, polytonality, superimposed chords, Bartokian dissonances, etc.) which Wakeman has never used in his own music. Also, I think Keith is more succesful in writing large-purpose works, which bring the tematic material in different places.

Playing-wise, again Keith shows more knowledge of different genres (jazz, blues, hard rock, contemporary music), while Rick seems to stick to baroque and classical influences.

Wakeman's style results in a very pleasant overall sound - but sometimes, Keith's music requires your full attention, which is a good thing to me.

Finally, Rick Wakeman seems to work better in the context of Yes, while ELP is Keith's creature; he wrote most of the music for the group.

Only negatives: Emerson sometimes indulges too much in his kitch excesses, going beyond the line of good taste.

 

This.

Weasels ripped my flesh. Rzzzzzzz.
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The critics hated ELP.

As a keyboard player, I loved 'em.

 

Those critics (including Dave Marsh and the late Lester Bangs who in referring to ELP said "These guys amount to war criminals") cast themselves as populists and adhered to what Macan calls the "blues orthodoxy" philosophy of Rock. In a nutshell, the further Rock got from its "pure" basis in rhythm and blues (i.e. the more sophisticated it got and the more it incorporated other forms of music), the less valid it was.

 

But hey, prog rock was based on a different ethos. Both are valid in my view. I don't understand why you can't have both "all that is gutter pure" co-existing with eclecticism of prog.

"The devil take the poets who dare to sing the pleasures of an artist's life." - Gottschalk

 

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