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Lake–368, 367

ALBUMS:: Lake (1977); Paradise Island (1979)

MVC Rating: Lake 4.0/$$$; Paradise Island 3.5/$$$

This is a German band (sang in English) that had some minor success on the radio with a couple of songs, including ‘Time Bomb.’ My knee-jerk reaction would be to say they are Yes-lite. But the better description would be Styx’s German cousin.

So what’s the difference between Lake and Styx, Asia, or Toto? Record sales is about all I can see. Lake has the same skill-set: highly professional musicians who can put a polished sheen on a radio-friendly sounding tune.

They definitely were aiming for the radio, unafraid to lop a healthy dose of syrupy strings over there rock balladry — see ‘Do I Love You.’ Or is that keyboards?

My wife enjoyed this band, more than me. And that’s how I came to have these.

The band did receive an honor from MyVinylCountdown by being named by me as a band that should have had a bigger hit in the song ‘Jesus Came Down.’ It’s about Jesus coming back and being disappointed in what we’ve been doing. Now who might be behind this little outcome? I don’t know, who could it be? Ummm, SATAN. (Thanks for pointing that out church lady.

Both the albums I have, their debut and the second one, are almost interchangeable. They are both good solid examples, of the polished guitar and keyboard rock that came out of car radio speakers in the late 1970s and 1980s.

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Emerson, Lake and Palmer –498, 497

ALBUMS: Emerson Lake and Palmer (1970); Works Vol. 2 (1977)

When it comes to Emerson, Lake and Palmer I find myself feeling inadequate.

I loved ‘Lucky Man,’ when I was 13 or so  (actually still do) so I got that album.

But that was written by Greg Lake when he was 12! OMG.

The classically influenced forays by Emerson and gang are labeled pretentious by some critics.

I don’t mind saying, I don’t find them pretentious. They are sometimes beautiful to my ears and sometimes they are over my ears and over my head.

ELP was no obscure Soft Machine here (see my home page graphic).

ELP sold about 50 million records worldwide.

When I posted on my Van Cliburn  albums, I wondered in the column if Emerson could have beaten Van Cliburn in the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Well I didn’t wonder so overtly but I did set up ‘dueling’ videos.

I don’t know what’s going on when someone sounds like they have three hands on the piano. I can never break this down like altrockchick.com, a multi-instrumentalist, multilingual and probably one of the most insightful rock critics I’ve read of late.

. Read a snippet from her review of ELP’s Trilogy:

Here Keith Emerson demonstrates his dynamic flexibility on the piano, quieting detractors with a delicately played and beautifully phrased sequence. His return to percussive piano chords signals the intro to Part 2, a passage with tiny hints of Copland, foreshadowing the later track, “Hoedown.”  Greg Lake then returns to sing the enigmatic closing verses.

I cannot write that. But I believe she knows it based on her other writings and the authority with which she writes.

Now my mentor and adversary (he has no idea who I am, of course), Robert Christgau, the grand poo-bah of acerbic crank, famously panned ELP, and said the fans are as pretentious as the band, or something like that.

Uh oh. I recently sat listening to ELP with my daughter, late 20s, and we thoroughly enjoyed Works Vol. 2 and their self-entitled debut album. Emily would read a bit during the contemplative pieces and perk up and grab the album cover on some of the more brazen ones. She is the least pretentious person I know. (She likes Dixie Chicks, who can also play their instruments.)

And I can listen to a master pianist,  Emerson, play Scott Joplin all day.

Now I’m digging through my box ‘o cassette tapes because I remember I had Tarkus in that format.

I sold my Insect Trust .45 Saturday so Tarkus might be a good replacement in my rotation.

OK, 1,2,3. Rotate.