The trio consisted of:

• Keith Emerson (originally from The Nice) keyboards
• Greg Lake (originally from King Crimson) guitars, bass guitar vocals
• Carl Palmer (originally from Atomic Rooster)drums, percussion

Their first four years were a creatively fertile period. Lake produced their first six albums, starting with Emerson, Lake, and Palmer (1970), which contained the hit “Lucky Man”. Their best known early performance had been a relatively modest show at the August 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, one of the last of the great Woodstock-era festivals. At the end of their set, Emerson and Lake lit two cannons either side of the stage.

The ELP sound was dominated by the Hammond organ and Moog synthesizer of the flamboyant Emerson. The band’s compositions were heavily influenced by classical music in addition to jazz and – at least in their early years – hard rock. Many of their pieces are arrangements of, or contain quotations from, classical music, and they can be said to fit into the sub-genre of symphonic rock.

The band formed in 1970. On two occasions in 1969, The Nice and King Crimson shared the same venue, first on August 10, 1969 at the 9th Jazz and Blues Pop Festival in Plumpton, England and on October 17, 1969 at Fairfield Halls in Croydon, England.

After playing at a few of the same concerts, Emerson and Lake tried working together and found their styles to be not only compatible, but complementary. They wanted to be a keyboard/bass/drum band, and so searched out a drummer.

Before settling on Carl Palmer, they approached Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience;; Mitchell was uninterested but passed the idea to Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix, tired of his band and wanting to try something different, expressed an interest in playing with the group. The British press, after hearing about this, speculated that such a supergroup would have been called HELP, or “Hendrix, Emerson, Lake & Palmer“. Due to scheduling conflicts, such plans were not immediately realized, but the initial three planned a jam session with Hendrix after their second concert at the Isle of Wight Festival (their debut being in Plymouth Guildhall a day or two earlier), with the possibility of him joining. Hendrix died shortly thereafter, so the three pressed on as Emerson, Lake and Palmer.

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Feb 29, ’08 The Trilogy album was the best, I think.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Mar 1, ’08 agree with you

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Mar 1, ’08 I like the second song best on this post.

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Mar 3, ’08 The synthesizer gets a little progressive on the first video !

delete reply instrumentalpavilion wrote on Apr 3, ’08 Great band….they went out so ragged though, a shame.

delete reply instrumentalpavilion wrote on Apr 3, ’08 Great great band that kind of went out a bit ragged. A shame really. Another group deserving of The Hall.

delete reply instrumentalpavilion wrote on Apr 3, ’08 I have a video on my site of Keith Emerson and Oscar Peterson playing together. Two keyboard greats sharing the stage.

delete reply terryridgway wrote on Apr 4, ’08 Hi, Little bit of info, Carl Palmer has recently recovered from heart surgery, and is fit and able to play with Asia ( 3 gigs in NY ,Westbury,Peekskill and Verona..) and the Carl Palmer band ( gigs to be announced)…

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Apr 4, ’08 I was thinking that he actually didn’t look that great in the video. Glad he’s doing ok now. Thanks for the info.

delete reply stillybee wrote on Apr 12, ’08 Great to find this Gem too… I always wondered what happened to that group??

delete reply terryridgway wrote on Apr 14, ’08, edited on Apr 16, ’08 If you get chance, check out a great band called Mostly Autumn ( one of my favourite bands right now ) … and Doug`s…. going to see them for the seventh time on friday http://www.mostly-autumn.com…

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Apr 14, ’08 ok, terry, thanks for telling me about them. I’m always looking for new good music.

delete reply terryridgway wrote on Apr 14, ’08, edited on Apr 14, ’08 Shades of Genesis,Pink Floyd,Jethro Tull,Fleetwood Mac and Fairport Convention, just a really great band …Ask Doug:-) He is going to see them on thursday….

edit delete reply lauritasita wrote on Apr 14, ’08 My favorites that you mentioned were Genesis (even Phil Collins without Genesis), Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac (even Stevie Nicks without Fleetwood Mac) uh, what is Shades of Genesis ?

delete reply terryridgway wrote on Apr 15, ’08 Sorry, that`s an English expression, it was meant to suggest that the band are influenced by Genesis,Tull,Mac etc,etc ….