Pictures of an Exhibitionist: From the Nice to Emerson Lake and Palmer - The True Story of the Man Who Changed the Sound of Rock [Paperback]

Keith Emerson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

Keyboard legend Keith Emerson is one of the most important figures to emerge from the thriving rock scene of the sixties and seventies. Fusing rock ‘n’ roll with classical, jazz, and world music, he has set a standard by which others are judged. With Greg Lake and Carl Palmer, he formed the hugely successful Emerson, Lake and Palmer, who, between 1970 and 1977, released six platinum albums. Now in this insightful and irreverent memoir, Emerson tells uproarious tales of life on the road, tales of the high lifestyle that goes with being a rock star, and of course, tales of the outrageous, barrier-shattering music he produced.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One expects a rock n’ roll memoir to be full of sound and fury, signifying nothing if not the inflamed passions, tortured egos, precipitous climb and calamitous descent of its subjects. Emerson, composer and keyboardist for the Nice and, later, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, gives readers all this: from flag-burnings to overeager groupies, from musical mishaps to drunken, drug-addled excesses, as well as a host of backstage celebrity interactions. (Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, Rod Stewart and a wonderfully catty portrait of Leonard Bernstein as a supercilious old perv are just a few that dot the book’s landscape.) Wildly theatrical onstage, Emerson played Norman Bates to his organs and keyboards, hacking away at them with knives and swords, often leaving them ruined and smoldering in his wake. The problem is that, as narrator to his own life, Emerson seems too, well, nice to rev the engine needed to drive such a book properly. He pulls back when he should barrel full-speed, and his writing lacks the killer incisiveness of his keyboard play. Slow to start, often clumsily overwritten and self-serving, Emerson’s memoir shows little sense of the narrative arc of the author’s life, and so the book trudges on in a litany of events, happenings and episodes that ultimately don’t add up to more than a series of pictures at an exhibition. Emerson seems too self-absorbed to be an acute observer of others, neither does he appear reflective enough to cast light on the shadows of his own life. Fans of Emerson’s bands will relish the scenester details anyway, but others may find themselves wishing he could write with the same brilliant abandon that he applied to his music.
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Review

“Unputdownable! A hysterical, intriguing, and important musical memoir.” -- The Sunday Times

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: John Blake (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844540537
• ISBN-13: 978-1844540532
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,105,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars I laughed, I cried, I was disappointed October 7, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

At times highly witty, at others merely insipid, these are the recollections of a rock icon. Emo chronicles his childhood and his adventures with progressive bands The Nice and ELP. Most of the stories are rather well known from other biographies, but it's refreshing to read them from his specific point of view. There are some excruciatingly painful memories involving conflicts within the bands and a personal battle with addiction. There are some anecdotes which I feel are inappropriate for public consumption, and better left private between so-called friends.

Overall a delightful read if you are not turned off by repeated references to bodily functions, name-dropping, and drug abuse which was apparently prevalent during his heyday in the 70's. An amusing yet quite sad portrayal of the glory days of the greatest rock keyboard player of all time.

I give it only three stars, because honestly that's how it rates among all the other books I've read. If I were to rate it among books about rock-n-roll specifically, it would get five easily.

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Title Says It All July 18, 2004

By Mark D Burgh

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Like the other reviewers here, I was and am a big ELP fan. As soon I heard Keith Emerson's playing, I was dumb-struck by his virtuosity and musical vision, one that, alas, did not play out too well over the years. I eagerly awaited this book, mainly because I wanted to hear what Keith Emerson had to say about his music.

There's a scene in "Spinal Tap" when David St. Hubbins is playing a beautiful piano piece and Rob Reiner asks him what the music is called . St. Hubbins replies "Lift my Love Pump." Well, I think that might sum up this book, and I can't say I wasn't warned by the title.

There are virtues here, however. Emerson has a breezy, conversational writing style that goes down easy, and he doesn't write a self-serving book in the least. The first part of the book, from his childhood to his breaking up the Nice is the best part, funny, and heartwarming. It struck me how much Emerson loved Lee Jackson and Brian Davidson, and the affection for his once and future bandmates mixed well with the stories. I often found myself laughing out loud.

The ELP and after sections are troubled. It's clear Emerson never liked Lake, and had a brotherly and patronizing attitude towards Palmer. But love between bandmates doesn't necessarily make great music, however, after reading this book and listening to the ELP oveure, I finally sensed the coldness that so many critics complained about.

The descent into drugs, the sadness of an abortion caused by miscommunication, the wrecking of Emerson's hand and the subsequent operations all make the second half of the book more than a bit sad. Emerson might have toned his words for this part of the book, but it continues in a breakneck and breezy manner, giving the impression (false I'm sure) that Emerson didn't care about these things.

My biggest complaint, however, is that he hardly discusses the music at all. I would have put up with hijinx and lines of coke with Bonzo better if he had talked about composing Tarkus more.

Still, for a proghead and synthfool like me, Pics of Ex is worth reading, even if the God of the Moog diminishes himself.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Shallow and depressing... February 20, 2005

By Jonn

Format:Paperback

Although occasionally Keith's humor shines through, there were many, many moments when reading this book, that the writing style as well as the prevailing subject matter reminded me more of the sexual obsessions of some 16-year old than a grown man having learned valuable lessons in life. You will find an abundant amount (an overdose) of sexual/alcohol/drugs related stories, to such an extent that it starts to act as a depressant, leaving me to wonder how anyone can find personal fulfillment and happiness in such a shallow murky scenery. It's as if the music serves simply as a background for sensual escapism with drugs, sex and alcohol in the spotlight. I know for some rock stars this is a reality, but somehow I had expected more of Keith.

In his book Keith manages to paint a two dimensional picture of himself, almost like a caricature, lacking emotional depth and maturity, displaying the writing skill as well as focus of interest of an adolescent.

On top of that the eighties and nineties seem to have brought nothing meaningful to Keith, since he writes only a couple of words about this period in his life. Maybe his attention span came to an abrupt end when he reached the mid-seventies and decided to call it quits.

All in all a book with no literary merit, with the emotional/intellectual depth of a puddle, leaving perhaps as the only plus-point Keith's honesty, which, unfortunately, when you combine it with his writing skill and focus of interest does not paint a very flattering picture of him as a man.

Interesting for fans only.