Greg Lake

bass_man86 · #1 06-03-2003, 08:18 PM

Any Greg Lake fans out there? When I was a teenager I was a big fan of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. To me Greg Lake and Carl Palmer are still one of the best rhythm sections that I can think of. I was lucky enough to see ELP live back in 1974 for the Brain Salad Surgery tour, and it was an incredible concert. Those were the days when a band went on stage for a minimum of four hours, and ELP did not disappoint.

Greg Lake had me totally mesmerized. He was playing a Gibson Ripper in flawless white suit all the while standing on a persian carpet. His playing was just so crisp, clear and intelligent that I was too embarassed to even touch my bass for a week after the concert. Carl Palmer was playing what was likely the first true synthesized drum set. Just incredible!

Any thoughts?

gruffpuppy · #2 06-03-2003, 08:33 PM

No thoughts just a fan of both.

Keith was pretty darn good also.

oddio · #3 06-04-2003, 04:17 AM

I saw the ELP tour in '71 from the first row of our National Arts Center, seated in between Keith and Greg. Greg was playing a black w/ tortoise-shell Jazz and standing on his Persian carpet. His bassplaying was astounding, as was his tone! That's a show that I will not forget. They played the entire first album and a great selection of Tarkus material. Greg even did an acoustic version of "Epitaph".

I also caught the BSS show in '74 at the Montreal Forum (opener was Stray Dog). Excellent show!

mnadelin · #4 06-04-2003, 09:47 AM

I'm a big ELP fan and the stuff he did with Emerson and Palmer is really hip. I think his best work is with King Crimson in the early days. The guy is a great singer too.

bass87 · #5 06-04-2003, 11:36 AM

Greg Lake's a very talented bassist IMO. I really like the stuff he did with King Crimson, especially on their first album. Haven't heard too much ELP, but from what I have seen from the Isle Of Wight DVD, very cool stuff too.

JeremyBender · #6 06-05-2003, 02:01 PM

I'm obviously a huge ELP fan even though I'm in my 30s.. I saw them 3 times in the last 10 years, although one of those shows was with Cozy Powell on drums. That show may have been late 80s. Either way, they are a very talented group of men. I have always loved Lake's playing on many songs.

Dondi · #7 06-05-2003, 02:32 PM

Did you know that Gibson let Lake design the Ripper bass? But he wasn't happy about the way it turned out and did't really use it. He kept the prototype areound for a while though.

bass_man86 · #8 06-05-2003, 05:52 PM

Nice tidbit about Greg Lake designing the Ripper. When I saw ELP back in '74 he played it the entire concert.

Dondi · #9 06-05-2003, 07:33 PM

I think that Greg Lake was one of the first bass players to think in terms of "hi-fi" in bass sound. His tone is one of he first to be full frequency; you can hear the "ting!" of the pick on the strings because he has all the highs in his sound. You also should realize that only if you have really clean technique can you let all the highs (treble) come through without sounding sloppy and noisy. When you combine the extended highs with the full lows you get that beautiful "piano string" tone that is his signature.

fretless5 · #10 06-05-2003, 08:40 PM

These pix are from '74 or '75 (I think). We got into the building during sound check. I was so flipped out seeing all those Alembics, I didn't even think to get a shot of Lake at the time. Superb show.

fretless5 · #11 06-05-2003, 08:41 PM

Second pic.