Emerson, Lake & Palmer Full Concert Live in Zurich 1970 Remastered

This concert’s setlist featured the entire first side of their self-titled album, namely “The Barbarian”, “Take a Pebble”, and “Knife-Edge”. Their show-stopping epic “Pictures at an Exhibition”, which was performed in full, began the concert. “Rondo”, originated by the Nice, made the setlist as well. Finally, the concert included performances of “Nutrocker”, originally adapted from Tchaikovsky by B. Bumble and the Stingers, and “Preacher Blues”.

Each band member got a solo spot during the concert. Keith Emerson took a long improvisation break in the middle of “Take a Pebble”, which usually featured a few musical quotes. On this particular night, his solo lasted just under nine-and-a-half minutes and featured two snippets which would be recognizable to audiences; I will be discussing a third snippet further on in this piece. The first snippet was an adaptation of the first half of “Tank”, also from the debut album. The other was a brief quotation of “Hoedown” by Aaron Copland, which ELP would one day adapt for their third studio album Trilogy.

Greg Lake performed a much shorter solo spot immediately preceding Emerson’s improvs, also in the middle of “Take a Pebble”. During this solo, he performed on acoustic guitar, combining the acoustic solo from the studio version of the song with a folk song about a dog named Blue. Carl Palmer’s drum solo came in the middle of “Rondo”. He soloed longest of the three, with solos often reaching or surpassing ten minutes.

Explosive, dynamic, captivating and enthralling; four words that are key in conveying to anyone the nature of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. But as is evident here, in their formative months the energy and appetite to explore and create music together would be the group's ultimate drivers and would ultimately change the musical landscape forever. 1970 marked the first year of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, an ambitious power trio on track to change the attitude of those who didn't believe rock and roll could be germinated with classical music. The purists and critics scoffed and chipped away; but art rock sophistos and ham-fisted hell raisers alike became enamoured with ELP. They had already conquered the Isle of Wight festival and now looked to Europe with their reputation already making headlines. Their performance in Zurich on 4th December 1970, for RTB's 'Pop Shop', was one of the last dates of that first ever tour, undertaken to introduce them to the world after their formation the previous summer and to support the recent release of their debut album. London Calling revisits this incredible period when ELP shaped a new phenomenon in British rock music.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of the Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) of King Crimson, and Carl Palmer (drums, percussion) of Atomic Rooster. With nine RIAA-certified gold record albums in the US, and an estimated 48 million records sold worldwide, they are one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock groups of the 1970s, with a musical sound including adaptations of classical music with jazz and symphonic rock elements, dominated by Emerson's flamboyant use of the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, and piano (although Lake wrote several acoustic songs for the group).

The band came to prominence following their performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. In their first year, the group signed with E.G. Records (who distributed the band's records through Island Records in the United Kingdom, and Atlantic Records in North America), and released Emerson, Lake & 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, released on ELP's own Manticore Records label). 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.

Artists

Greg Lake - Bass, Guitar – Vocals
Carl Palmer - Drums, Gong
Keith Emerson - Organ [Hammond], Keyboards, Other [Knives]

Tracklist

1 Rondo
2 Take a Pebble
3 Dog Named Lou
4 Take a Pebble-Tank-Take a Pebble
5 Knife's Edge
6 Big Blues - Medley