Tag: Brian Davison

Two Albums By The Nice and Pictures At an Exhibition, part 4

Side 2 of Elegy

This album came out a couple of months before Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s Tarkus, the new band’s second album. The breakup was already established, ELP was a going concern, and a final album by The Nice was, it seems, of interest, at least in the British market, where the album charted at number 5. There’s a previous post that talks about side one of this album. You might want to reference that for the “bigger picture.”

The second side of the record consists of Tchaikovsky’s “Third Movement, Pathetíque Sympnony,” which is credited both to the Russian composer and The Nice, and Bernstein and Sondheim’s “America” which is subtitled “2nd Amendment,” in The Nice’s version. Emerson claimed that this was the world’s first instrumental protest song, which I find to be a dubious claim, although I do support the claim that this is a protest song, and does make its point well.

Yes, I found a copy fo the gatefold on eBay…

I said before that side 2 followed the same pattern as side 1, beginning on piano and moving to organ later, but here I am listening again and glory be! the first thing you hear is organ! How did I not remember that? In fact, there’s no piano on this side of the record at all. I apologize for the misinformation. I hadn’t listened to side 2 but the once in preperation for part 3 of this article. Repeat listenings have had me wondering if I should go back and edit that part, but in this case, it’s published and it would feel dishonest to change what you might already have read.

While there are jazz touches, and classical themes are explored in these arrangements, this is first and foremost a rock album. Though all of these songs have appeared on other albums, the band are working from new arrangements. One can look at this release as some sort of afterthought, but I love the warmth of these performances. I feel like this album may be the best justification for the band’s existence, released after the fact, when all of the members had moved on.

I love the instrumental freakout at the end of “America.” It’s very much in the wheelhouse of other early-70s drone at times, but ultimately represents the theme of entropy and destruction that appears to be the point here, and seems to be drafted into being the band’s big goodbye as well. Lee Jackson gets a final word in, playing the bass line a couple of times, as if to say that he’d be willing to continue the project, if only…

Honestly, I feel what Jackson is doing here. There are many points in my life where that whimper of an ending could have been magnificent if it was the beginning of rebirth. But here we are, at the end of something beautiful, falling apart for the lack of will to find the common ground to continue.

Side one of ELP’s Pictures at an Exhibition is next.

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

Five Bridges Side 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.

This is the back cover, which is much better on many levels than the front cover, even though it’s the same image.

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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Two Albums by The Nice and Pictures at an Exhibition, part 1

Thoughts about Keith Emerson’s journey from The Nice to Emerson, Lake and Palmer

The Nice’s Five Bridges was recorded in October of 1969 except for one track, and released in June of 1970. The Nice’s Elegy was recorded in December of 1969 and released in April of 1971. Emerson Lake and Palmer’s Pictures at an Exhibition was recorded in March of 1971 and released in November of 1971.

I’m sure I’m not the first person who has noticed that these albums have some strong similarities in terms of material choices and general sound. They seem to me to document an evolution from one band to another, centered on Keith Emerson. I’ve never really understood how the change came about, except within the idea of “supergroup,” which was a persuasive idea at the time in British rock music. Maybe a review of these three records together will help me contextualize things.

(ed. note: I’ve bitten off more than I can chew at one time, so this is going to be a series of articles. I’m going to write about these as a series of sides, since I have them on vinyl. I will try to post these faster than my usual once-a-week schedule.)

Side 1 of Five Bridges

This is a sidelong epic suite, part orchestral, part solo Emerson piano, part rock band. The work is commissioned for the Newcastle Arts Festival and performances were recorded with the London Sinfonia at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon.

It’s not wrong to say that Keith Emerson overwhelms things. In a way, I can see what he was talking about when thinking of the rhythm section of Lee Jackson and Brian Davison not being “virtuosic” enough for what he wanted to do. But at the same time, I appreciate what Jackson and Davison contributed to The Nice. I think the word Emerson was looking for might have been “too understated,” because I love those rhythm section parts, but yeah. You have to admit that they were simpler and didn’t spur Emerson on to be even more excessive.

photograph of my copy of the lp "Five Bridges" by The Nice.
My copy of the album in question, featuring an early Hipgnosis cover.

KE was an early proponent of the mixing of classical symphonic music with rock, as evinced here. He uses blues and rock motifs in the orchestral arrangements, complexifies the rock band bits. Prog in general was more successful at advancing the rock aesthetic than the classical. The classical stuff here strikes me as being in the realm of the romantic composers, in much the same way as symphonic film soundtracks are. Emerson uses a bit more repetition than most classical composers do.

I will admit that I don’t think original guitarist Davy O’List would have had much to add here… I think Emerson wanted all of that space for himself, and he certainly makes use of it. The last of the five movements of the piece split the difference between the rock and the orchestra by using a horn section in a way that feels a bit along the line between jazz and motown, with a sort of fanfare towards at end. This feels like a blueprint for what would later happen with ELP, but that’s the point, isn’t it — that it feels a bit prototypical of something that would be more fully realized later.

I have no issue with The Nice. I can see the ambitiousness of Emerson and from the perspective of a non-fan of ELP, I can also see that Jackson and Davison are doing a fine job of keeping up with those ambitions.

I’ll talk about Side 2 of this one in a separate post, which should arrive here in the next day or two.

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