One reason this album gets bad press is their high standard set on previous works, personally i think it has some great moment's. Officer and Gentleman is a classic IMO.
im a big big elp fan and love Emerson piano but sorry i think thta that piece is a joke, u hear that the intro is the 1st chopin etude in c major then Emerson beguin make the last etude, the c minor in major mode ? dont know but i think is far away the brilliants piano original from Thrree Fates, second impression, Concerto and inumerous others piano diamonds he compose
Just to let you know that the Carl Palmer band performed Canario at the Borderline, London 2005. This is a great documentary, thank you for putting it on youtube.
Yep, 'Pirates' is for me. the most successful fusion of electronic band and acoustic orchestra realised by Emerson since even his early attempts with the Nice.
saw them in late January '78 at the old Capital Centre - Landover, MD - near D.C. - just me and 3 lovely girls - it was a night to remember - and oh yeah, the concert was great also ..
Pretty sure you can nab a LP copy Factory sealed or near mint on Discogs for under $10 dollars. Check that out. I enjoy your videos. Keep 'em coming.@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories
I remember finding this, Works 2, and In Concert in the bargain bin, way back in 1981-82-ish. I just looked, My copy of Love Beach has the order form for the merch!!
Thank you very much for watching Dolores. This was a fun episode to work on, i have a thing for these forgotten albums....i see them as life itself! Stay tuned for more!
Good Day. Very nicely done. I've seen them in concert twice. The First Time was in Albuquerque New Mexico in 1974, in 4 channel sound system. Always one of my favourite bands. Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it Keith! Btw, i'm definitely getting close to ASIA because after this we have the groundwork for Carl's venture into Prog Pop. I am working on my calendar so i can produce a lot of content related to ELP's 80's ventures. Thank you so very much for your support ALWAYS man!
I was a big ELP fan back in the day. I saw them in 1977 both with and without the orchestra (which I didn't think added all that much). I bought Works I and II and thought "I guess this is the new ELP. Might as well get used to it". I heard that "Love Beach" had been released and was shocked when I saw the album cover in the record store. That was the last ELP (Palmer or Powell) album I bought. Love Beach had its moments, but to me, it was nothing like the albums prior to Works. Still a fan of ELP. Saw Keith and Greg peform together before they passed and Carl with his band a few years ago. Keep making these videos!
ELPOWELL and BLACK MOON both redeem the band from LOVE BEACH. They are the most consistent and consistently good of all the ELP studio albums, 3's included.
@@Lesiga1 When ELP tried to get together again in the late 1990s, according to Emerson things fell apart over Lake insisting on producing again. Lake has always stressed the importance of chemistry within the band but Emerson's reluctance came down to the practical fact that Lake hadn't been out there putting in the time as producer on other acts' albums and Emerson didn't feel like Lake had earned the position - i.e., why should you be ELP's producer when you can't show us you've been successfully producing albums lately when there are busloads of people who can? And like I said, the proof is in the pudding: prior ELP studio albums with the possible exception of the very first one are rather disjointed. There's a lot of stuff that just detracted from the band's greatness - sure, "Benny The Bouncer" and "Are You Ready, Eddie?" are bits of fun but are they really what needed to be taking up grooves on ELP albums?
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories , Works 1 was overblown and pompous, Works 2 Lazy outtakes etc , Love Beach was better but had real crap like For You , Taste of my Love , they were redeemed themselves with ELPowell and Black Moon and suggested the album 3 , two good tracks and 2 decent tracks .
@@TwitterSocialMediaNews It was going to be full experimental until Guercio and Cetera thought it needed some vocals, and I think they recorded it in that order. I actually love all the songs, probably more than the jazz-prog-rock.
Wow. I didn't know I'd ever find anything like this. You did a very good job. I don't like the way you phrased some things but I'll reserve any comment other than to say this is quite accurate to all of my views of the album, too, in retrospect. Groups on FB give it more love these days. I'm 60. When this came out I was psyched but instead it made me shudder
Es mi lengua materna, siempre es interesante hablar español en medio de estas narraciones. English is the rock and roll language i guess? Gotta love these bands man, geniuses!
I imagine a dystopian alternate history sci fi story where actually Love Beach was extremely well received and the t-shirts and booty shorts became ultra popular and this album ended up defining music and fashion for decades thereafter
I have nothing against this album. Was a huge ELP fan back in the day. Perhaps it was the cover that affected eveyone's take on the music. And.....you are wrong about Pirates, fantastic track!
Hey Brian! Glad you enjoyed this one, that album cover right? But the music has great moments. Do you think Carl used his custom Steel Kit in the studio or does it sound more like a Ludwig a la Bonham? Hope you're doing well man!
Before and after the 13min mark...what you think is GX-1 bass is actually Greg's Alembic 8 string bass. The guitar sound you speculate to be GX-1 is actually the Roland Guitar Synthesizer.
You've convinced me that in spite of the title and cover picture, it's still an ELP album. ;-) Seriously, I loved Brain Salad Surgery, and somewhere along the way I picked up a copy of Love Beach, probably in a clearance bin, but it never really grabbed me like BSS. Still, given the quality of modern music, almost anything from the 70s is a welcome respite. Also nice to see that Leblanc and Carr aren't entirely forgotten. And then Emerson Lake and Powell came out and it was like Brain Salad Surgery Part 2. Another great album to make me forget about Love Beach!
I'm glad this video shed some positive light on this infamous album. It is way better than others that are place in this dreaded category. I think it's consistent in the intention at least. Thank you for watching, stay tuned for more!
Great doc. The thing that amazed me was it took Chicago several albums to go from brilliance to schlock and ELP did it in one fell swoop. Still love both bands though.
Hehe wow, yes, i know what you mean. But this late 70s period was not kind for most classic bands. Floyd was an exception because they didn't were about speed before. Thank you very much for watching!
Don't forget that the first 3 Chicago releases were all double albums. followed by a 3 record live set. The drop in quality doesn't kick in until after Terry Kath's death, and even then, they had some pretty good singles. With ELP it was like they fell off a cliff. First of all, a 4 year wait after brain salad surgery, unheard of back in those days, though common now. And what do ELP fans get? A pretentious self-indulgent mess of an album called works, followed by love beach, which was a critical disaster & commercial flop. Taken out of context, parts of it actually sound pretty good, but the rest is cringe, compared to their early 70s classics. The cheezy cover didn't help....
I, like many ELP fans, bought this album when it was released in 1978 and I was completely disappointed with the cover and the sound I heard... I tried for many years to listen and like this album but I couldn't and it ended standing still and ignored by me... But after forty years, to my surprise, one day listening to it completely, I understood and liked this album, I don't know how to explain how this happened or what was the reason why it only happened after forty years, but today I can say that I like and respect this album and it is one of the albums that I listen to the most in my entire ELP collection... Maybe since its release I have been very influenced by negative criticism of this album and the reputation of ELP's worst cover and album didn't let me, didn't allow me to want to be able to understand and like this album...But it's good that as time goes by we mature, change and improve in our way to think about as happens with the maturation of a good old wine.
Jose , you really brought out a lot of info on Love Beach. I have the album but I could not tell you the last time I played it. You make me want to review it with new ears. I always wondered if the cover and album title were different how that might effected the response of the album. I don't think it had a chance when it came out with the cover.
Hey Vance, what's happening! The cover certainly ruined it's chances, i mean at least CALL IT something different haha. We gotta blame the design department, ELP? Not so much, the music is good, instrumentally speaking. Despite of Pete Sinfield's ...."lyrics". Always a treat to read your comments man!
12:07 Lake probably had that Alembic 8-string bass with him - the same one that was used on WORKS VOL. I and the subsequent tour. 12:27 Lake also had the first version of the Roland guitar synthesizer on this album. LOVE BEACH is an outlier in the ELP catalog for how much electric guitar there is throughout. 12:32 Definitely the 8-string.
It does sound like the Alembic, the same one John Paul Jones used from 1977 on. Thank you for clarifying the Roland Synth stuff, i wasn't sure. Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
This album contains a rare example of Keith Emerson playing a Rhodes piano. He reportedly didn't like them and described them as "muddy". Halfway through side 2. That bit and Canario make this LP worth having...
Can't wait! What do you mean " Last Days"? The show never ends ... They reformed in 1991 and made it to 1998. Lol- then a High Voltage concert in 2010. CP once said (paraphrase) The trouble with ELP is if you look at the 1st album they all had a solo song and 7 years later they had repeated it. He said another time about Love Beach - one can get the cover abd make it into a PLntEr. There is one version of Love Beach that contains rehearsals versions of 3 songs "Canario", "Taste of My Love" and " Letters From the Front". Its been out of print shortly after its release 2001. Thanks again!
When It's over, it is over. Why do people in the entertainment industry pursue a cradle to grave mentality? No profession supplies this. I shot an interview with Carl Palmer in Philadelphia, 2006. He said the good records were very easy to do. The hardest were the bad ones. And we didn't get to the piece de resistance, 1994 's IN THE HOT SEAT.
I was a huge ELP fan in Jr. High. I saw them live in Feb. '78 shortly after they ditched the orchestra for their Works tour. It was a great show other than them opening with that Peter Gunn/James Bond theme which I and the rest of the audience found very awkward. I remember Greg Lake stopping mid Tarkus to tell the audience they were not going to play if they kept throwing things so it almost stopped there. Despite this the rest of the show went quite well. Dig your channel. Subscribed!
Yep, I'm one of those guys that bought the LP back when it first came out, gave it a couple of spins, and never listened to it again. Maybe someday, I'll give it another shot. Maybe.
Admittedly, Love Beach is not on the same level as other ELP albums, but still I love it and still listen to it with pleasure, especially Canario and Memoirs of An Officer and a Gentleman.
🌠Alright JCM..Another Good One..I never knew this album existed before I watched this video...I prefer the early 70's stuff..Father Christmas..but my fav is ....from the beginning ..u rock JCM..I saw Pantera last nite in Baltimore USA last nite ..they were really good ..never saw em before...rip abbott brothers...dime/ vinny
Pressure and urgency from the record label. Also the time and place, and the fact that there was lots of snow flowing over those tropical islands to Miami. Look what happened to musical titans! Good documentary though!
One of the best comments i've read! Yes, you are 100% correct. It's strange that the same Ahmet Ertegun who helped Led Zeppelin and Genesis....was so pushy with latter day ELP. Now...what if....maybe, these guys were living such expensive lifestyles that it all came down to this? Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
A really good analysis of the many sides of the last ELP album. I think that they were left alone by the label and the producers as well... they made their own choices but inevitably made some mistakes... Anyway I think ELP and mostly Keith Emerson are amazing and at the same time with a complex personality that makes them what they are: unique and matchless. Anyway, very good job!! An ELP aficionado
Massively underrated. I feel it got a "Go to Heaven" treatment, where public and journos took one look at the cover art, thought they are riding the Bee Gee's wave and just didn't bother to check the music.
And people even listen to the Bee Gees with less prejudice than Love Beach. I think Rhino should re-release it with a DIFFERENT ALBUM COVER you know? See what happens! Thanks for watching!
Loved watching this. It’s ELP so by definition there are some great moments, “Canario” in particular. Have to differ with the harsh assessment of “Pirates.” It’s a true epic with phenomenal performances by all three of them.
Fair enough David. Pirates i like the music....the lyrics is what ruins it for me, trust me i've been trying for 20 years to enjoy it. Thanks for watching man!
The research is poor! Barrel House Shakedown was not a "left over" from the Works Volume 1 recording sessions. The track was recorded by Keith as early as 1972 when he was already working on a solo album. "So Far To Fall" was the fourth track, recorded in 1973 during the recording sessions for the Brain Salad Surgery album, that was not on the album. In 1975 the brass was dubbed on the track. Keith does use the Yamaha GX-1 but he also used for the first time Korg synthesizers. The Korg PS3100 and PS3300. Carl did not drum with his stainless steel kit. He played a Gretsch drum kit on the entire album. Greg Lake, for the first and only time on an ELP album, played a synthesized guitar. The Roland GS-500 guitar controller hooked up to the Roland GR-55 guitar synthesizer. That is why the electric guitar sound heard on the tracks has different textures.
Barrel House had a 1975 arrangement for the strings so it was technically worked during Works 1. I am an ELP fan who has studied and played the music. Just saying cause i don't want you to give the idea that i don't take the time to go over the details. I do appreciate you letting know on the rest of the equipment as these details i value very much. From a musician and documentarian i say Thank you very much for watching!
I recall way back when this first appeared - the title "Love Beach" - just seemed schmaltzy - but with that cover photo - I could only say to myself .. "what on earth were they thinking here ?" - how do you go from the amazing art of H.R. Giger on Brain Salad Surgery to this ?
Schamltzy is a good term for this! Imagine Giger's reaction to that cover hahaha, he was probably terrified..or laughing. Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
22:33 wow, that's an interesting idea. i think "CANARIO" would've been great, it somehow looks awesome, and feels tropical, hinting at some album concept. and "FOR YOU", which always makes sense, but does so in particular with the broad smiles and overall appearance of the band.
The problem with Canario is that it's the name for a bird in Spanish that next to the album cover...not sure it would translated well hehe. For You i think yeah, works, but again the parody effect. Maybe the should have called it NASSAU BLUES! hehe Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
Bought this on day of release and still think it’s great . And I think it’s Carl Palmers best ‘ stripped back ‘ playing , much less busy but still inventive . It was a Gretsch Wooden shell kit , not actually the stainless steel . Great video
Cool love the variety bro.There is a youtube channel called 'Flipside CT' who makes videos like these about The Stones.He goes in depth about what instruments were played also..My favorite two channels for music history.
Do yourself a favor and listen to the first five albums plus the live album. There was a reason why they were as big as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd as a touring act. They were monsters.
Just 3 thoughts from me: Brain Salad Surgery was the climax of all Prog Rock, nobody had the faintest idea how to top it, not even ELP themselves. And second: There are many bands who would consider themselves being lucky, to have put out an album like Love Beach. As for the lyrics, well, Brain Salad Surgery, i hope, you know, what it means ...
I need to revisit In The Hot Seat, from what i remember, it sounded like a pop record with little virtuoso spots. Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
JCM - I never thought of it myself, but you hit it right on the head when you said ELP lacked in the songwriting department. For Love Beach, I never thought it was so much bad musically (though the lyrics are mainly awful), just boring. I tell kids to get Pictures At An Exhibition, Trilogy and Welcome Back.
Yeah i mean, Carl even states that on a 1992 interview. He said they always thought of their material in a live setting thus making "Records" was not something they envisioned as a studio piece, but just capturing their on stage madness. By the time Love Beach it was the first time in their career they had to do an album without any intention of touring afterwards and i think it shows. ELP were geniuses so we can't just discard Love Beach, i mean it has very good moments. That's like saying Beethoven wrote crap, it's all about context :) Thanks for watching!
Love Beach starts out on its left foot with the title and, of course, the album cover; critics that already loathed ELP really didn't need any more to start the usual flogging of ELP, ELP couldn't win with the critics no matter what they did. ELP's fans that loved the original, unflinching gothic and austere image and musical presentation (that already suffered with WV1) figured the band had just surrendered (like their peers). Sadly, had ELP - and their management - worked just a little harder (and had Keith, Greg, and Carl stuck to their guns) they could have had a 'real' ELP album with very little additional effort. Firstly, the good things on the album - all of Memoirs... is true to the ELP spirit; yes, the screaming Hammond and Moog are gone, but this has been replaced by a more mature and measured compositional approach from Keith. Canario is nice arrangement with the band (Carl) going for the Fanfare-like shuffle magic that served them so well on the Copland piece. For You is a well-paced piece that has (good) traces of Greg's side of Works, V1. The Gambler is basically a rehash of Tiger in a Spotlight; it also serves as 'here's the jokey/light track' offering that ELP employed on Tarkus, Pictures, Trilogy, and BSs, it's acceptable. All I Want is You, Love Beach, and Taste of My Love are rather hideous, possibly only surpassed in awfulness by some of the tracks from In the Hot Seat. However, had ELP changed the title (to Memoirs, for example), used a different cover (perhaps a British military man in a battle setting) and replaced all of side 1 (excepting Canario) with Carl's Percussion Concerto (which was ready) or replaced the three clunkers with any of the bonus tracks that cropped up as bonus tracks later (Prelude and Fugue, the wonderful Greg tune Oh, My Father) they would have had something that truly was representative of ELP. Would it have prevented the break-up of the band? Probably not, it seems that the financial stress from the orchestral tour was a great motivator to take a breather. On the other hand, Peter Gunn (from the In Concert album) was a huge hit in Holland and Belgium; would they have stuck together for the sake of success and would the ELP-like consistency have continued? Going a bit further back, had ELP released I Believe in Father Christmas instead of it being a Greg Lake solo offering, what would that have done for the band? One can only wonder... I don't know if WV2 was an indicator of Love Beach, as much of WV2 already had been conceptualized and recorded during the ELP glory years; there was definitely a gap of time in between. I agree with you that Keith and Greg were not as well prepared (or even able) to go commercial like their peers were; ELP was better represented by being only slightly commercial (Greg's tunes, of which there never was a surplus); Keith's strength never was composing commercial material (he has said so himself). On the other hand, Emerson, Lake and Powell's Touch and Go (Keith adaptation of Vaughn Williams' Lovely Joan) was a 'hit' a few years later and even became part of the ELPalmer shows during the bands latter touring days (Carl must have thought, I traded this for Asia's Astra?). Great video; thank you. Contact me if you'd like a free copy of my ELP book.
As an ELP fan when it came out, I thought it was their worst album too, when it came out. I agree that side twom is a masterpiece. But this wasn't their last album and it wasn't their worst. their worst was 'In the hot seat and that was their last album. But after love beach came "Black moon." I also disagree that pirates is a bad song. It's one of my favorites by them. All iin all, this was a good video.
In addition to the fantastic adaptation of Rodrigo’s Canario, there is also a nice (uncredited) quote of the first eight bars of Chopin’s Etude Opus 10 #1 as intro to side 2 part B “Love At First Sight”.
Great stuff! It was a fun ride revisiting this album, enjoying the lyrical breakdown of “Taste of my Love” and the story of that homoerotic album cover! Several years later another band working through their own issues arrived at Compass Point to make an album. One could say they were possibly inspired by this album (specifically “Taste of my Love”) as that band was Judas Priest their creations were Turbo and Ram It Down. Peter Sinfeld wrote the lyrics to the first King Crimson album for fucks sake. So the man who wrote the lyrics to “In The Court of the Crimson King” brought us “Taste of my Love” and all of its vivid, adolescent imagery…well I guess this explains “Cat Food.” The lyrics on Love Beach reek of someone who had a month to do a massive homework assignment only to put off starting it until the night before it’s due.
‘Memoirs’ is a song I often sing quietly to myself in moments of contemplation or when I’m trying to feel who I am in disorienting situations thru my Prog persona, without all the majestic thunder of their other work. But as an American consumer and sci fi freak, I’ve developed, over my lifetime, a good sense for the end of an Era signaled by a drop in quality accompanied by an attempt to milk what was left for every last drop. ‘The Endless Enigma’ or ‘Stones of Years’ could bring tears to my eyes from places so deep I could barely understand while listening privately to those albums. Then came ‘Love Beach’ and I knew the same old shit was dropping again, even for ELP.
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories I agree. I'm also glad you mentioned this album went gold. I lke to remind critics of this fact, that this album still shifted alot of units in the USA. 😀
🥁🥁🥁 Para el ciclo de "Peores discos de las grandes bandas"? Allí entra también el In The Hot Seat de ellos, Open Your Eyes y Heaven and Earth de Yes, etc...
Thank you Jose for this video. I love Tormato (drop circus/arriving ufo). It jams. So does Drama. ELP were just burned out. I remember this album coming out and I knew it was terrible. The cover had the vibe "do not purchase!" ha ha ha.
Do not Purchase vibe hahahahahah , yeah i know what you mean. I've felt that with some jazz records i shouldn't have bought...and i was right! Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
Rhino's reissue of Tormato with all the bonus stuff really changed my mind on that album. I wish they'd used some of the outtakes like Countryside and Some Are Born. There are bootlegs with better vocals from Jon on Some Are Born than the take Rhino chose too.
An interesting video.... it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the album Emerson, Lake & Powell from 1986 maybe the topic for your next video ??
ohhh that's a great idea because i also have a fascination for ELP 1986....i'll add it on the list. Touch and Go...... ! Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
Thanks for this video.I am fairly sure it is the first and probably only really serious investigation of this much maligned album (well maybe apart from Bicyclelegs "in defense of video)Like you I agree there is some excellent music to be found on the album.I can't help thinking fans (or ex-fans) would view it in a better light if it had been packaged differently.Here's my suggestion for a re-imagined "Love Beach" Firstly replace the cover with a simple image as per the previous albums (I dunno maybe just a plain silver...or maroon-whatever) call it Works Vol 3 with the ELP logo in the middle- who can object to that? Secondly put "Memoirs" on side 1, open side 2 with "Canario", then "All I Want" which is actually a decent little pop song, then "For You" which stands up to any of Lake's other ballads at least to my ears,then to lighten the mood, "The Gambler",then a remixed version of "Taste Of My Love" with a different title and without the vocals (there's plenty of musical interplay at work) and finally the title track itself to conclude the album.(TBH I know the lyrics are pretty bad but as a whole is it really any worse than Are You Ready Eddy which closes Tarkus?)
First off David, thank YOU for watching! I knew this was a gamble topic but it turned out quite well in terms of rating :) I agree with you the packaging was the main issue here. I mean people don't seem to have a problem with WORKS 1, an album that is LESS consistent if you really take a close....close...look. or Works 2 maybe. Works 3 is a FANTASTIC IDEA and yes, put the LOGO there. So glad to read your impressions on the tracks and i laughed at the ARE YOU READY EDDY, i know man, sometimes a small group of hardcore ELP fans can forget poetry like that......haha. Hope you have a great week and if you can share my work with friends and social media, that would help me out big time!
ELP was one of the first bands I truly loved as a kid, but when Works 1 & 2 came out I was very disappointed, but I played them endlessly, determined to like them, which I ended up doing at the time, but then Love Beach came out and I knew it was all over. These three albums are perfect examples of why punk had to happen. Looking back now, over 40 years later, I still like these LPs - nostalgia and memories - but in reality they are pretty crap albums, totally up their own arses - as if punk never happened. Brilliant docu as usual JCM. Please do one of Trilogy or their first LP!!! Thanks :) .... "I think even David Coverdale would be fed up". Hahaha! Good one JCM!
I will never Understand what happened to their sound, between Brain Salad, Surgery, and Works. They had their break time, maybe they should have just kept going. Maybe Works would have followed down the line after a few more LPs. I know that Keith Emerson wanted to be considerate a classical artist too. That was the reason for Works Where each one could do their own thing. But even after it works, they never got back to that ELP style that we love, like from Trilogy, their first album with the dove, Pictures, At An Exhibition, and Tarkus, one of my favorites. Don’t get me wrong. I love everyone of their albums even Love Beach. I love everyone one their solo efforts too. And every time they got back together. I just don’t know why they didn’t revisit that style that made them famous to begin with. I don’t know if style is the right word maybe I mean formula. In the late , 70s many bands, we’re switching to punk Disqo, pop. But they didn’t have to, many others didn’t , look at King Crimson. they never change their Formia or style. ELP should have never tried to change. Just think what they could have come out with. If not being been pressured by stupid producers, telling them what is popular right now. So let me ask who is ever out there listening why do you think their formula changed between Brain Salad Surgery and Works?
@@DreamStarGalaxy I think maybe because they became rich and could do exactly what they wanted to do and play exactly whatever tickled their fancy, take big vacation breaks, stop rehearsing, "I wanna do this" and I"I wanna do that". Happens to a lot of big bands. Genesis became commercial and became bigger than ever. I guess I Believe in Father Christmas was the biggest hit ELP ever had - Lucky Man too - and they probably made a few bob from that, so maybe that gave Greg some power to lead ELP in the commercial direction.
@@WelshVegan Their biggest hits were From the Beginning and the Fanfare for the Common Man edit. The Karn Evil 9 edit and Still...You Turn Me On were radio hits even though they weren't single releases. Their biggest albums no doubt achieved platinum sales in the 70s (ELP were HUGE) but are still listed as gold because they've not been RIAA recertified.
Glad you mentioned this, thanks for the heads up. For some reason the copy i found had Lukather listed on another track and Gary here. My bad!! Carl's kit has a metallic sound that his early ELP works don't. Even going back to the Brain Salad sessions, what do you think he was playing? Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
It's sad they couldn't find the success that Genesis found in the 80's, but we know they Lake and Emerson had it in them when they cut "Touch and Go" with Powell.
Yes, Touch and Go was a terrific song.The problem with ELP and i say this as a fan, is that they were never a BAND in the sense of being a unit. It was always 3 virtuosos getting together to make great music. Genesis had the group factor in them, with their own musical ability limited in comparison, thus making the compositions the Virtuoso collective. Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
I remember this era. I was a huge ELP fan but this wasn't the record ELP needed to make. Ahmet screwed this up by making them make a commercial album. I liked Greg Lake's first solo album. I used to play stuff from it on my college radio show. But it was the wrong music for the times. New Wave of Brittish Heavy Metal had arrived. Hard music was in. Greg Lake's 12 string guitar, was not going to sell records in 1982. Kinda sad, it was a good album.
Ertegun didn't really understand the state ELP was in. As much as i admire him as a record label executive and friend of the musicians he supported...he was out of touch here. You're right, it was released at the worst possible time. Lake's first album has a lot of good moments, a solid 80s piece. What if he was in ASIA from day one?....Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-StoriesThere is a lot of truth to what you say about Ahmet. He would have been better off letting them make the solo albums they wanted to make, then getting an ELP album later (which may not ever have been made). I like your branching out on other bands than Zep. I LOVE that you are digging deep on albums that may not have been the best albums by the bands you are covering. I don't need another video about Dark Side of the Moon, but I do need a video about Atom Heart Mother. Know what I mean?
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories. I have both Lakes solo albums half was not good , if you took both albums and took off the rubbish it would have been a good album.
Albums are always a surprise to find stuff we like and some we don't, like "dating" and life itself haha. Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
Excellent work on this oft-neglected part of ELP‘s career. I’m a huge ELP fan. Actually, the album cover doesn’t bother me at all, though they should’ve come up with a different title indeed. But where I’m probably like most fans, Canario and Officer and gentleman really stand out and are usually the only two songs I’ll listen to from this album. I submit, they’re not just good, they’re really really good! Are they Tarkus, no, but good nonetheless. And I agree with the documentary and other commentators, that the piano piece on Officer and gentlemen is amazing and emotional. Keith at his best.
Keith stated, and I quote, "Three years is the ideal length of time for a group." Welcome back... could be their farewell album, everything after that was worse and worse. Works 1 and 2 are tolerable but Love Beach was the last ELP album I bought. And ELP are my number 1 even after 50 years.
A controversial point you made but yes, had they split up after Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends (1974), i believe it would have been the perfect record, only rivaled by Michael Jordan hehe. Works 1 and 2 didn't do much for me, too serious..., Love Beach i do like!
Prog rock was coming to an end in the late '70s and if you didn't adapt to the new musical landscape, you're done. As much as the record label tried to implore them to be more commercial, it was just not the 3 musicians' thing. Genesis successfully did it under the new leadership of Phil Collins replacing Peter Gabriel. Yes successfully did it by bringing in new musicians in Trevor Horn and Trevor Rabin. The last hurrah for ELP was actually Emerson Lake & Powell. Saw them in '85 in the Brendan Byrne Arena in NJ. Awesome show.
The thing i see now is that ELP was not really a BAND like Genesis and Yes were. They were ALL incredibly talented but ELP seems more like a freakshow thing (and i am a hardcore ELP Fan when i say this). They were meant to be a killer live band, in the studio, not really, they recorded albums because it was part of the business.
Hi ! La guitarra electrica q usó Greg en éste disco fue una Roland con conexión directa a módulos de sintetizador, se podría decir la 1ra guitarra MIDI. Y el trabajo de Greg con ella fue magnífico!! Tanto en guitarra líder como rítmica. Por otro lado, Love Beach es una gema, tanto el lado 1 , q parece un trabajo de Lake solista, como el lado 2 , más en la línea tradicional de ELP. Lo que sucedió (ya no , es un disco Muuuuuyy respetado hoy día) , es q el ambiente troglodita del progresivo de la época no se aguantó un cambio de dirección musical, ni la tapa, q es muy graciosa, con la idea de descontracturar la Seriedad y solemnidad de muchos puristas. Para mí, uno d los mejores discos de ELP y del rock en gral. By the way, i Saw ELP 6 times in Argentina, 93 and 97, and 7 times Carl Palmer ELP legacy. With chats and drinks with ELP whole band ! Cheers from Buenos Aires !!
Wow Miguel, conversaste con los ELP! Eso es tremendo honor. Mis respetos! Un amigo de mi tio los conoció cuando nos visitaron en 1997. Cuando me enseñó las fotos y los discos firmados casi me muero haha. Agradezco enormemente el dato sobre la guitarra MIDI, me tenía confundido. Si bien pensé en Pat Metheny y este tipo de equipos, no estaba seguro. Nada como un FAN de verdad como vos que SABE el dato a la mano. Comparto la idea que el progresivo se puso muy serio...el fan base pues, estricto! Sin embargo creo que la crítica fue excesivamente punitiva con este trabajo. Me sorprende Ahmet Ertegun no los cuidara más. Muchas gracias por compartir este gran comentario! Espero sintonices más episodios. Soy principalmente super fan de Led Zeppelin pero estoy aventurandome a hablar de otros trabajos que me gustan :) Soy compositor de rock progresivo tambien!
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories Gracias a Vos! Tb sos argentino?, o de dónde? Te respondí mitad en español y mitad en inglés porque está narrado en inglés. Pero pronuncias en español muy bien. A mí tb me encanta Zeppelin, la verdad que de todo. Menos reggaetonto o cumbia 😁🤦. Tmp me gusta el grunge ni Dave ghrol o Eddie Vedder. Amo el Jazz , especialmente el be bop, la Bossa Nova, deep purple, Genesis, Wakeman , Jethro Tull, Bonamassa, Aimee Mann , Lisa hanighan , John Mayer, pufff
Me causa gracia cuando comparan la tapa de Love Beach con las d los Bee Gees en forma despectiva !! Es muy loco!! Perfecto!! Estoy convencido que los Bee Gees están entre las 5 mejores bandas de todos los tiempos y estilos. Nada q envidiarles a los Beatles, otros capos. Barry Gibb es un genio absoluto. Abrazos!
Thank you for this thoughtful video; I bought this album when it came out, and while it was never my favorite it's quite enjoyable. Musically it shows that Keith was using "current" technology in his keyboards. Yes, there's some questionable lyrics but what about the "But if you lose control they will take away your T-shirt" line from Nobody Loves You Like I Do on Works Vol I - or even worse - "She did a thing to my thing like it's never been done before" from So Far To Fall on Works Vol 2. Possibly the worst lyric ever... Cheers Jose!!
Keith definitely was on the new sound train. I would have loved to ask him what HE thought of Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door...curious. Man haha, those lyrics you mention are just some of the worst prog verses. Peter Sinfield is to be blamed by it i guess? Thank you very much for watching Brian. Stay tuned for more!
That's an interesting topic, i actually love their last studio album, Rough Diamonds, their last i mean with that lineup. Would like to see a deep dive in this same style?
Memoirs of Anofficer and a Gentleman is excellent. Some exquisite piano from Keith especially.
Is one of the best ELP Songs!
Keith's solo spot is fantastic. The world needs to know this!!! Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
I agree!
One reason this album gets bad press is their high standard set on previous works, personally i think it has some great moment's. Officer and Gentleman is a classic IMO.
im a big big elp fan and love Emerson piano but sorry i think thta that piece is a joke, u hear that the intro is the 1st chopin etude in c major then Emerson beguin make the last etude, the c minor in major mode ? dont know but i think is far away the brilliants piano original from Thrree Fates, second impression, Concerto and inumerous others piano diamonds he compose
Great video. I've never disliked LOVE BEACH but I must admit that I've got to admit that I need to be in the mood to listen to listen to it.
Yeah i hear you, some albums just require such mood to enjoy. I have to be in a depressed state to enjoy TOOL go figure hehe. Thanks for watching!
Just to let you know that the Carl Palmer band performed Canario at the Borderline, London 2005. This is a great documentary, thank you for putting it on youtube.
When Palmer was with his solo band in Vienna, he stated that there was one good track on Love Beach which was Canario.
Really good and enjoyable 30 minutes! Thanks Dude!
Thank YOU for watching this ELP adventure!
Damn, all the shade thrown at Pirates :( I love that one
I love the first three minutes of it....like.....A LOT! Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
Pirates is THE song for group and orchestra, not here play the band here the orchestra, thar song is a master piece
Yep, 'Pirates' is for me. the most successful fusion of electronic band and acoustic orchestra realised by Emerson since even his early attempts with the Nice.
Canario, and Officer & a Gentleman are top line songs.
I saw ELP FEBRYARY 5,1978 at thw Philadelphia Spectrum- excellent gig!
saw them in late January '78 at the old Capital Centre - Landover, MD - near D.C. - just me and 3 lovely girls - it was a night to remember - and oh yeah, the concert was great also ..
i didnt know they played this album live
I remember seeing boatloads of this album on LP, cassette & 8-track in the $1.99 bins EVERYWHERE back in the late 70's.
Hahah 1.99 wow....there's a record fair coming up, i hope i find a copy. I need this album now! Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
Pretty sure you can nab a LP copy Factory sealed or near mint on Discogs for under $10 dollars. Check that out. I enjoy your videos. Keep 'em coming.@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories
I remember finding this, Works 2, and In Concert in the bargain bin, way back in 1981-82-ish. I just looked, My copy of Love Beach has the order form for the merch!!
You are an excellent documentarian!
Thank you very much! I am passionate about these forgotten or hated albums, they deserve much love, but no beach.
Chopin's etude #1 in C Major set with bass and drums is embedded so well in Memoires. Great summary.
That's a great observation Richard, you are right! Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
This is an album that I really like. I looked up the guitar chords on side A of this album and I sung it almost every day.
Fabulous presentation! Thanks for posting !!!
Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
Nice review and commentary and breakdown ELP were very beloved and etched in many of us
Thank you very much for watching Dolores. This was a fun episode to work on, i have a thing for these forgotten albums....i see them as life itself! Stay tuned for more!
I am back again, lol.
I love your "Hate Beach".
Perfect 🎉
That Beach didn't look friendly with these guys there hahahaha.
Still enjoy this album!
@@scotterrebo995 sick....I and this album....
Amazing, Jose! thanks a million, yet and yet again
Always my pleasure, i think i need a copy of this album now hahaha. Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
Good Day. Very nicely done. I've seen them in concert twice. The First Time was in Albuquerque New Mexico in 1974, in 4 channel sound system. Always one of my favourite bands. Thanks
The guitar solo on Greg Lake’s It Hurts was not played by Gary Moore but by Steve Lukather of Toto.
Interesting as always Jose
I was never into them, but they were all great musicians
Glad you enjoyed it Keith! Btw, i'm definitely getting close to ASIA because after this we have the groundwork for Carl's venture into Prog Pop. I am working on my calendar so i can produce a lot of content related to ELP's 80's ventures. Thank you so very much for your support ALWAYS man!
I was a big ELP fan back in the day. I saw them in 1977 both with and without the orchestra (which I didn't think added all that much). I bought Works I and II and thought "I guess this is the new ELP. Might as well get used to it". I heard that "Love Beach" had been released and was shocked when I saw the album cover in the record store. That was the last ELP (Palmer or Powell) album I bought. Love Beach had its moments, but to me, it was nothing like the albums prior to Works. Still a fan of ELP. Saw Keith and Greg peform together before they passed and Carl with his band a few years ago. Keep making these videos!
ELPOWELL and BLACK MOON both redeem the band from LOVE BEACH. They are the most consistent and consistently good of all the ELP studio albums, 3's included.
Like you, Works changed everything for me. What happened to the early day sound? Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories I think what happened to the sound was firstly technology, but crucially Greg Lake was no longer producing.
@@Lesiga1 When ELP tried to get together again in the late 1990s, according to Emerson things fell apart over Lake insisting on producing again. Lake has always stressed the importance of chemistry within the band but Emerson's reluctance came down to the practical fact that Lake hadn't been out there putting in the time as producer on other acts' albums and Emerson didn't feel like Lake had earned the position - i.e., why should you be ELP's producer when you can't show us you've been successfully producing albums lately when there are busloads of people who can? And like I said, the proof is in the pudding: prior ELP studio albums with the possible exception of the very first one are rather disjointed. There's a lot of stuff that just detracted from the band's greatness - sure, "Benny The Bouncer" and "Are You Ready, Eddie?" are bits of fun but are they really what needed to be taking up grooves on ELP albums?
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories , Works 1 was overblown and pompous, Works 2 Lazy outtakes etc , Love Beach was better but had real crap like For You , Taste of my Love , they were redeemed themselves with ELPowell and Black Moon and suggested the album 3 , two good tracks and 2 decent tracks .
Fantastic job! This albums seems to be treated as a key moment in the downfall of 70s prog rock and it's nice to see a good objective review.
The whole myth of the downfall of prog because of this album is so funny
Imagine blaming solely this album, when Tormato, Giant for a Day, and Duke exist
Nice show of a fantastic band, Thank you from Houston TX 🇺🇸✌️
Thank YOU very much for watching. Cheers to Houston! Stay tuned for more!
I hope I live long enough to see JCM cover the album Chicago VII
perfect blend of prog and melody
@@TwitterSocialMediaNews It was going to be full experimental until Guercio and Cetera thought it needed some vocals, and I think they recorded it in that order. I actually love all the songs, probably more than the jazz-prog-rock.
That is the best Chicago Album, back when great groups could live in a studio and write, develop & creative great music
Wow. I didn't know I'd ever find anything like this. You did a very good job. I don't like the way you phrased some things but I'll reserve any comment other than to say this is quite accurate to all of my views of the album, too, in retrospect. Groups on FB give it more love these days. I'm 60. When this came out I was psyched but instead it made me shudder
GREAT EPISODE! "If You Know what I Mean" is an almost Spinal Tap lyric from the song Big Bottom!
Or so I have read lol
@@crungefactory i am almost sure I have no idea what you are talking about hahaha
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proglodytes.files.wordpress. com/2020/10/zb1-1.jpg
JMC, Your spanish pronunciation is perfect, man! 👌
Es mi lengua materna, siempre es interesante hablar español en medio de estas narraciones. English is the rock and roll language i guess? Gotta love these bands man, geniuses!
Completamente de acuerdo, gracias por tu respuesta!@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories
Thanks J. I'll get you a love beach ⛱️ jacket and jogging shorts. Great work, and those lyrics 😮
I imagine a dystopian alternate history sci fi story where actually Love Beach was extremely well received and the t-shirts and booty shorts became ultra popular and this album ended up defining music and fashion for decades thereafter
@@deborah_chrysoprase Yes I can imagine a similar outcome with the beach boys keeping the summer alive
I have nothing against this album. Was a huge ELP fan back in the day. Perhaps it was the cover that affected eveyone's take on the music.
And.....you are wrong about Pirates, fantastic track!
Didn’t know anything about this lp, but it was fun to learn ! Nice job!
Hey Brian! Glad you enjoyed this one, that album cover right? But the music has great moments. Do you think Carl used his custom Steel Kit in the studio or does it sound more like a Ludwig a la Bonham? Hope you're doing well man!
Before and after the 13min mark...what you think is GX-1 bass is actually Greg's Alembic 8 string bass. The guitar sound you speculate to be GX-1 is actually the Roland Guitar Synthesizer.
Your comment joins others who have confirmed the same thing and i thank you very much. It solves the mystery in my ears :)
You've convinced me that in spite of the title and cover picture, it's still an ELP album. ;-) Seriously, I loved Brain Salad Surgery, and somewhere along the way I picked up a copy of Love Beach, probably in a clearance bin, but it never really grabbed me like BSS. Still, given the quality of modern music, almost anything from the 70s is a welcome respite. Also nice to see that Leblanc and Carr aren't entirely forgotten.
And then Emerson Lake and Powell came out and it was like Brain Salad Surgery Part 2. Another great album to make me forget about Love Beach!
I'm glad this video shed some positive light on this infamous album. It is way better than others that are place in this dreaded category. I think it's consistent in the intention at least. Thank you for watching, stay tuned for more!
Great doc. The thing that amazed me was it took Chicago several albums to go from brilliance to schlock and ELP did it in one fell swoop. Still love both bands though.
Hehe wow, yes, i know what you mean. But this late 70s period was not kind for most classic bands. Floyd was an exception because they didn't were about speed before. Thank you very much for watching!
Don't forget that the first 3 Chicago releases were all double albums. followed by a 3 record live set. The drop in quality doesn't kick in until after Terry Kath's death, and even then, they had some pretty good singles. With ELP it was like they fell off a cliff. First of all, a 4 year wait after brain salad surgery, unheard of back in those days, though common now. And what do ELP fans get? A pretentious self-indulgent mess of an album called works, followed by love beach, which was a critical disaster & commercial flop. Taken out of context, parts of it actually sound pretty good, but the rest is cringe, compared to their early 70s classics. The cheezy cover didn't help....
To be love on the beach is a great album the songs are melodic what is missing in today’s music still love on the beach was certified gold
I, like many ELP fans, bought this album when it was released in 1978 and I was completely disappointed with the cover and the sound I heard... I tried for many years to listen and like this album but I couldn't and it ended standing still and ignored by me... But after forty years, to my surprise, one day listening to it completely, I understood and liked this album, I don't know how to explain how this happened or what was the reason why it only happened after forty years, but today I can say that I like and respect this album and it is one of the albums that I listen to the most in my entire ELP collection... Maybe since its release I have been very influenced by negative criticism of this album and the reputation of ELP's worst cover and album didn't let me, didn't allow me to want to be able to understand and like this album...But it's good that as time goes by we mature, change and improve in our way to think about as happens with the maturation of a good old wine.
Jose , you really brought out a lot of info on Love Beach. I have the album but I could not tell you the last time I played it. You make me want to review it with new ears. I always wondered if the cover and album title were different how that might effected the response of the album. I don't think it had a chance when it came out with the cover.
Hey Vance, what's happening! The cover certainly ruined it's chances, i mean at least CALL IT something different haha. We gotta blame the design department, ELP? Not so much, the music is good, instrumentally speaking. Despite of Pete Sinfield's ...."lyrics". Always a treat to read your comments man!
12:07 Lake probably had that Alembic 8-string bass with him - the same one that was used on WORKS VOL. I and the subsequent tour.
12:27 Lake also had the first version of the Roland guitar synthesizer on this album. LOVE BEACH is an outlier in the ELP catalog for how much electric guitar there is throughout.
12:32 Definitely the 8-string.
It does sound like the Alembic, the same one John Paul Jones used from 1977 on. Thank you for clarifying the Roland Synth stuff, i wasn't sure. Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
I much prefer this album to Asia’s debut, I have both although UKs debut beats both by a country mile !
Nothing wrong with love beach there is some great moments on it
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂....when I go to shit
Good review!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Seen ELP June 16, 1977 not My first concert, Kansas was My first in 77!
This album contains a rare example of Keith Emerson playing a Rhodes piano. He reportedly didn't like them and described them as "muddy". Halfway through side 2. That bit and Canario make this LP worth having...
Never thought I'd see Narciso Yepes on your channel!
Can't wait! What do you mean " Last Days"? The show never ends ... They reformed in 1991 and made it to 1998. Lol- then a High Voltage concert in 2010. CP once said (paraphrase) The trouble with ELP is if you look at the 1st album they all had a solo song and 7 years later they had repeated it. He said another time about Love Beach - one can get the cover abd make it into a PLntEr. There is one version of Love Beach that contains rehearsals versions of 3 songs "Canario", "Taste of My Love" and " Letters From the Front". Its been out of print shortly after its release 2001. Thanks again!
and finally 2010
Did you like ELP (Cozy Powell)? I liked that one!
Yup! Saw them in 86!
@@crungefactoryme too
When It's over, it is over. Why do people in the entertainment industry pursue a cradle to grave mentality? No profession supplies this. I shot an interview with Carl Palmer in
Philadelphia, 2006. He said the good records were very easy to do. The hardest were the bad ones. And we didn't get to the piece de resistance, 1994 's IN THE HOT SEAT.
I was a huge ELP fan in Jr. High. I saw them live in Feb. '78 shortly after they ditched the orchestra for their Works tour. It was a great show other than them opening with that Peter Gunn/James Bond theme which I and the rest of the audience found very awkward. I remember Greg Lake stopping mid Tarkus to tell the audience they were not going to play if they kept throwing things so it almost stopped there. Despite this the rest of the show went quite well. Dig your channel. Subscribed!
Yep, I'm one of those guys that bought the LP back when it first came out, gave it a couple of spins, and never listened to it again. Maybe someday, I'll give it another shot. Maybe.
Admittedly, Love Beach is not on the same level as other ELP albums, but still I love it and still listen to it with pleasure, especially Canario and Memoirs of An Officer and a Gentleman.
Memoirs runs deep. To feel Keith and Greg in such intimate setting, what a luxury. Both gone too soon!
🌠Alright JCM..Another Good One..I never knew this album existed before I watched this video...I prefer the early 70's stuff..Father Christmas..but my fav is ....from the beginning ..u rock JCM..I saw Pantera last nite in Baltimore USA last nite ..they were really good ..never saw em before...rip abbott brothers...dime/ vinny
You saw Zakk Wylde on stage, that's great stuff Greg! Cheers to the power of music man!
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Storiesyeah ..he was good ..but I like dime better ...elp great band ..talk later..santana rocks also
Pressure and urgency from the record label. Also the time and place, and the fact that there was lots of snow flowing over those tropical islands to Miami. Look what happened to musical titans! Good documentary though!
One of the best comments i've read! Yes, you are 100% correct. It's strange that the same Ahmet Ertegun who helped Led Zeppelin and Genesis....was so pushy with latter day ELP. Now...what if....maybe, these guys were living such expensive lifestyles that it all came down to this? Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
Great! Thanks
A really good analysis of the many sides of the last ELP album.
I think that they were left alone by the label and the producers as well... they made their own choices but inevitably made some mistakes... Anyway I think ELP and mostly Keith Emerson are amazing and at the same time with a complex personality that makes them what they are: unique and matchless.
Anyway, very good job!! An ELP aficionado
You are right, their personalities made them a legendary band. Gotta Love Keith, a genius he was!
Massively underrated. I feel it got a "Go to Heaven" treatment, where public and journos took one look at the cover art, thought they are riding the Bee Gee's wave and just didn't bother to check the music.
And people even listen to the Bee Gees with less prejudice than Love Beach. I think Rhino should re-release it with a DIFFERENT ALBUM COVER you know? See what happens! Thanks for watching!
Very nice!
Loved watching this. It’s ELP so by definition there are some great moments, “Canario” in particular. Have to differ with the harsh assessment of “Pirates.” It’s a true epic with phenomenal performances by all three of them.
Fair enough David. Pirates i like the music....the lyrics is what ruins it for me, trust me i've been trying for 20 years to enjoy it. Thanks for watching man!
The Yamaha GX-1 sounded great as did the Roland guitar synthesizer throughout the whole album
There’s also a lot of Korg PS 3300 and 3100
Carl still plays "Canario" onstage with his solo band.
This is great to know, because i didn't find the stats for it within the ELP story. I really thank you for sharing this really!
The research is poor! Barrel House Shakedown was not a "left over" from the Works Volume 1 recording sessions. The track was recorded by Keith as early as 1972 when he was already working on a solo album. "So Far To Fall" was the fourth track, recorded in 1973 during the recording sessions for the Brain Salad Surgery album, that was not on the album. In 1975 the brass was dubbed on the track. Keith does use the Yamaha GX-1 but he also used for the first time Korg synthesizers. The Korg PS3100 and PS3300. Carl did not drum with his stainless steel kit. He played a Gretsch drum kit on the entire album. Greg Lake, for the first and only time on an ELP album, played a synthesized guitar. The Roland GS-500 guitar controller hooked up to the Roland GR-55 guitar synthesizer. That is why the electric guitar sound heard on the tracks has different textures.
Barrel House had a 1975 arrangement for the strings so it was technically worked during Works 1. I am an ELP fan who has studied and played the music. Just saying cause i don't want you to give the idea that i don't take the time to go over the details. I do appreciate you letting know on the rest of the equipment as these details i value very much. From a musician and documentarian i say Thank you very much for watching!
Come, man. Really. Jose doesn't just throw out nonsense. If a mistake is made, i am sure he will admit it and clarify it.
I recall way back when this first appeared - the title "Love Beach" - just seemed schmaltzy - but with that cover photo - I could only say to myself .. "what on earth were they thinking here ?" - how do you go from the amazing art of H.R. Giger on Brain Salad Surgery to this ?
Schamltzy is a good term for this! Imagine Giger's reaction to that cover hahaha, he was probably terrified..or laughing. Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
22:33 wow, that's an interesting idea. i think "CANARIO" would've been great, it somehow looks awesome, and feels tropical, hinting at some album concept. and "FOR YOU", which always makes sense, but does so in particular with the broad smiles and overall appearance of the band.
The problem with Canario is that it's the name for a bird in Spanish that next to the album cover...not sure it would translated well hehe. For You i think yeah, works, but again the parody effect. Maybe the should have called it NASSAU BLUES! hehe Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
Bought this on day of release and still think it’s great . And I think it’s Carl Palmers best ‘ stripped back ‘ playing , much less busy but still inventive . It was a Gretsch Wooden shell kit , not actually the stainless steel . Great video
I love how his drums almost "talk" on "The Gambler." The way he follows the lyrics is amazingly fun!
@12:30 the guitar is the Roland GR500
Funny you should mention Tormato, one of my favorite Yes albums plus I love Love Beach!
Cool love the variety bro.There is a youtube channel called 'Flipside CT' who makes videos like these about The Stones.He goes in depth about what instruments were played also..My favorite two channels for music history.
That guys Stones channel is incredible. So in-depth just like JCM is with Zeppelin.
I’m not really into ELP but this was a great informative episode. I’ve learned a lot about them. Cheers ✌️
Do yourself a favor and listen to the first five albums plus the live album. There was a reason why they were as big as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd as a touring act. They were monsters.
Just 3 thoughts from me: Brain Salad Surgery was the climax of all Prog Rock, nobody had the faintest idea how to top it, not even ELP themselves.
And second: There are many bands who would consider themselves being lucky, to have put out an album like Love Beach.
As for the lyrics, well, Brain Salad Surgery, i hope, you know, what it means ...
I lived in Love Beach for a year! What a great video
Get well soon my friend, your work is to important! I seen GTR at the Buhl Planetarium in Pittsburgh it was terrific!
Nicely done. Thanks for posting. Some of “Love Beach” is at least listenable, unlike “In The Hot Seat” which is just dreadful.
I need to revisit In The Hot Seat, from what i remember, it sounded like a pop record with little virtuoso spots. Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
JCM - I never thought of it myself, but you hit it right on the head when you said ELP lacked in the songwriting department. For Love Beach, I never thought it was so much bad musically (though the lyrics are mainly awful), just boring. I tell kids to get Pictures At An Exhibition, Trilogy and Welcome Back.
Yeah i mean, Carl even states that on a 1992 interview. He said they always thought of their material in a live setting thus making "Records" was not something they envisioned as a studio piece, but just capturing their on stage madness. By the time Love Beach it was the first time in their career they had to do an album without any intention of touring afterwards and i think it shows. ELP were geniuses so we can't just discard Love Beach, i mean it has very good moments. That's like saying Beethoven wrote crap, it's all about context :) Thanks for watching!
Love Beach starts out on its left foot with the title and, of course, the album cover; critics that already loathed ELP really didn't need any more to start the usual flogging of ELP, ELP couldn't win with the critics no matter what they did. ELP's fans that loved the original, unflinching gothic and austere image and musical presentation (that already suffered with WV1) figured the band had just surrendered (like their peers). Sadly, had ELP - and their management - worked just a little harder (and had Keith, Greg, and Carl stuck to their guns) they could have had a 'real' ELP album with very little additional effort. Firstly, the good things on the album - all of Memoirs... is true to the ELP spirit; yes, the screaming Hammond and Moog are gone, but this has been replaced by a more mature and measured compositional approach from Keith. Canario is nice arrangement with the band (Carl) going for the Fanfare-like shuffle magic that served them so well on the Copland piece. For You is a well-paced piece that has (good) traces of Greg's side of Works, V1. The Gambler is basically a rehash of Tiger in a Spotlight; it also serves as 'here's the jokey/light track' offering that ELP employed on Tarkus, Pictures, Trilogy, and BSs, it's acceptable. All I Want is You, Love Beach, and Taste of My Love are rather hideous, possibly only surpassed in awfulness by some of the tracks from In the Hot Seat. However, had ELP changed the title (to Memoirs, for example), used a different cover (perhaps a British military man in a battle setting) and replaced all of side 1 (excepting Canario) with Carl's Percussion Concerto (which was ready) or replaced the three clunkers with any of the bonus tracks that cropped up as bonus tracks later (Prelude and Fugue, the wonderful Greg tune Oh, My Father) they would have had something that truly was representative of ELP. Would it have prevented the break-up of the band? Probably not, it seems that the financial stress from the orchestral tour was a great motivator to take a breather. On the other hand, Peter Gunn (from the In Concert album) was a huge hit in Holland and Belgium; would they have stuck together for the sake of success and would the ELP-like consistency have continued? Going a bit further back, had ELP released I Believe in Father Christmas instead of it being a Greg Lake solo offering, what would that have done for the band? One can only wonder...
I don't know if WV2 was an indicator of Love Beach, as much of WV2 already had been conceptualized and recorded during the ELP glory years; there was definitely a gap of time in between. I agree with you that Keith and Greg were not as well prepared (or even able) to go commercial like their peers were; ELP was better represented by being only slightly commercial (Greg's tunes, of which there never was a surplus); Keith's strength never was composing commercial material (he has said so himself). On the other hand, Emerson, Lake and Powell's Touch and Go (Keith adaptation of Vaughn Williams' Lovely Joan) was a 'hit' a few years later and even became part of the ELPalmer shows during the bands latter touring days (Carl must have thought, I traded this for Asia's Astra?).
Great video; thank you. Contact me if you'd like a free copy of my ELP book.
critics hated the band since their inception; in the case of Love Beah, punk an new wave were on the rise, bent on wiping out prog rock
I liked this album.It was my first ELP album .Being a female fan i LOVED the album cover ❤😂
I imagine the album cover was nice hehe, thanks for watching this one. The record deserves much love!
As an ELP fan when it came out, I thought it was their worst album too, when it came out. I agree that side twom is a masterpiece. But this wasn't their last album and it wasn't their worst. their worst was 'In the hot seat and that was their last album. But after love beach came "Black moon." I also disagree that pirates is a bad song. It's one of my favorites by them. All iin all, this was a good video.
I hope you get better soon. God bless you
In addition to the fantastic adaptation of Rodrigo’s Canario,
there is also a nice (uncredited) quote of the first eight bars of Chopin’s Etude Opus 10 #1 as intro to side 2 part B “Love At First Sight”.
Thanks for the Chopin reference, it's definitely there. I really appreciate it!
Great stuff! It was a fun ride revisiting this album, enjoying the lyrical breakdown of “Taste of my Love” and the story of that homoerotic album cover!
Several years later another band working through their own issues arrived at Compass Point to make an album. One could say they were possibly inspired by this album (specifically “Taste of my Love”) as that band was Judas Priest their creations were Turbo and Ram It Down.
Peter Sinfeld wrote the lyrics to the first King Crimson album for fucks sake. So the man who wrote the lyrics to “In The Court of the Crimson King” brought us “Taste of my Love” and all of its vivid, adolescent imagery…well I guess this explains “Cat Food.” The lyrics on Love Beach reek of someone who had a month to do a massive homework assignment only to put off starting it until the night before it’s due.
It’s weird to me that Love Beach by ELP and Epitaph by King Crimson was written by the same person. Peter, what happened to ya?
This is a very good question, he certainly lost the ability for concept!
He also wrote ‘in The Wake of Poseidon’. I guess the WTF are you doing disease can hit lyricists, too.
The Guitar on ''IT Hurts'' was Steve Lukather.The track was recorded with Toto...
‘Memoirs’ is a song I often sing quietly to myself in moments of contemplation or when I’m trying to feel who I am in disorienting situations thru my Prog persona, without all the majestic thunder of their other work. But as an American consumer and sci fi freak, I’ve developed, over my lifetime, a good sense for the end of an Era signaled by a drop in quality accompanied by an attempt to milk what was left for every last drop. ‘The Endless Enigma’ or ‘Stones of Years’ could bring tears to my eyes from places so deep I could barely understand while listening privately to those albums. Then came ‘Love Beach’ and I knew the same old shit was dropping again, even for ELP.
This album still went gold in the USA.
I prefer this to some parts of Works 1 and 2. The album deserves some Love!
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories I agree. I'm also glad you mentioned this album went gold. I lke to remind critics of this fact, that this album still shifted alot of units in the USA. 😀
🥁🥁🥁 Para el ciclo de "Peores discos de las grandes bandas"? Allí entra también el In The Hot Seat de ellos, Open Your Eyes y Heaven and Earth de Yes, etc...
I was at the July 3 1977 show in Baltimore.
Wow, you witnessed this tour!! Lucky you! Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
Yes, same with me regarding Love beach. Never favourite. Great video. Rip Greg and Keith.
Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
Thank you Jose for this video. I love Tormato (drop circus/arriving ufo). It jams. So does Drama. ELP were just burned out. I remember this album coming out and I knew it was terrible. The cover had the vibe "do not purchase!" ha ha ha.
Do not Purchase vibe hahahahahah , yeah i know what you mean. I've felt that with some jazz records i shouldn't have bought...and i was right! Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
Rhino's reissue of Tormato with all the bonus stuff really changed my mind on that album. I wish they'd used some of the outtakes like Countryside and Some Are Born. There are bootlegs with better vocals from Jon on Some Are Born than the take Rhino chose too.
They could have used those tunes and dropped UFO and Circus. Terrible tunes.@@ChromeDestiny
This is awesome. 😅 What a weird album. It always perplexed me. The music isn't all that off brand, actually.
An interesting video.... it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on the album Emerson, Lake & Powell from 1986 maybe the topic for your next video ??
ohhh that's a great idea because i also have a fascination for ELP 1986....i'll add it on the list. Touch and Go...... ! Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
As a hard core ELP fan from way back, I can’t disagree with any of this.
Thanks for this video.I am fairly sure it is the first and probably only really serious investigation of this much maligned album (well maybe apart from Bicyclelegs "in defense of video)Like you I agree there is some excellent music to be found on the album.I can't help thinking fans (or ex-fans) would view it in a better light if it had been packaged differently.Here's my suggestion for a re-imagined "Love Beach" Firstly replace the cover with a simple image as per the previous albums (I dunno maybe just a plain silver...or maroon-whatever) call it Works Vol 3 with the ELP logo in the middle- who can object to that? Secondly put "Memoirs" on side 1, open side 2 with "Canario", then "All I Want" which is actually a decent little pop song, then "For You" which stands up to any of Lake's other ballads at least to my ears,then to lighten the mood, "The Gambler",then a remixed version of "Taste Of My Love" with a different title and without the vocals (there's plenty of musical interplay at work) and finally the title track itself to conclude the album.(TBH I know the lyrics are pretty bad but as a whole is it really any worse than Are You Ready Eddy which closes Tarkus?)
First off David, thank YOU for watching! I knew this was a gamble topic but it turned out quite well in terms of rating :) I agree with you the packaging was the main issue here. I mean people don't seem to have a problem with WORKS 1, an album that is LESS consistent if you really take a close....close...look. or Works 2 maybe. Works 3 is a FANTASTIC IDEA and yes, put the LOGO there. So glad to read your impressions on the tracks and i laughed at the ARE YOU READY EDDY, i know man, sometimes a small group of hardcore ELP fans can forget poetry like that......haha. Hope you have a great week and if you can share my work with friends and social media, that would help me out big time!
ELP was one of the first bands I truly loved as a kid, but when Works 1 & 2 came out I was very disappointed, but I played them endlessly, determined to like them, which I ended up doing at the time, but then Love Beach came out and I knew it was all over. These three albums are perfect examples of why punk had to happen. Looking back now, over 40 years later, I still like these LPs - nostalgia and memories - but in reality they are pretty crap albums, totally up their own arses - as if punk never happened. Brilliant docu as usual JCM. Please do one of Trilogy or their first LP!!! Thanks :) .... "I think even David Coverdale would be fed up". Hahaha! Good one JCM!
I will never Understand what happened to their sound, between Brain Salad, Surgery, and Works.
They had their break time, maybe they should have just kept going.
Maybe Works would have followed down the line after a few more LPs.
I know that Keith Emerson wanted to be considerate a classical artist too.
That was the reason for Works
Where each one could do their own thing.
But even after it works, they never got back to that ELP style that we love, like from Trilogy, their first album with the dove,
Pictures, At An Exhibition, and Tarkus, one of my favorites.
Don’t get me wrong. I love everyone of their albums even Love Beach.
I love everyone one their solo efforts too.
And every time they got back together.
I just don’t know why they didn’t revisit that style that made them famous to begin with.
I don’t know if style is the right word maybe I mean formula.
In the late , 70s many bands, we’re switching to punk Disqo, pop.
But they didn’t have to, many others didn’t , look at King Crimson. they never change their Formia or style.
ELP should have never tried to change.
Just think what they could have come out with.
If not being been pressured by stupid producers, telling them what is popular right now.
So let me ask who is ever out there listening why do you think their formula changed between Brain Salad Surgery and Works?
@@DreamStarGalaxy I think maybe because they became rich and could do exactly what they wanted to do and play exactly whatever tickled their fancy, take big vacation breaks, stop rehearsing, "I wanna do this" and I"I wanna do that". Happens to a lot of big bands. Genesis became commercial and became bigger than ever. I guess I Believe in Father Christmas was the biggest hit ELP ever had - Lucky Man too - and they probably made a few bob from that, so maybe that gave Greg some power to lead ELP in the commercial direction.
What's Punk? I still like musicians that can play.
@@WelshVegan Their biggest hits were From the Beginning and the Fanfare for the Common Man edit. The Karn Evil 9 edit and Still...You Turn Me On were radio hits even though they weren't single releases. Their biggest albums no doubt achieved platinum sales in the 70s (ELP were HUGE) but are still listed as gold because they've not been RIAA recertified.
@@DreamStarGalaxy Blame it on the hierarchy in Atlantic
I told Greg many years ago that every decade that goes by, this album gets better and better.
The fact you told the MAN himself is incredible! Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
Couple of details: then guitar on Greg's It Hurts is by Steve Luthaker I believe; and I don't think Carl is playing the stainless steel kit. Thanks!
Glad you mentioned this, thanks for the heads up. For some reason the copy i found had Lukather listed on another track and Gary here. My bad!! Carl's kit has a metallic sound that his early ELP works don't. Even going back to the Brain Salad sessions, what do you think he was playing? Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
It's sad they couldn't find the success that Genesis found in the 80's, but we know they Lake and Emerson had it in them when they cut "Touch and Go" with Powell.
Yes, Touch and Go was a terrific song.The problem with ELP and i say this as a fan, is that they were never a BAND in the sense of being a unit. It was always 3 virtuosos getting together to make great music. Genesis had the group factor in them, with their own musical ability limited in comparison, thus making the compositions the Virtuoso collective. Thank you very much for watching! Stay tuned for more!
I remember this era. I was a huge ELP fan but this wasn't the record ELP needed to make. Ahmet screwed this up by making them make a commercial album. I liked Greg Lake's first solo album. I used to play stuff from it on my college radio show. But it was the wrong music for the times. New Wave of Brittish Heavy Metal had arrived. Hard music was in. Greg Lake's 12 string guitar, was not going to sell records in 1982. Kinda sad, it was a good album.
Ertegun didn't really understand the state ELP was in. As much as i admire him as a record label executive and friend of the musicians he supported...he was out of touch here. You're right, it was released at the worst possible time. Lake's first album has a lot of good moments, a solid 80s piece. What if he was in ASIA from day one?....Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-StoriesThere is a lot of truth to what you say about Ahmet. He would have been better off letting them make the solo albums they wanted to make, then getting an ELP album later (which may not ever have been made). I like your branching out on other bands than Zep. I LOVE that you are digging deep on albums that may not have been the best albums by the bands you are covering. I don't need another video about Dark Side of the Moon, but I do need a video about Atom Heart Mother. Know what I mean?
Blame it on Atlantic, punk and new wave
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories. I have both Lakes solo albums half was not good , if you took both albums and took off the rubbish it would have been a good album.
I like love beach. Obviously it's not their best work, but there's some decent songs on it.
Albums are always a surprise to find stuff we like and some we don't, like "dating" and life itself haha. Thank you very much for watching. Stay tuned for more!
Excellent work on this oft-neglected part of ELP‘s career. I’m a huge ELP fan. Actually, the album cover doesn’t bother me at all, though they should’ve come up with a different title indeed. But where I’m probably like most fans, Canario and Officer and gentleman really stand out and are usually the only two songs I’ll listen to from this album. I submit, they’re not just good, they’re really really good! Are they Tarkus, no, but good nonetheless. And I agree with the documentary and other commentators, that the piano piece on Officer and gentlemen is amazing and emotional. Keith at his best.
I thought it was a good album. I still listen to it.
Keith stated, and I quote, "Three years is the ideal length of time for a group."
Welcome back... could be their farewell album, everything after that was worse and worse. Works 1 and 2 are tolerable but Love Beach was the last ELP album I bought. And ELP are my number 1 even after 50 years.
A controversial point you made but yes, had they split up after Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends (1974), i believe it would have been the perfect record, only rivaled by Michael Jordan hehe. Works 1 and 2 didn't do much for me, too serious..., Love Beach i do like!
Prog rock was coming to an end in the late '70s and if you didn't adapt to the new musical landscape, you're done. As much as the record label tried to implore them to be more commercial, it was just not the 3 musicians' thing. Genesis successfully did it under the new leadership of Phil Collins replacing Peter Gabriel. Yes successfully did it by bringing in new musicians in Trevor Horn and Trevor Rabin. The last hurrah for ELP was actually Emerson Lake & Powell. Saw them in '85 in the Brendan Byrne Arena in NJ. Awesome show.
The thing i see now is that ELP was not really a BAND like Genesis and Yes were. They were ALL incredibly talented but ELP seems more like a freakshow thing (and i am a hardcore ELP Fan when i say this). They were meant to be a killer live band, in the studio, not really, they recorded albums because it was part of the business.
Hi !
La guitarra electrica q usó Greg en éste disco fue una Roland con conexión directa a módulos de sintetizador, se podría decir la 1ra guitarra MIDI.
Y el trabajo de Greg con ella fue magnífico!!
Tanto en guitarra líder como rítmica.
Por otro lado, Love Beach es una gema, tanto el lado 1 , q parece un trabajo de Lake solista, como el lado 2 , más en la línea tradicional de ELP.
Lo que sucedió (ya no , es un disco Muuuuuyy respetado hoy día) , es q el ambiente troglodita del progresivo de la época no se aguantó un cambio de dirección musical, ni la tapa, q es muy graciosa, con la idea de descontracturar la Seriedad y solemnidad de muchos puristas.
Para mí, uno d los mejores discos de ELP y del rock en gral.
By the way, i Saw ELP 6 times in Argentina, 93 and 97, and 7 times Carl Palmer ELP legacy.
With chats and drinks with ELP whole band !
Cheers from Buenos Aires !!
Wow Miguel, conversaste con los ELP! Eso es tremendo honor. Mis respetos! Un amigo de mi tio los conoció cuando nos visitaron en 1997. Cuando me enseñó las fotos y los discos firmados casi me muero haha. Agradezco enormemente el dato sobre la guitarra MIDI, me tenía confundido. Si bien pensé en Pat Metheny y este tipo de equipos, no estaba seguro. Nada como un FAN de verdad como vos que SABE el dato a la mano. Comparto la idea que el progresivo se puso muy serio...el fan base pues, estricto! Sin embargo creo que la crítica fue excesivamente punitiva con este trabajo. Me sorprende Ahmet Ertegun no los cuidara más. Muchas gracias por compartir este gran comentario! Espero sintonices más episodios. Soy principalmente super fan de Led Zeppelin pero estoy aventurandome a hablar de otros trabajos que me gustan :) Soy compositor de rock progresivo tambien!
@@JCM-LedZeppelin-Stories Gracias a Vos!
Tb sos argentino?, o de dónde?
Te respondí mitad en español y mitad en inglés porque está narrado en inglés.
Pero pronuncias en español muy bien.
A mí tb me encanta Zeppelin, la verdad que de todo.
Menos reggaetonto o cumbia 😁🤦.
Tmp me gusta el grunge ni Dave ghrol o Eddie Vedder.
Amo el Jazz , especialmente el be bop, la Bossa Nova, deep purple, Genesis, Wakeman , Jethro Tull, Bonamassa, Aimee Mann , Lisa hanighan , John Mayer, pufff
Me causa gracia cuando comparan la tapa de Love Beach con las d los Bee Gees en forma despectiva !!
Es muy loco!!
Perfecto!!
Estoy convencido que los Bee Gees están entre las 5 mejores bandas de todos los tiempos y estilos.
Nada q envidiarles a los Beatles, otros capos.
Barry Gibb es un genio absoluto.
Abrazos!
please, talk about Topographic Oceans, I think its forgotten by people. Thank you for this video, Let there be ELP
Thank you for this thoughtful video; I bought this album when it came out, and while it was never my favorite it's quite enjoyable. Musically it shows that Keith was using "current" technology in his keyboards. Yes, there's some questionable lyrics but what about the "But if you lose control
they will take away your T-shirt" line from Nobody Loves You Like I Do on Works Vol I - or even worse - "She did a thing to my thing like it's never been done before" from So Far To Fall on Works Vol 2. Possibly the worst lyric ever... Cheers Jose!!
Keith definitely was on the new sound train. I would have loved to ask him what HE thought of Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door...curious. Man haha, those lyrics you mention are just some of the worst prog verses. Peter Sinfield is to be blamed by it i guess? Thank you very much for watching Brian. Stay tuned for more!
Different album name and different album cover would result in a different thinking.
They would still have to ditch Taste of My Love
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I put off listening to this album for the longest because of its reputation. Once I listened to it, it wasn’t that bad
Do the first 3 Bad Company LPs, please.
That's an interesting topic, i actually love their last studio album, Rough Diamonds, their last i mean with that lineup. Would like to see a deep dive in this same style?