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Shades of Psychedelic EMERSON LAKE AND PALMER

W. T. Hoffman | Pennsylvania, United States | 01/15/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Its amazing how huge THE NICE were back in the late 1960s in Britian. Unless you were really into ELP, you probibly never heard of them. The only NICE LP i ever owned was FIVE BRIDGES, which I honestly didnt care much for. IT was a lot of Emerson's histrionic attempts to merge classical and rock music, and ended up doing a disservice to both. However, owning only the fourth NICE LP, I never heard the psychedelic, playful, pop rock era of the band, back when the NICE included an inventive guitar player. What this 2CD set contains, is almost everything by THE NICE, before FIVE BRIDGES. During the PUNK-NEW WAVE era, this type of "progressive" music, even ELP's best work, was routinely ditched by revisionist critics and new wave musicians and fans alike. Side long excursions into classical music, played on humongous MOOGs, with 43 piece drum kits and orchestras backing it all up, seemed to be the antithesis of ROCK and ROLL. Even now, that sort of music is a developed taste, unless you grew up watching these guys or ELP in concert, or you play classical piano. But just as ELP had some beautiful music with Greg Lake's singles "IN THE BEGINNING", or ""LUCKY MAN", THE NICE also recorded some mindbending psychedelic, yet tuneful, pop songs. I had no idea THE NICE included this side to their creative output, until I bought this set. For those who collect psychedelic music from the late 60s, those first three albums by THE NICE are recommended, especially those first two. All of "THE THOUGHTS OF EMERLIST DAVJACK", "ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS" and the third NICE album are here, along with a single or two. IF you've never heard the song DAWN, or WAR AND PEACE, BONNIE K, HAPPY FREUDS, and THE DIAMOND HARD APPLES OF THE MOON, you are certainly in for a treat. And not one requiring aquired tastes. When THE NICE had their guitar player, less of the instrumental focus was on Emerson and his Keyboard work. (tho dont worry, its still there, bucket fulls of it.) Maybe cos the earliest songs had Emerson employing a B3 sound, instead of his MOOG sound that screams ELP, helps to distance some of this music from the later ELP output. Without a doubt, this album shows the true beginnings of the 70s Progressive rock, even more than the first KING CRIMSON album. (Tho pulling Greg Lake out of Crimson, so ELP could be born, is the reason why Emerson became known world wide, joining that "YES-ELP-GENESIS" triumverate era of prog rock.) For those who LOVE the progressive, classical work of Emerson from his ELP days, that sound is on these CDs, especially after THE NICE fired their guitar player. The 18 minute long ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS is a complete symphonic work, a style found even on the first NICE album, with the 8 minute piece RONDO. Even YES, and Wakeman's influences can be traced to the work done by THE NICE. After having a controversial hit with Bernstein's song from West Side Story, AMERICA, Yes also recorded the same song as a B side in 1973. Actually, except for the SOUND of Greg Lake's voice, much of the basic sound of ELP is on these albums. Just imagine one of the early ELP albums, but with more songs like FROM THE BEGINNING, and with more psychedelic production effects. AND, there's THE NICE. The good thing about buying all three albums crammed into this very inexpensive 2CD set, is that even if you DONT like the extended classical pieces, you can skip them without missing most of the music off an expensive Japanese Import of the individual titles. IF you are a fan of EMERSON LAKE AND PALMER, you should definately check out THE NICE. You're in for a nice surprise."