The Culture Vulture

Remember them? Emerson, Lake and Palmer? The first prog-rock supergroup.

Background

The group was made up of Keith Emerson from The Nice, Greg Lake from King Crimson and Carl Palmer from Atomic Rooster.

ELP came to prominence following their performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. They released ‘Emerson, Lake and Palmer’ (1970) and ‘Tarkus’ (1971), both of which reached the UK top five.

The band's success continued with ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ (1971), ‘Trilogy’ (1972), and ‘Brain Salad Surgery’ (1973,)

After a three-year break, Emerson, Lake & Palmer released ‘Works Volume 1’ (1977) and ‘Works Volume 2’ (1977). After ‘Love Beach’ (1978), the group disbanded in 1979.

Keith Emerson

The exhibitionist keyboard player, Keith Emerson was also a pioneer on the Moog, Yamaha and Korg synthesisers. Keith apparently suffered from bouts of depression and was an alcoholic. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2016, aged 72.

Greg Lake

Greg Lake was the singer and bass player. He also played acoustic guitar and was the band’s producer. He is no longer with us. He also died in 2016, of pancreatic cancer, aged 69.

Carl Palmer

Carl Palmer was the drummer and percussionist. He glued the band together. He lives on. He is now 72.

Legacy

ELP took a lot of stick in their heyday for their “exhibitionist” and “ambitious” work, which often “sampled” classical pieces, such as ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. “Too clever by half!” “Who do they think they are?”

For me, I was in my early twenties when I first heard them. I liked their music. It was a change from the blues I had been obsessed with for years.

I saw them perform live at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in my final year at university in 1973 and I was blown away.

I confess I wasn’t too keen on ‘Pictures …..’, but I loved their eponymous debut album and ‘Tarkus’. I still own all three on vinyl.

In 1991, the original trio re-formed and released two more albums, ‘Black Moon’ (1992) and ‘In the Hot Seat’ (1994) and toured at various times between 1992 and 1998. Their final performance took place in 2010 at the High Voltage Festival in London to commemorate the band's 40th anniversary.

They sold an estimated 48 million records worldwide.

Take a listen to this live performance of ‘Tarkus’

© The Culture Vulture

Acknowledgements:

Wikipedia

www.emersonlakepalmer.com 

Tags: Atomic Rooster, Black Moon, Brain Salad Surgery, Carl Palmer, ELP, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Greg Lake, High Voltage Festival, In the Hot Seat, Keith Emerson, King Crimson, Korg, Moog, Mussorgsky, Nice, Pictures at an Exhibition, Tarkus, Trilogy, Yamaha

We all think we know what happened to the most successful pop/rock and roll band in history. But do we really?

The Culture Vulture, who was in his early teens when the Fab Four from Liverpool appeared on the scene with their first single 'Love Me Do' in 1962, grew up with them and still considers them to be the most innovative and influential band ever. “Forget The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, Pink Floyd, Abba, Oasis, Take That and the rest!” he says.

History of The Beatles

The Beatles were only around for about ten years and only toured for four, yet their legacy is huge. Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, with the know-how of producer George Martin, produced a bewildering quantity of songs.

In the UK, they released 12 studio albums, 13 EPs and 22 singles. In all they recorded and released 219 tracks.

They also made four films, if you include the children’s cartoon ‘Yellow Submarine’ and the disastrous ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. But you can forget them really, they’re just historical curiosities, although I still have a soft spot for ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.

Solo careers

After their acrimonious split in 1970, all four went on to solo careers with differing degrees of success.

Paul McCartney

Bassist and ideas man Paul formed Wings, bringing in Denny Laine from the original Moody Blues and his wife Linda McCartney. He toured universities in the early 1970s and built up a head of steam culminating in a string of hits over 10 years. Wings released 7 studio albums, one live, 2 compilation albums and 29 singles.

Their best album, Band on the Run, sold 6 million copies and was EMI’s most successful album of the 70s.

Paul has continued to innovate and is still active at 80 years of age.

John Lennon

Lennon ploughed his own furrow from his home in New York. He had success as a solo artist but also with his wife Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band. He was also a peace-activist.

As a solo artist for around a decade, he released 11 studio albums and 23 singles. His most famous songs from this period are ‘Give Peace a Chance’, ‘Happy Christmas (War is Over)’, ‘Imagine’, ‘Instant Karma’ and ‘Jealous Guy’.

He was assassinated in December 1980 aged 40 by a fan, Mark Chapman.

George Harrison

The ‘Quiet Beatle’ and many fans’ favourite, George also went his own way musically, producing classics like ‘Something’, ‘My Sweet Lord’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. A good friend of Eric Clapton they often jammed and recorded together. He was also part of supergroup The Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. Formed in 1988, Orbison died later that year and the group only continued until 1991.

His interest in film led him to co-found HandMade Films in 1978. The company produced a number of famous films, including ‘Monty Python’s Life of Brian’, ‘Time Bandits’, ‘The Long Good Friday’, ‘Withnail and I’, ‘Mona Lisa’, ‘A Private Function’ and ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’. The company went defunct in 2020.

George passed away in November 2001 aged 58. He died of lung cancer.

Ringo Starr

Born Richard Starkey, Ringo was drafted into The Beatles in 1962 when Pete Best was jettisoned.

After the break-up of The Beatles, Ringo was active as an actor and narrator, as well as continuing to drum. He met and married Bond Girl Barbara Bach (1981) and lives in California. He has remained active, principally with his own group Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band.

He wrote, recorded and released songs regularly through the decades, but few achieved commercial success in the UK.

He has also acted in a number of films and narrated the first two series of ‘Thomas and Friends’ (Thomas the Tank Engine).

Under-rated as a member of The Beatles, he nevertheless did compose a few songs and sang a few, notably ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, ‘Yellow Submarine’ and ‘In An Octopus’s Garden’.

Despite the joke about his drumming skills:

US interviewer: “So, Mr Lennon. Is it true that Ringo Starr is the best drummer in the world?”

Lennon: “Look, mate, he’s not even the best drummer in The Beatles …..!”

in 2011 Rolling Stone magazine readers voted him as the fifth best drummer of all time. In 2020 he was named as the wealthiest drummer in the world, with a net worth of 350 million dollars.

Now aged 82, he is the oldest surviving Beatle.

Best ever

The Beatles’ best ever song? Blimey! That’s tough. In the frame for me, in alphabetical order, ‘A Day In The Life’, ‘Eleanor Rigby, ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, ‘Penny Lane’, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’.

Best album? It’s between ’Abbey Road’, ‘Let It Be’, ‘Rubber Soul’ and ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’.

Definitely not ‘Revolver’ or ‘The Beatles’ (White Album).

Best early album? ‘With the Beatles’.

***

In conclusion, all I can say is that The Beatles, together with producer George Martin, had it all. Talent, ingenuity and versatility.  

And longevity. Their music lives on to this day.

© The Culture Vulture

Acknowledgements:

www.thebeatles.com

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Wikipedia

Tags: Abba, Abbey Road, A Day In The Life, A Hard Day’s Night, All-Starr Band, A Private Function, Band on the Run, Barbara Bach, Beatles, Bob Dylan, Culture Vulture, Denny Laine, Eleanor Rigby, George Harrison, George Martin, Give Peace a Chance, HandMade Films, Happy Christmas (War is Over), Imagine, In An Octopus’s Garden, Instant Karma, Jealous Guy, Jeff Lynne, John Lennon, Let It Be, Linda McCartney, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Love Me Do, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Magical Mystery Tour, Mark Chapman, Mona Lisa, Monkees, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, My Sweet Lord, Oasis, Paul McCartney, Penny Lane, Pete Best, Pink Floyd, Plastic Ono Band, Revolver, Richard Starkey, Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone magazine, Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Rubber Soul, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Something, Strawberry Fields Forever, Take That, The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits, Tom Petty, Traveling Wilburys, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, White Album, With A Little Help From My Friends, Withnail and I, Yellow Submarine, Yoko Ono

The phenomenon that was Buena Vista Social Club began in the mid-late 1990s when the US singer and guitarist Ry Cooder was granted permission by the USA government to travel to Cuba to carry out a research project into Cuban music.

He discovered a group of elderly musicians who no longer played music and just hung around the social club in the Buenavista barrio of Havana, the Cuban capital. Cooder dragged them back into the recording studio where between them they created the eponymous album which was released in 1996.

The record was an overnight sensation and the group toured the world over the next few years. This loose collective of elderly musicians became suddenly very rich.

The German film director Wim Wenders made a documentary about them based around their concert in New York in 1998 and later interviews in Havana. The film was nominated for an Oscar and received countless other awards and accolades.

I first became aware of Buena Vista Social Club around the time of the release of their first album. I was immediately hooked together with music fans the world over. I accumulated a number of albums by other Cuban musicians who coat-tailed on the success of BVSC, among them the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Sierra Maestra and later Orishas. This music was for me the soundtrack to a beautiful love affair.

I was fortunate to see them perform live at the Royal Festival Hall in 1997. Some of the players became famous in their own right as soloists and performed independently. These included Compay Segundo, pianist Ruben Gonzalez, Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuondo and Eliades Ochoa. The first three are now long dead, dying at the ages of 95, 84 and 78 respectively in the early 2000s. Portuondo and Ochoa are still going strong at the ages of 92 and 76 respectively. I saw Gonzalez and Portuondo live in London also.

As the musicians died or retired, new people came on board. The name has now become synonymous with Cuban music of the 30s, 40s and 50s, a kind of brand name for the genre. As Ry Cooder, who often played along with hs son Joaquin Cooder, said, it was their calling card.

Alas, the original “group” is no longer. Indeed, Wim Wenders filmed a follow-up documentary entitled "Buena Vista Social Club: Adios" in 2017.

But, hey, what a legacy they left after such a relatively short time in the public eye - just 20 years.

© The Culture Vulture

Tags: Afro-Cuban All Stars, Buena Vista Social Club, Buena Vista Social Club: Adios, Compay Segundo, Cuba, Cuban music, Culture Vulture, Eliades Ochoa, Havana, Ibrahim Ferrer, Joaquin Cooder, London, Omara Portuondo, Orishas, Royal Festival Hall, Ruben Gonzalez, Ry Cooder, Sierra Maestra, Wim Wenders