Emerson, Lake & Palmer


 * "A complete waste of time, talent and electricity" (John Peel on Emerson, Lake and Palmer's debut concert)
 * "Take ELP; they are undoubtedly good, in that they play well as instrumentalists, but it seems to me that what they do is, artistically, bunkum.....they'd all paid their dues, they could all play well, and they'd got a good rocking boogie thing, which could make one think that they might get into something, but in my opinion, the pseudo-classical bit was the wrong thing for them....Unfortunately, so many kids haven't had the real artistic background and the intellectual heritage, and they don't appreciate the lack of artistry in a syncopated version of some classical thing. I don't think they add anything, and it's no answer to say that it may lead kids to the real thing, because that's like putting Rubens on a tea towel and thinking ot will lead people to visit the National Gallery....."  (John Walters interviewed in Zigzag, 1972)
 * In the light of the above comments it it no surprise that Emerson, Lake and Palmer never recorded a session for a John Peel show, or featured in his playlists. Peel's disappointment at their debut concert in 1970 (he later admitted to having been reduced to tears) was not simply because of his disgust at the uncritical response of most of the audience. All three group members had already made their names with groups who he liked and had recorded sessions for Top Gear. Keith Emerson had become famous as the flamboyant keyboeardist of The Nice, Greg Lake had sung and played bass with King Crimson, and Carl Palmer had been drummer with both the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster. Together, they had the potential for what was then called a "supergroup", but for Peel at least their music seemed slick and empty.
 * However, this did not prevent ELP from becoming one of the most successful progressive rock band of the 1970s and beyond, selling over forty million albums and pioneering the vast staduim concerts which are now common for successful live acts. Despite frequent criticism for self-indulgence and pretentiousness - the US critic Robert Christgau called them "the world's most overweening 'progressive' group" - they gained a loyal fan base. They broke up in 1978 but have re-grouped sporadically in subsequent years, although their commercial heyday remains the 1970s.
 * In retrospect, they represent the point, around 1970-71, when Peel began to be disillusioned with some of the progressive rock he had championed in the late 1960s. Like Deep Purple, they seemed to him to view instrumental virtuosity as an end in itself; yet, as if to validate John Walters' comments, they never impressed classical or jazz audiences, usually more demanding than their rock counterparts.
 * Links to Peel (no more than two paragraphs, please)

Sessions

 * Number of sessions? Any commercial release of sessions?

1. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY 2. Recorded: YYYY-MM-DD. First broadcast: DD Month YYYY. Repeated: DD Month YYY etc
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title

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Other Shows Played
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 * DD Month YYYY: Song (single/album) Label