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Post by hhsussex on Mar 12, 2016 9:14:18 GMT
Prompted to open this thread of farewells and reminiscences by the death of Keith Emerson, reportedly by his own hand, following on so closely the losses of Bowie, Paul Kantner, Glenn Frey and others who provided the soundtrack to a significant portion of my life, and I suspect some others on this forum. Emerson I recall chiefly for those extraordinary early performances with the Nice of America and Finlandia: the first time a pop group mashed up genres, and also the first time that an organist literally attacked his keyboard with a knife. The later stuff with Lake and Palmer rather left me cold, in fact apart from Greg Lake's Lucky Man I can't remember anything that stuck in the mind, though I'm sure that borderman will have more to say. Incidentally here is a site that further enumerates this year's attrition: ultimateclassicrock.com/rockers-we-lost-in-2016/#photogallery-1=6 |
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Mar 14, 2016 11:41:03 GMT
A very sad day. Being a budding adolescent keyboard player there was no competition between Keith Emerson, Rick Wright and Rick Wakeman. After seeing ELP in concert, Emerson stabbing his organ was the pinnacle of classical rebellion. And I loved it. As a player and performer, he stood out by a mile. Wizard capes or introvert stares didn't do it for me. Then to discover Emerson had been raised in Goring, Worthing and after meeting people who had shared the same school classroom as him (West Tarring School) only added to his overall aura. I wanted to be like Keith Emerson and when I realised I didn't have the required keyboard ability given how high a standard it was, my respect for him grew. My only claim to fame occurred in the mid 1980s. My then girlfriend was an alternative health practitioner. I had a meeting in London. She told me a client was coming that day to our Brighton flat where she practiced. When I returned that evening I asked her how the session had gone. "Oh, really well. He was a musician like you. I told him all about you and what you'd done. He replied that he too was in a band, had had some records out and gigged." I asked her his name, thinking it might be a local musician, I knew. "Hang on, I wrote his name down in my work diary." She returned with a name. "Emerson". "Emerson?!!" I incredulously responded. "What's his Christian name?" She looked again. "Keith. He said he was going out on tour and was feeling very anxious and needed help to cope with it." The idea that my one and only true musical hero had been to my flat and I hadn't been there to witness the event, still upsets me today. RIP Keith. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3489624/ELP-star-Keith-Emerson-shot-no-longer-perform-perfectly-fans.html |
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Post by hhsussex on Mar 15, 2016 7:41:08 GMT
A fine anecdote, s and f. Reading the obits it seems he suffered from some insecurity and had what may have been psycho-somatically inspired problems with his hand later in his career. I understand the drive towards showmanship but it did detract from his musical ability - unlike Wakeman, as you have noted, who was just a pub pianist with a penchant for Its-a-Knockout style spectaculars.
Even sadder news that another musician whose star rose at the same time in a different sector of the galaxy has died - RIP Max, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
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