Two Albums by The Nice and Pictures at an Exhibition, part 2

Side 2 is three cover versions from the same bunch of shows as Side 1, plus a studio recording of a final song. This would be the final time that The Nice would go into the studio before Emerson left the band. The first track was composed by Sibelius and the second is by Tchaikovsky. The third is a medley, the first half by Dylan and the second half by Bach.

They were really leaning in to the whole classical/rock fusion thingie, since many of us had music teachers who would proclaim that rock music would never be as great as the classics and wanted to know music that proved those supercilous teachers wrong.

Keith Emerson really was a hero to that kid, the one with the snooty music teacher. Emerson obviously knew that was a big part of his appeal. It was the point of prog in those days. PRO(ve you wron)G. I was that kid, but I never really “got” Keith Emerson.

But lately, I’ve been trying to figure it out – what the attraction is, can I manage to at least understand the mindset.

I found I had a similar problem with Genesis, which I addressed by repeatedly listening to some of their early records. I love Genesis now, up to about their 10th album. Still not a Phil Collins fan, and they were definitely better as a 5-piece, but I do like everything up to Duke.

So where’s that gonna land me with ELP? Especially if I treat them as a continuation of The Nice, which… to be honest, I think they are.

In the end, I have to say that I think Greg Lake does a better job doing the same things Lee Jackson did, and for me, the jury is still out on Brian Davison v. Carl Palmer. In general, I think The Nice had better pocket than ELP, and I guess I’ll lay that at Palmer’s feet. He may be more technically profidient than Davison (though that’s at least somewhat debatable) but that guy never met a groove he couldn’t push.

My sense is that Emerson was already deeply dissatisfied with The Nice by the time of this record, but that the band was still a very good representation of what I think of as the central idea — a keyboard-led power trio with a high rate of musical proficiency and a real penchant for mixing classical music with rock.

I’ll tackle Elegy next…

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