EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER - TARKUS LIVE 1974 FIRST TIME REACTION/REVIEW | GEN Z REACTS

[@SattzFF]

Thanks for watching! Comment what the next reaction should be

[@lucapolidori8817]

Also look at Rachel Flowers' version of Tarkus played on Emerson's modular moog. It's on youtube.

[@operating]

Respect given for getting into this. There are really nice powerful moments in this live version that I just love.

[@andrewk5710]

The crazy synth sounds come from this monster sized keyboard called a Moog Modular that is monophonic, meaning you can only play one note at a time, no chords can be played on it. It has all sorts of wires and knobs that he turns while playing to change the sounds. They do improvise a lot from show to show, especially during Aquatarkus. The Star Wars pew pew pew sound was made on something called a ribbon controller where Keith runs his hands on a ribbon to alter and manipulate a sound from the Moog. Pictures at an Exhibition from 1970 is a great, long cover version of a classical song. There is a video of it but I think it would get blocked. But try to find that for your own experience later after you heard the album version. Carl is a beast on drums. He plays a three hour show like that back then going full speed the whole time. There’s a clip of him having the dry heaves backstage after one show from being so exhausted. Keep on exploring them, you won’t be disappointed. Keith is the best rock keyboardist out there

[@SattzFF]

Thanks for the info, sounds like they were very talented when it comes to different instruments than usual. I'll look into the recommendations as well

[@erikahlander3489]

There are hints about what's happening in the music on the album cover. If Tarkus is the armadillo-like organism on fronts there are fights with other creatures until Tarkus is eventually defeated. Of course some allegori about humanity. This was released during the cold war. (And this was a British band!). Only my personal reflections back in the 1970s. The live version of "Pictures at an Exhibition" was shown at TV. Since that album was not yet released I bought Tarkus. (And I became a friend of Modest Mussorsky for the rest of my life!) Like Lake had his origin in King Crimson, Emerson's previous band was the Nice, and Palmer had played with Arthur Brown (!) - who's hit "Fire" was an important pre-metal song before Zeppelin, Sabbath and Cooper in the Summer of 68. If you want to research the prehistory you need to see the TV video of Fire - and hear the audio of Nice doing "America" (West side story) or the "Karelia suite" by Sibelius.

[@SattzFF]

Thanks for the info, more ELP to come soon

[@lucapolidori8817]

The Nice was a great band and one of the first adding contaminations from classical music to rock. I suggest the "5 Bridges Suite". A trivia: The "Nice" guitarist David O'List was the first replacement for Syd Barrett in the Pink Floyd on tour before David Gilmour joined the band.

[@erikahlander3489]

@lucapolidori8817 Walter/Wendy Carlos' classical "Swirched-on Bach" and the Nice's 2nd album including Sibelius' "Karelia Suite" was released at about the same time (late 1968). The Dutch band "Ekseption" was slightly later with covers of Beethoven, Bach, Saint-Saëns etc. Jethro Tull's "Bouree" by Bach was released Summer 1969. Frank Zappa has more sublime references to Stravinsky, Varese etc already in 1966 but it is not actually covers. In the same way, Procul Harum's "A whiter shade of pale" is influenced by Bach's "Air". Deep Purple involve in the early 70s small pieces of classical music now and then; the song "Black Sabbath" from Black Sabbath's debut album 1970 is inspired by Holtz' "the Planets" and so on.