A sweeping reissue campaign will follow Razor and Tie’s new signing of Emerson Lake and Palmer to an exclusive multi-year licensing deal for North America.
That begins with The Best of Emerson Lake and Palmer: Comes and See the Show, available now in stores and on iTunes. The 14-song compilation features the trio’s most memorable songs, including “Lucky Man,” “From The Beginning,” “I Believe In Father Christmas,” and a full 9-minute edition of “Fanfare For The Common Man.”
[SOMETHING ELSE! FEATURED ARTIST: We dig into a few of our favorite moments from Emerson Lake and Palmer – a list that spans everything from ‘Trilogy’ to ‘Tarkus’ to ‘Black Moon.’]
“As Emerson, Lake & Palmer remain unique in their categories, it’s only fitting that they are now with a record company with a unique name like ‘Razor and Tie,” says band co-founder Keith Emerson. “Don’t question anything as the music speaks for itself, and ‘Razor and Tie’ yells volumes on ELP’s behalf.”
Later this year, look for newly expanded, remastered version of ELP’s first six albums — 1970’s Emerson Lake and Palmer; 1971’s Tarkus and Pictures at an Art Exhibition; 1972’s Trilogy; 1973’s Brain Salad Surgery; and 1974’s Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends.
“We are very excited and honored to distribute and represent the Emerson Lake and Palmer catalog,” said Razor and Tie co-owner Cliff Chenfeld. “ELP helped create prog rock and we will use this opportunity to bring ELP’s amazing body of work to an even broader audience — and to finally understand what the Tarkus album cover means.”
Here’s a look back at our recent thoughts on Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Click through the titles for complete reviews …
SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: KING CRIMSON/ EMERSON LAKE AND PALMER COFOUNDER GREG LAKE: Greg Lake is going it alone on an upcoming U.S. tour – playing songs and sharing stories of his time with King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer and as a solo artist. Fans can expect a generous dose of acoustic favorites from across his lengthy career in rock – including “Lucky Man,” “Still … You Turn Me On” and “From the Beginning” – but Lake says the concert experience will expand out from there to include personal memories and key cover tunes, as well. “Things that had a big influence upon me,” Lake told us.
ONE TRACK MIND: CARL PALMER, “FANFARE: DRUM SOLO” (2004; 2011 reissue): This tune begins, in its familiar way, with a soaring keyboard signature we’ve all come to associate so fully with Keith Emerson’s opening of Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” as interpreted in 1977 by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. But then the Carl Palmer Band, led by the drummer from that concept-rock trio, goes into a new place … and it’s loud. No, not loud. Make that furiously, bashingly, skull-crackingly loud.
KEITH EMERSON – THE KEITH EMERSON BAND FEATURING MARC BONILLA (2008) For vintage prog-rock fans, Keith Emerson is an icon for his trailblazing virtuosic and often flamboyant keyboard work that broke ground in the rock world. He made it possible for other rock keyboardists like Rick Wakeman to become stars in their own right. Beyond his work with The Nice, and more vitally, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Emerson has had an on-again, off-again solo career that’s focused more on soundtrack work, detours into jazz and classical, and other diversions that has attempted to show other facets of his artistry. Here, Emerson seems to finally be fully embracing his prog-rock past outside his association with those two bands where he first made a name for himself.
ONE TRACK MIND: GREG LAKE ON “LUCKY MAN,” “COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING,” “TOUCH AND GO,” OTHERS: Prog-rock legend Greg Lake, co-founder of King Crimson and Emerson Lake and Palmer, describes what made Crimson’s initial lineup such an endlessly interesting amalgam, the special chemistry that Carl Palmer brings to Emerson Lake and Palmer, and how the legendary keyboard solo on ELP’s most memorable song almost got erased before anyone ever heard it. Lake also shares his memories his memorable initial encounter with ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore.
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