My copy of Lucky Man arrived from England last Friday, and I spent the weekend reading it.
The first sentence is: "I have always seen music as something magical." So off we go on a magical musical journey through the life of Greg Lake.
We find he gets his first guitar at age 12 as a Christmas present. Greg took guitar lessons from music shop owner, Don Strike, for "about two and a half years". "Don taught a number of well-known people including Al Stewart, the Police's Andy Summers, and Robert Fripp who would later become my great friend and playing partner."
Chapter 3 is entitled 'Court In Session' and is pivotal to the life of Greg Lake. It opens with "I received a call from Robert Fripp ... Robert asked if I would like to be the lead singer for his new band." "Gregory - he always used my full name when he wanted to persuade me to do something - I wonder if as well as being the lead singer, could you possibly consider playing the bass..." "I thought about it for a moment. Four strings instead of six. How hard can it be?" "Little did I know at that moment, but switching from guitar to bass would be a difficult transition to make. And I was about to be made acutely aware of this." The entire chapter, all 13 pages, is just chock full of inside information on the formation of King Crimson. "Robert and I decided to move into a flat together in a large Victorian house in Leinster Square in Bayswater, west London." "One night we were playing at the Revolution club in London and I looked out at the crowd and saw Jimi Hendrix staring back at me. He had come to the show to check us out." Greg Lake speaking of 'In the Court of the Crimson King' - "It's possibly the best record I ever made."
The rest of the book is all about Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. Again tons of inside information and insight. It's all chronologically laid out by album and tour concert dates. Greg Lake wasn't known as 'The Voice' for nothing. His speaking voice was just as lovely as his singing voice. If you've ever taken time to listen to some of the interviews he's given that are on youtube, you can hear his voice speaking to you as you read. What a treat if he had only lived long enough to record an audio book.
Chapter 18 'Songs of a Lifetime' is Greg Lake's final tour. Preformed solo to remixed backing tracks, I desperately wanted to see him live but it was not to be. Ever so gracious, Greg chatted with fans after his shows and posed for photos and signed autographs. The chapter jumps abruptly from 2012 to "On 11 March 2016, I received a phone call from one of my managers with the dreadful news that Keith Emerson had been found dead at his house in Santa Monica; he had apparently committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head."
The book ends with the simple sentence - "I have been a lucky man."
Greg's long term friend and personal manager, Stewart Young, has added a eulogy. Stewart also ran Greg's facebook page where he told the world of Greg's passing on 7 December 2016. Included is something Greg neglected to tell us. "In February 2014, Greg called to share with me that he had just been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer." I reckon that doesn't matter much anymore.
The first sentence is: "I have always seen music as something magical." So off we go on a magical musical journey through the life of Greg Lake.
We find he gets his first guitar at age 12 as a Christmas present. Greg took guitar lessons from music shop owner, Don Strike, for "about two and a half years". "Don taught a number of well-known people including Al Stewart, the Police's Andy Summers, and Robert Fripp who would later become my great friend and playing partner."
Chapter 3 is entitled 'Court In Session' and is pivotal to the life of Greg Lake. It opens with "I received a call from Robert Fripp ... Robert asked if I would like to be the lead singer for his new band." "Gregory - he always used my full name when he wanted to persuade me to do something - I wonder if as well as being the lead singer, could you possibly consider playing the bass..." "I thought about it for a moment. Four strings instead of six. How hard can it be?" "Little did I know at that moment, but switching from guitar to bass would be a difficult transition to make. And I was about to be made acutely aware of this." The entire chapter, all 13 pages, is just chock full of inside information on the formation of King Crimson. "Robert and I decided to move into a flat together in a large Victorian house in Leinster Square in Bayswater, west London." "One night we were playing at the Revolution club in London and I looked out at the crowd and saw Jimi Hendrix staring back at me. He had come to the show to check us out." Greg Lake speaking of 'In the Court of the Crimson King' - "It's possibly the best record I ever made."
The rest of the book is all about Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. Again tons of inside information and insight. It's all chronologically laid out by album and tour concert dates. Greg Lake wasn't known as 'The Voice' for nothing. His speaking voice was just as lovely as his singing voice. If you've ever taken time to listen to some of the interviews he's given that are on youtube, you can hear his voice speaking to you as you read. What a treat if he had only lived long enough to record an audio book.
Chapter 18 'Songs of a Lifetime' is Greg Lake's final tour. Preformed solo to remixed backing tracks, I desperately wanted to see him live but it was not to be. Ever so gracious, Greg chatted with fans after his shows and posed for photos and signed autographs. The chapter jumps abruptly from 2012 to "On 11 March 2016, I received a phone call from one of my managers with the dreadful news that Keith Emerson had been found dead at his house in Santa Monica; he had apparently committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head."
The book ends with the simple sentence - "I have been a lucky man."
Greg's long term friend and personal manager, Stewart Young, has added a eulogy. Stewart also ran Greg's facebook page where he told the world of Greg's passing on 7 December 2016. Included is something Greg neglected to tell us. "In February 2014, Greg called to share with me that he had just been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer." I reckon that doesn't matter much anymore.
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