The magic and musical excellence of Emerson, Lake and Palmer will never be duplicated. They stand alone as the masters of progressive rock.

The tradgedy of ELP, in my view, was how the English music press constantly attacked them during the period when prog rock was on the way out. They were held accountable for everything that was seen to be wrong with the genre and I believe it had a huge impact on the band and in particular Keith who tragically commited suicide some years later. They should be remembered as a great collective of talent and imagination spearheading the prog rock movement in the early days.

You gotta admit it some of the best music ever written in the history of music

Reading on the members, both Lake & Emerson had got formal training on guitar and piano respectively, and according to wikipedia Carl Palmer " took lessons with Britain's best-known classical percussionist of the twentieth century, James Blades." So no wonder they knew what they were doing from the beginning ( no pun intended).

Actually, my favorite ELP song and album! As much as I love Keith's Electronic playing, I Truly LOVE his Acoustic Piano playing!

For my money, the most talented skilled musicians of the last 50 years. This is is one of the very best. Greg lake a ridiculously aprpopos vocalist.

I was 15 and a classically trained pianist when this album came out. This, and the subsequent albums, changed the trajectory of my life. I am 67, and I remember to this day slowing down my Magnavox reel to reel from 7-1/2 to 1-3/4 so I could learn these tunes, as it would be years before transcriptions would become available. One of my projects, when I retire from my law practice next year, is to re-learn these tunes.

Emerson is a legendary pianist, for sure, but I am always amazed at the beauty and complexity of the bass guitar arrangements in these songs. So easy to overlook under the keyboards, yet absolutely fundamental to the overall sound.

The studio version of Take A Pebble is incredible, but the live version of Welcome Back My Friends . . . . is absolutely mind blowing! I think it deserves to be analyzed separately sometime down the road.

I saw ELP in 1974 and Keith used the a large white feather to strum the piano strings during this song. I was really amazed at his creativity and loved the sound it produced. Greatest concert I ever saw.

When ELP are firing on all cylinders, they are very hard to beat! There are videos here on YT with Greg's vocals isolated, he is pitch perfect and his words are beautifully executed, fantastic vocalist indeed!

This most delightful piece is expertly driven by Carl Palmer’s exquisite drumming.

Emerson, Lake and were genius, so many masterpieces.

A beautiful song from ELP. Probably the nicest piano work from Keith in all of ELP's existence.

So far, one of the best songs from ELP! Also Gregs bass playing is underestimated!

Keith would pedal dampen the chord and then strum the piano strings inside. He would then voice the second chord, pedal dampen, and strum and pick the notes with his fingers. Saw him do this live. Was, of course, blown away by the technique. Thanks, Doug. Great analysis.

absorbing this at age 12 really helped me establish a deep appreciation of real music!

you'll get a KICK out of seeing them having so much FUN the live perf in Zürich, 1970! 15minutes+++ (includes a song about Greg's dog)

One of their best pieces of work. All three on top form. Keith’s solo is beautifully structured as well as perfectly played. His instinctive note and timing choices just work so well. More than anything, it is the freshness, honesty and inventiveness the band had in the early 70’s era, that I find the most moving.

The bass guitar parts in this song are awesome

Such a beautiful song. Just love Greg's voice, so powerful. Emerson Lake and Palmer put out some amazing music.

After a long absence from the music of my 1970s this one has aged well. A wonderful canvas for the classically influenced piano (with some undercover strumming!), the delicate and precise percussion effects which build tension, and Greg's beautiful voice and sad lyrics. I had to choke and decide to, like Doug, take time to listen again in an intimate setting to the timeless beauty of ELP's first hit.

Doug, thank you for this analysis! Emerson was a genius and this song showcases the immense talent of the band right from the starting gate!

Piano, bass, drums and an acoustic guitar interlude. Basics...and 12 mins of a beauty. Epic!

I loved to see how much pleasure you gained by the professional analysis of this song. So not only the natural beauty of the song can entertain but the structure of the song was a joy.

This is one of my most appreciated melodies from ELP. Greg Lake vocals are simply stunning. By the way, It would be very interesting too to hear a Rick Wakeman version of Close to the Edge on the piano. You can find it here in KZfaq.

Yes, Carl toured with full percussion. He was a very busy man on stage, as we're they all. This was wonderful! Grazie!

How much ELP had already made history as soon they performed live at the Isle of Wight… the were instantly the best! Live was home for them! The first album was a proof of their musical and melodic powers!! …Take a Pebble is just fantastic !! Thank you Doug for this beautiful musical encounter!👌

I am so fortunate to have seen these guys in November of 1975 in Wichita Kansas at the Henry Levitt Arena... All these years and concerts later and they remain in the top 5... Probably top 3.... I will never forget...

Thank you, Doug, for another excellent analysis. I'm definitely awed by your musical understanding and the depth of your breakdowns of some very complicated ELP music. I truly believe Keith would have loved your analysis of his playing (and composing, especially).

Finally you've got into Take a Pebble! I'm so happy! One of ELP's masterpieces, and definitely one of my favorite songs by them! The armonica analysis was so interesting, and I'm delighted you've got how Keith achieves his sound at the beginning so fast :)

This album is amazing! My older brother braught it home from college. I was blown away! I later saw the very first concert, in Montreal, at Place des nations in 1970. They played the whole album.

It's great seeing you get excited over the prog music we love. A much enjoyed reaction.

You definitely need to watch live performances from them.

One of my favorite tunes.....this song got me interested in modal jazz. I can hear influences of McCoy Tyner in there and some quartal harmony. Thank you for breaking it down. I was always interested in hearing a more technical analysis of this tune so THANK YOU!!!

Fun fact about the "kettle" drums: I happened to be watching a live 1970 ELP show on KZfaq (as one does), and noticed that Carl is at this time is not using kettledrums (he would a few years later), he's using felted mallets on his floor toms, which he's apparently tuned to adequately resemble kettledrums. No special gear needed, just clever use of properly tuned equipment.

I use this track often for audio system evaluation due to the exceptionally lifelike quality of the recording. Handclaps in particular can be very revealing.

Carl Palmer was in a great prog rock band called ATOMIC ROOSTER. And before that the extraordinary CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN who had surreal theatrical goings on as much as humour and great musicianship. I saw them in Norwich in a park and Arthur used to do a number, which became a hit, called FIRE. The gimmick was that he wore a crown of actual fire. To make his entrance he had bribed a crane driver having noticed a crane conveniently nearby to lift him up just before their slot and swing around and lower him on stage. What Arthur didn’t know was how slowly the crane would drop him. The band had started playing the amazing keyboard player VINCENT CRANE playing wonderfully doomy chords. The crane swung the bucket with Arthur over the stage and proceeded to lower him at a glacial pace. The band was improvising. Arthur had already lit the headdress eventually a triumphant entry but the headdress disappeared pretty quickly! Crane and Palmer then went on to found ATOMIC ROOSTER who are worthy of your time. Check out DEATH WALKS BEHIND YOU - somewhere between metal and prog!

Doug, I've listened to this song for decades and have always enjoyed it. I've also watched several of your videos and have enjoyed them too. But watching you analyze this song and break it down, along with your facial expressions was priceless. So much so, I watched it twice in a row.

Carl was a bit hesitant at first to join Greg & Keith. Greg told him, "listen, if you don't join us you'll not only hurt yourself, but you'll be hurting me"..... They wanted Carl bad, but had already had discussion with Mitch Mitchell, which didn't work out. Reason being ? Mitch showed up to talk things over one day & brought along his friend/bodyguard. The friend sat down & plunked down a hand gun on the table in front of Keith & Greg. It changed the vibe from open & honest to foreboding immediately. On this, they passed on Mitch based on the company he kept at the time..... Weird to think what might have been, huh ? As always, the Dougfest here is top notch- so, thank you ❣❣❣❣ 🚬😎

When I first heard this, I thought it was an autoharp, but no, Emerson is strumming his piano. Back in the 1980's, when my friend found this album in his late brother's record collection, I thought his some rare obscure music.

Great great analysis of the harmonic structure. Thanks!. There's also a mini-cosmos there around the elegant and sophisticated way Emerson plays with the rythym in the solo, against the obstinato. More than anything, his solos aren't just a collection of random scales or mode shifts, but little stories, with multiple tensions and resolutions. Still sounds good after more than 50 years!

I’ve been practicing this piece since I was a teenager… occasionally stepping away from the piano for a decade or two and never really understanding what I’ve been playing. Naturally this video of yours has been invaluable to my personal music education. Thank you ever so much!

Absolutely superb video of one of the best bands of time!

Thanks Doug, for this reaction. I’ve been listening to this song for about fifty years, and it has a timeless quality to it. Perhaps this reflects the profundity of this piece. Watching the ripples unfolding and the effects/affects they have is both uplifting and sad, but there is a beauty in this contrast, captured so well by these amazing musicians.

Doug, you HAVE to see the new King Crimson movie "In the Court of The King Crimson"? BLEW my mind and you added a key piece to the movie. You explained why Greg Lake left. Robert Fripp is a TRIP !

Why wouldn't you like the vocal at the end😮 to me that was always amongst the strongest vocal work that man did along with the Endless Enigma and Jerusalem😊

I was listening to the short track "Fugue" from Trilogy... such a masterpiece.

52 years since I first heard it, this remains my all time favourite ELP track, for the depth of the lyrics , the tones of the bass guitar, the qualities of Greg's vouce, and for the way the tune moves through the piamo improvs before that incredible final cadence. Every time I listen to it I have to sit in silence and contemplate it for a minute or two afterwards. Greg Lake's song, 'The Sage' leaves a similar impression on me of both wonder at the beauty, but also a sense of slight melancholy in the telling of the story.

Always been my favorite ELP song since I heard it in 1976.

These reactions with the score are some of the most interesting and entertaining content I have ever seen. Highlight of any week when one appears.

Thank you Dr. Doug for this excellent analysis. This was one of the first pieces by ELP that I learned to play (I'm a keyboardist). I did so by listening to the record over and over. If I had the sheet music, it would have been so much easier as then the subtleties in the harmonies become apparent (though I was able to figure things out because I did study music theory). One of ELP's best songs. Though I have always wondered why Keith did not get a writing credit for this song given how the piano portions were his contributions and they are integral part of the song. I always love it when you analyze/react to an ELP song))

You mentioned ripples, take a iat Ripples by Genesis. Probably one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

I often listen to the live version of this song. Stunningly fabulous. ELP has another masterpiece from Works Vol. 1 called Pirates. Listen to it and it’ll be 13 of the best minutes of your life

Fantastic Doug! You can't go wrong with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and this was the earliest example of each of the three bringing their own creativity to complete a whole song. After we all heard "Lucky Man" on the radio, I went straight to the record store, and bought this album. When I got to this second track, I was totally captivated, and had to put the needle back and have a second and then, third listen. The only thing better to hear was going to Side 2, and hearing "The Three Fates", especially "Lechesis" where, again, had to put the needle back and listen to it more than once. Loved your analysis as well as your enthusiasm throughout the listen.

He’s reaching inside the piano and strumming the piano strings in the intro

I was lucky enough to see Greg with King Crimson in Norwich - mind blowing - I went straight out and bought the first album

Lake is my favourite singer, dunno why but I guess it's because he was the singer in two seminal groups

Two members of King Crimson left after the first album because they didn't want to tour any longer. Lake left because he didn't want to be in a studio band, which is what KC was shaping up to be. He sang all but one piece on the second album in exchange for touring equipment Fripp didn't expect to need. He didn't play bass on that one, though.

Fun fact! At 23:02 Emerson is making a Bach reference. It is the C major invention BWV 772.

Great choice for a score analysis, Doug! Thank you. An extremely beautiful piece of music. 'From the Beginning' off of the 'Trilogy' album would be another good one to take an extended look/listen to.

Love it when you do ELP..

In live performance, Keith was strumming a grand piano, one of about ten different keyboards on stage.

My favorite part of Take a Pebble is when the piano part comes in at the 19:28 time in this video..simply beautiful is the only way to describe it…and don’t forget Greg’s beautiful voice at the end👍👍

A good pressing of the self-titled or Tarkus, are as good as anything ever laid down on vinyl.. Absolutely stunning production

An interesting note about Carl Palmer is that he used brushes on this cut and the first cut on the album. How many drummers do you know that use brushes?

I still remember seeing them at Hershey Arena, in quadraphonic, 15 Aug 1974. I still get goosebumps.😊

The first ELP album is just fantastic. This song, The Barbarian, The 3 Fates, and one of my favorites: Tank, which also explores quartal/quintal harmony. Beautiful synthesizer solo at the end. (I have a score of Tank, Doug, if you want to do a reaction video to it.) Regarding this Take A Pebble score, it would have been nice if they added the bass part (below the piano grand-staff), especially during the piano solo rather than dozens of blank vocal measures. Obviously, there is no vocal part in the solo section and the bass part is very important. So a glaring omission there.

I stumbled on your channel with "Pirates" video. Then I found "Take A Pebble" and I'm now a big fan. In college (1978) I was into music theory and composition. Your videos take me back to a very happy time. Thank you, Dave

It occurs to me that the E natural in the left hand at 10:33 (which could more easily have been scored as an F flat, considering the key sig) is setting up the modulation to F minor more than the C chord two bars earlier - ie, a first inversion of C7flat10 (that most jazzy of jazz chords) which has been stripped, like many jazz piano voicings can be, of quite a few of the constituent notes of the chord.

I have always found this music superb, and your analysis is equally excellent. Keith was a genius, but like a lot of geniuses - sadly suffered great internal complexity.

Doug - Fantastic analysis. I especially like how you interpreted the lyrics. Though I've sung this song a lot over the years, I never really focused much on the meaning. I guess you could say I'm a bit more like Jon Anderson that way. I just like the way words flow within a song.

I'm glad songs like this can be seen for what it is. Umderrated!

Lyrics? A broken relationship, the passage of time, melancholy. Delicious.

I learned and played this piece in college.. A lot of Right hand over the left hand while that F ostinato is playing. Keith does this A LOT

Thanks Doug Amazing first album

My favorite voice. Lovely song.

With Karn Evil 9 and Tarkus the top 3 compositions from ELP.

Awesome first album. Truly amazing ostinato. Love it!

one of my favourite Emmerson Lake & Palmer tunes, It gripped me on the day I bought the album & still does today. The Nice's cover of Tim Hardin's "Hang on to a Dream" is my other top tune of Emmerson's.

ELP? You've traded up a level, Doug :)

beautiful song, beautiful performance, beautiful production ... ear candy on a good sound system

Well done.😀

Thank you Doug for this interesting look at " Take a Pebble." I wonder if you would consider sharing a few of your own pieces sometime, provide analysis and let us hear what you're doing with your own music?

A wonderful analysis Doug....

According to Emerson, he initially tried to get Steve Howe and Chris Squire for his post-Nice band. Urban legend has it that he also wanted Mitch Mitchell for this group.

Hey man, great video. You’ve gotta do some more of these ELP analysis vids as they are so informative for people trying to learn ELP, as there are hardly any other vids of how to play their tunes.❤

Masterpiece.

Concerto for Group and Orchestra from Jon Lord is also in the list for quite a long time. There is also a score available for it. So it might be time to have a look on it.

Knife edge is another great one off that album

Such an amazing piece of music, with fantastic playing from everyone. I do believe it is somewhat tarnished by that middle section with the acoustic guitar that is a bit extraneous. And I agree about the final vocal harmony. Other that that -- a masterpiece.

Doug thank you for this! It’s a beautiful song. Please consider doing “Closer To Believing” from their album Works Vol. 1 It has full orchestra, choir and a lovely shirt oboe (maybe English horn) solo. I think you would find the harmonic structure in places fascinating.

There is a cool YT video of Keith Emerson playing on Oscar Peterson's TV show back in the day. I have never seen any other Emerson interviews so not sure if he is a nervous interviewee, but it was interesting that someone of Keith's talent was nervous in the presence of Oscar. Great stuff

I love ELP but I'm not a musician. When I listen to them I glimpse things that I feel are exceptional and totally different from other groups and musicians. Then I listen to the great classical composer Doug Helvering who analyzes and explains to me the greatness, the ability to compose harmonies of Keith Emerson. So what I glimpsed is confirmed. ELP are unique. Thanks Doug !!!!!!

hi doug love these with the sheet music

Thanks for this great review Doug, I love it when you have a score to work with. Hopefully you'll also get round to listening to the 3 Fates from the same album sometime.

You definitely need to do 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. It's one of the monumental works of progressive rock, taking the classical heritage from Mussorgskij and Ravel into modern time.

Wow..I thoroughly enjoyed that musical analysis. Didn't understand a word of it 🙂

There so many ELP songs to review, you have already found some of the best, The Sage, was suggested, it would be another good tune to review, thank you for this channel…

I would be very interested to see you react to Keith Emerson's Piano Concerto on Works Vol. 1. I have heard that it stands up well for classical musicians and critics, and I can hear some of Keith's classical composer influences in it. I wonder what you would make of it.