Letters
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GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN
Music can take the listener on emotional journeys, so I was delighted to see the article on my hero Keith Emerson in Prog 144. It was fascinating to see the 30 tracks chosen by fans, family and friends. There were no major surprises, but for me there were three significant absences from the list that, in my humble opinion, I would like to have seen included.
It is solely through ELP and The Nice that my interest in classical music was born and the Five Bridges album is one of my all-time favourites. Is there anything that screams prog as much as that opening suite, with the band playing alongside the orchestra, fusing classical, rock and jazz, to produce 20 minutes of epic, exhilarating music? And no Lucky Man! With what was surely the first-ever recorded synthesiser solo, that introduced us mere mortals to the weird, wonderful, and unlimited sounds of the Moog, which Keith had been at the forefront [of] in its formative years.
Finally, I would include Honky Tonk Train Blues, just to share the sheer fun and exuberance of a master pianist. There’s rarely a day I don’t think of Keith, so it was reassuring to read Rick Wakeman’s statement that“people will still be discovering Keith’s music in a 100 years’time”. I hope so. Oh, how I love and miss you, Keith Emerson.
ONE FINAL GLIMPSE?
As a long-time fan of Jethro Tull, I enjoyed the story on The Broadsword And The Beast anniversary edition [Prog 143]. Bought the box set and enjoyed all of it, especially the Steven Wilson remixes. Beautiful packaging as usual and great bonus tracks.
Now, there’s one thing I want to bring up and I think it needs to be taken care of while the protagonists are still young enough: Ian needs to reintegrate Martin Barre in the band. The last few guitar players in Tull are really good and are clearly doing the job. Saw Florian in Montreal a few years back and he could certainly play guitar. But, Tull is Martin Barre and Ian Anderson. Simple as that and to deny the fans the joy of seeing them both on the same stage is simply not right.
Get along, boys. Figure out your differences and give us one last glimpse of the fabulous team you were.
A BEAST TOO FAR
The 40th anniversary (Monster Edition) of Tull’s The Broadsword And The Beast is just another example of record companies (or ind
