Customer Reviews

Elegy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of those Cd's you better buy now. Once the IPOD nation takes over, I seriously doubt you'll be able to find this to download. The version of America is everything. As a kid listening to this album for the first time, I couldnt imagine how he was getting those sounds out of the organ. I assumed he had some sort of Moog or Arp involved. When a friend pointed out that on stage synths didnt exist at the time this was recorded, I realized Keith's genius! Theres a fire & rage is his early playing thats as wicked as Hendrix and as punk as Steve Jones!

When I ordered this LP from my Record Club in 1971, The Nice had been a Memory for over a Year's Time. "Jackson Height's", was Up-And-Running, as was a Group called: "Emerson,Lake & Palmer". But, as a Fan of The Nice, {since 1969} it was a pleasant surprise to see this...the Last Release, by a Sixties Band that was so different from everyone else, and a Band that could play circles around just about everybody else in the Music Business, had One more Record left for us.

With the Piano of the Opening Track: "Hang On To A Dream", we here have what is widely regarded, as Keith Emerson's finest moment on Stage with the Nice. With just Bass Guitar, Triangle and Traps, and Mr. Emerson {The Man with 12 Hands}, this Re-Working of the Tim Hardin Classic, is almost a History Lession of the last 100 Years of Popular Music. This 12+ Minute Track, with Keith going Gonzo, and backed by the Amazing Walking Bass Lines of Lee Jackson and the Subtle Percussion of Brian Davison, is Fantastic, and ELP aside...this is one of Keith's Best Moments on any Record, by far my Favorite Track by The Nice.

Track Two is: "My Back Pages", a Bob Dylan Tune, that was a Minor Hit for The Byrds in 1966. This Selection almost made onto: "Five Bridges", but was left off that gem at the last minute. Keith is still on Piano for the first half of this Number, but in Dramatic Fashion he switches to his Hammond, and it is here where it all takes off, Mood & Timing...The Nice were Masters of this!

Side Two begins with "Pathetique", which I had heard before on: "Five Bridges" with the full Orchestra. Now this Version of The Tchaikovsky Classic is performed by Keith, Lee & Brian, without assistance and allows the Trio to show the World as nice as the Orchestra was, the Nice don't need one to sound like one. This is the Third Great Track in a row.

The Closer is of course: "America" with Keith creating just a little bit of Drama here {He Rapes The Organ} and finds some Sounds inside his Hammond that no other Musician has ever found. The Final Minute or so of: "America", is Quite Frankly the Finest Musical Noise this Side of Jimi Hendrix, on Record. Played at a Breakness Pace: "America" is the Number that The Nice will always be remembered for...This is Exciting Stuff!

This Edition of: "Elegy" features 6 Bonus Tracks. Five of those Tracks are from an EP called: "Charisma Perspective" issued in the UK in 1968.
And as they are a little outta place here on "Elegy", I am glad they have been included as they are Amazing Early Works by this Band. "Dawn" is a Wonderful Find, this one is a Mindmelter, all by itself. Many of the things that Keith plays here will show again as parts of ELP Songs, years later. Any Early Music from The Nice is important to what was to later become: "Progressive Rock". And with an Alternate Version of "Azirial" tacked on at the end, so closes this Expanded Edition of: "Elegy".

Again, this is not an Album of Left-Overs and Odds & Sods. It was a great LP in 1971, and today in a Brand New Century, it is STILL GREAT !

Forget all the "Tags" that are stuck on Popular Music as there is Only Good Music & Bad Music...."Elegy" is Overflowing with Great Music !!!

This is certainly the best of the collection.Outstanding performances of "Hang On To A Dream","My Back Pages"and "3rd Movement". This version of "America" is their absolute best.The six extra cuts from previous works fill out the album nicely.A truly great work!

Of course the highlight here is the live "America" from madman Keith Emerson at the knive-ridden Hammond L100. THis is like ELP on steroids folks, highly recommended and I think I like The Nice better than ELP in a strange way, they were much more raw and in your face.

The "Pathetique" Mvt is The Greatest Thing Keith Ever Did With The Nice,It Kicks Arse(so does The Hammond L-100),Espically when he starts Blusing it Up At The End,The Energy Of This Thing Is Just Over The Top.Tchaikovsky would have Sprung A Woody seeing Keith Peforming This Number Live.Really Nice Innovative Piano In "My Back Pages" & "Hang On To A Dream"(In time you'll even get use to Lee Jacksons Off Key RASPY Vocals),as well.P.S. Live Version Of America Is Great Too.

This album is worth it just for Keith Emerson's astonishing reading of the Tchaikovsky 6th ("Pathetique") Symphony's 3rd Movement. One of the most impressive recordings of his career, this one's adrenaline-pumping factor is right up there with ELP's later "The Barbarian". It's both true to the original AND innovative. And that Hammond: what a sound!

Also, the melding of Bernstein's "America" from WEST SIDE STORY and part of the finale of Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" works just great, although IMO the home listening experience is somewhat marred by Keith's extravagant Hendrix-like more-about-the-visuals stage show.

Those are the two standouts for me.

Of the added tracks from EMERLIST DAVJACK: only "Flower King of Flies" and "Rondo" from that album have ever moved me and neither of them are here, but so what? The point here is Emerson's immortal tour-de-force performances of the Tchaikovsky and the Bernstein/Dvorak. Every progressive rock fan should have these.

I bought this on cassette in the mid 70s, not knowing what to expect. What I heard flowing out of my then portable tape deck made me a life-long Nice fan to this day. Being a lover of keyboards, this version of Hang on to a Dream takes inprovising to it's absolute limits. Tim Hardin never would have imagined what a talented keyboardist could have done with his song. Likewise the same for the entire lp, a second-to-none demonstration of Emerson's ability to do with a piano and organ to what Salvador Dali did with a paint brush. I must have this on cd since my cassette has since lost it's clarity.
This is truly a masterpiece by the all-time great Emerson, Jackson amd Davison!

In 1969 The Nice's was faced with their then label, Immediate, facing hard financial times and eventually bankruptcy, so they jumped ship on to Tony Stratton-Smith's Charisma label and then broke up. "Five Bridges" was their only real proper album on that label, although it suffered from being padded out with some left over live performances from the Fillmore, presumably the same concert or tour as found on their third self-titled album for Immediate, and one truly horrible studio track titled "One Of Those People". "Elegy" scrapes further down into the barrel by including an over-long rendition of "Hang On To A Dream" and an uninspired performance of "America", both from possibly the same tour as the previous two albums. The studio version of Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" is a better performance than the live one on "Five Bridges" although the sound is muddy and murky. There is also a hideously embarrassing version of Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages" which suffers from poor sound quality and an absurd performance featuring a lifeless keyboard soloing from Keith Emerson and off key-scat singing from bassist Lee Jackson.

I have a feeling that since the version of "Pathetique" here was originally released a year earlier as a single and showed up as a BBC performance, the live recordings were just sitting in a vault and the Dylan cover was not ever meant for (and certainly not fit for) release. Unless you are a completest, you are best to avoid this album. If you must partake, I recommend the compilation "Keith Emerson with The Nice" which combines highlights from "Five Bridges" with three out of four tracks from this album.