Two Nice Albums and Pictures at an Exhibition, part 1

Thoughts about Keith Emerson’s journey from The Nice to Emerson, Lake and Palmer

The Nice’s Five Bridges was recorded in October of 1969 except for one track, and released in June of 1970. The Nice’s Elegy was recorded in December of 1969 and released in April of 1971. Emerson Lake and Palmer’s Pictures at an Exhibition was recorded in March of 1971 and released in November of 1971.

I’m sure I’m not the first person who has noticed that these albums have some strong similarities in terms of material choices and general sound. They seem to me to document an evolution from one band to another, centered on Keith Emerson. I’ve never really understood how the change came about, except within the idea of “supergroup,” which was a persuasive idea at the time in British rock music. Maybe a review of these three records together will help me contextualize things.

(ed. note: I’ve bitten off more than I can chew at one time, so this is going to be a series of articles. I’m going to write about these as a series of sides, since I have them on vinyl. I will try to post these faster than my usual once-a-week schedule.)

Side 1 of Five Bridges

This is a sidelong epic suite, part orchestral, part solo Emerson piano, part rock band. The work is commissioned for the Newcastle Arts Festival and performances were recorded with the London Sinfonia at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon.

It’s not wrong to say that Keith Emerson overwhelms things. In a way, I can see what he was talking about when thinking of the rhythm section of Lee Jackson and Brian Davison not being “virtuosic” enough for what he wanted to do. But at the same time, I appreciate what Jackson and Davison contributed to The Nice. I think the word Emerson was looking for might have been “too understated,” because I love those rhythm section parts, but yeah. You have to admit that they were simpler and didn’t spur Emerson on to be even more excessive.

photograph of my copy of the lp "Five Bridges" by The Nice.
My copy of the album in question, featuring an early Hipgnosis cover.

KE was an early proponent of the mixing of classical symphonic music with rock, as evinced here. He uses blues and rock motifs in the orchestral arrangements, complexifies the rock band bits. Prog in general was more successful at advancing the rock aesthetic than the classical. The classical stuff here strikes me as being in the realm of the romantic composers, in much the same way as symphonic film soundtracks are. Emerson uses a bit more repetition than most classical composers do.

I will admit that I don’t think original guitarist Davy O’List would have had much to add here… I think Emerson wanted all of that space for himself, and he certainly makes use of it. The last of the five movements of the piece split the difference between the rock and the orchestra by using a horn section in a way that feels a bit along the line between jazz and motown, with a sort of fanfare towards at end. This feels like a blueprint for what would later happen with ELP, but that’s the point, isn’t it — that it feels a bit prototypical of something that would be more fully realized later.

I have no issue with The Nice. I can see the ambitiousness of Emerson and from the perspective of a non-fan of ELP, I can also see that Jackson and Davison are doing a fine job of keeping up with those ambitions.

I’ll talk about Side 2 of this one in a separate post, which should arrive here in the next day or two.

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How to Not Be Bored With Your Blog

Unless you want to be bored with your blog, in which case, go ‘head.

  • Don’t be half-assed. That will guarantee that you’re not going to write stuff you’ll come back to later. The way to keep creating writing/content/ideas worth your time is to commit to doing your best.
  • Don’t repeat yourself. This seems obvious, but sometimes you’ll get on a tear and want to get something across and you’ll come back to it again and again because you’re obsessed. Even if your blog has a focus — lefty politics, trans rights, etc. etc. keep moving forward and find new angles.
    • This can be a challenge. You’ve got to meet it, though. The world keeps moving. There are new angles coming towards you. Look for them.
  • Care about what you write. If what you’re writing means something to you, that will come across to the reader. Your writing will be more interesting because you’re interested.
  • Know why you’re doing this. Have a sense of mission. Have a goal. That is not to say you have to be single-minded. Side quests are sometimes necessary and rejuvenating. But remember your central point. Remember why you started blogging in the first place, and return to that point whenever you start to feel that sense of mission creep.
    • You can refine that mission over time. Life is a process, and change is the truth. Keep up with those changes in your writing, your interests, and your knowledge.
    • When you change, bring your reader along with you. Disclose. Explain. Empathize. Remember that there are two of you in the equation.
  • Be Honest. NEVER go along to get along. Never give in to “audience capture.” This is part of being committed to a project. Have enough faith in what you’re about to be willing to risk shrinking your audience in the short run. Tell the truth, and keep that personal truth at the center of your project.
  • Keep Blogland Weird. Embrace idiosyncracy. Revel in quirkiness. Be you. Have fun.

Zeitgeist 3/28/26

No Kings 3.0 Edition

So… we went to the thing. And did the thing.

This one seemed calmer, but I think every bit of the determination is still there. It just didn’t feel as hair-on-fire as the ones last year, especially the first one, at least here in Greenfield. I’ve looked at a little bit of the news, and I do see that there are some huge protests in the big northern cities, and our little town managed about the same turn-out as the other two, which is to say large and strong. We’ve filled the common every time.

A picture of Karen and I at No Kings in Greenfield.
photo by Jovonna Van Pelt

That’s me and the BBE. I’m holding the sign I made and Karen is holding one that Jo made. Karen knitted our red hats.

–

I’ve seen in the news that other protests — Memphis and LA had clashes with the police happen. I don’t know enough details about any of that to say with any conviction what they mean, but even though us protesters are more focused and seemingly spending less of our energy yelling our frustration out at the world, it does seem like things are heating up between protesters and the establishment.

I want to point out the level of criminality of this regime – how they don’t seem to have any compunctions about killing and mass destruction – and suggest that they might bring that level of evil nonsense home to us. Further, I want us to be prepared for it, and to continue our commitment to nonviolence. The police and DHS would like things to get violent, because that will support their wish to start killing Americans on American streets with much greater regularity than they’re managing right now.

Just generally, I see that the world is heading for something cataclysmic. I think you’d have to be blind not to see how various forces are trying to force various issues around the world as well as here at home.

Buckle up.

–

It’s a few days later, and over the last couple of days, I’ve read that some on the left think these No Kings protests are not doing what we participants expect it to do. I will concede that just showing up in the streets in our millions and millions may not be enough to overthrow this fascist regime.

I never thought that was what peaceful protests would do. As far as I know, the purpose of protest is to signify solidarity and commitment. I think we’re doing that much, at least. Each one of these events gets larger and the energy gets more focused. The thing that brings down the fascists will come out of this movement, that’s what I think. These protests give the opportunity for people to unite, to know that they have power and that power is in sharing it with others. It says to those in power that there is some level of commitment to change.

What we need is leadership that arises to focus this energy and point it towards some achievable goal. What changes the system is concerted, targeted action. I’m hungry for that. I would love to support and participate in such action. In the meantime, though, I’ll go down to Greenfield Common and wave a sign from time to time. Gimme something better to do and I’ll do that.

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Khn and Klek

Angine de Poitrine went viral last month and are currently taking up lots of space in my brain, so let me broadcast my thoughts about it for a bit.

Cover art for their soon-to-be-released second album, Vol. 2

You can find pretty much all of the information available about this band via Mr. Google. I don’t feel much of an obligation to repeat what you can read elsewhere. I recommend looking into this band — they’re doing fabulously creative music and creating adventure and fun at the same time. You can find their music on bandcamp and in various videos posted on Youtube, including the ~30 minute live performance video that brought them to everyone’s attention a month ago. As of this writing, that video has 4.4 muh muh muh million views.

That’s Khn on the microtonal guitar and bass loops, and on the right is Klek the drummer. I don’t see much about the two guys as individuals yet, and that may be because of the sort-of anonymity their costumes allow for. For now, it’s probably sufficient to most new fans that they exist, that they’re on some wavelength frequency vibe thingie that they have deepened thoughtfully and organically and that it’s a wavelength frequency vibe thingie that is insular and unique.

Mostly what I see talked about in the various articles and reaction videos and what-have-yous is the costumes and the microtonal guitars. Which is fine, those are two techniques that are quite worthy of attention. The band’s visuals are deceptively bold and simple, but like so much about this band, clearly result from a great deal of thought. Note how Klek’s headgear brings his physicality up near to level with Khn’s, as an example.

But more centrally, here’s Music Theory Youtuber David Bennett discussing the strategies the band uses to keep their microtonal music from being atonal chaos, and instead actually pleasing to western ears:

Music like this comes from years of work and intense thought about what will work, and Khn and Klek have definitely found a winning formula. Propulsive, melodic, adventurous, quirky… these performances are decidedly winsome.

The musicianship level is quite high; incorporating odd time signatures into looping requires a deft touch. It’s also of note that Khn will get to four or even five consonant voicings, or carefully constructed dissonant voicings, as noted in the Bennett video. I also have a great appreciation for Klek’s drumming. Every rock band is only as good as their drummer, and as you might be able to tell, my opinion is that this is a truly great rock band.

There are layers to this project, and I won’t go into them more than I have, because one of the great joys of this experience for me is what I hope to leave for you — the joy of discovery.

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about my music reviews

This is a perblog, obvs., so it follows that my approach to music reviews would be quirky. I don’t pretend to encyclopedic knowledge I don’t have, but where I do have knowledge or lore to share, I’ll probably include it.

That said, I make a distinction between the object in my hand and the band it represents. I don’t know these bands, most of them I haven’t and never will see live, so my relationship is with the chunk of vinyl, the CD or the streaming digital file. That’s what I review.