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| Ars Longa Vita Brevis | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 1968 | |||
| Recorded | October 1968 | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 40:13 | |||
| Label | Immediate | |||
| Producer | The Nice | |||
| The Nice chronology | ||||
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Ars Longa Vita Brevis is the second album by the English progressive rock group the Nice.
In the summer of 1968 The Nice had their first taste of commercial success when their cover of "America", the popular West Side Story number re-imagined as a heavy instrumental acid-rocker (Emerson called it "the first instrumental protest song", chosen as a reaction to the assassination of MLK that spring), hit #21 on the UK charts. The group achieved further notoriety in the press when they were banned from further appearances at the Royal Albert Hall after Emerson had burned a makeshift spray-painting of the American flag during a prestige gig at the venue in July. [1]
Guitarist David O'List was fired from the band in the fall of 1968 during the initial recording of the album. (An early outtake of "Daddy, Where Did I Come From" featuring O'List on guitar was later released on the compilation Autumn '67 - Spring '68). After flirting briefly with auditioning a replacement guitarist (including Steve Howe, later to join Yes), the Nice decided to carry on as a keyboard-led trio and completed the album that October. [1]
Structurally, side one of the album picked up where its predecessor left off, with shorter psych-pop numbers ("Daddy, Where Did I Come From", "Happy Freuds") sitting next to extended jams based on classical compositions (Sibelius' "Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite"), only this time without the participation of a guitarist. "Daddy Where Did I Come From" contains a comedic spoken word break of a father trying (and failing) to inform his son about the facts of life, while "Happy Freuds" is a Zappa-influenced puncturing of self-assured people with heavy use of echo delay on the vocal. The cover of "Karelia Suite" features a lengthy interlude with Jackson bowing his bass, followed by Emerson creating structured feedback with his Hammond L100 through a Marshall amplifier, supplemented by a Dallas Arbiter fuzz-face unit. [1]
A significant evolution was taken on side two with the appearance of the multi-sectional suite "Ars Longa Vita Brevis." The suite begins with a prelude featuring a full orchestra followed by an extended drum solo ("Awakening"), a more conventional acid rock number with guest electric guitar ("Realisation"), a rock adaptation of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.3 in G Major featuring a return of the orchestra ("Brandenburger", released as a non-charting single in November 1968), a lightning-paced Jazz-fusion Hammond organ jam ("Denial") and an orchestral coda. "Ars Longa Vita Brevis" was, along with Procol Harum's "In Held 'Twas In I" released around the same time, the first side-long progressive rock suite and served as a template for Emerson's later efforts on Five Bridges , Tarkus and "Karn Evil 9". Emerson recalled that during a break in the recording of "Brandenburger", he heard several of the orchestral musicians complaining about the noise and tempo of the arrangement, whereupon he decided to crank the volume of his Hammond even louder. [1]
The album unusually contains some songs in which Emerson sings lead vocals: he shares the singing with Lee Jackson in "Daddy, Where Did I Come From", sings all lead vocals on "Happy Freuds" and takes the bridge in "Little Arabella". Guest guitarist Malcolm Langstaff, who played on the second movement of the suite titled "Realisation", died in 2007. [2]
The title is an aphorism attributed to Hippocrates usually rendered as "Art is long, life is short"; Keith Emerson's interpretation of this can be gauged from his sleevenote:
Newton's first law of motion states a body will remain at rest or continue with uniform motion in a straight line unless acted on by a force. This time the force happened to come from a European source. Ours is an extension of the original Allegro from Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Yesterday I met someone who changed my life, today we put down a sound that made our aim accurate. Tomorrow is yesterday's history and art will still be there, even if life terminates. [3]
For the cover, the group hired photographer Gered Mankowitz to create a composite overlap of X-rays of the three band members. While at the medical clinic, Emerson was informed that his X-ray showed two broken ribs, sustained from his intensely physical performances during the group's live shows. [1] The cover went on to win the New Musical Express award for Best Pop Album Sleeve that year.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [4] |
| Rolling Stone | (neutral) [5] |
| TopTenReviews |   [6] |
The original US version of the album opened with the earlier single "America". Released in November 1968, Ars Longa Vita Brevis failed to chart in either the UK or US, although it received a positive review from Record Mirror which stated it was "musically excellent, very original, and going in a good direction to boot." [1] Retrospectively, Allmusic's Bruce Eder described the album as "a genuinely groundbreaking effort". [4]
All songs written by Keith Emerson and Lee Jackson, except where noted.
Added to side one (tracks 1 and 2) on the Columbia Records release via their Columbia Special Products subsidiary. [7]
with:
Keith Noel Emerson was an English keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He became internationally famous for his work with the Nice, which included writing rock arrangements of classical music. After leaving the Nice in 1970, he was a founding member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), one of the early progressive rock supergroups.
The Nice were an English progressive rock band active in the late 1960s. They blended rock, jazz and classical music and were keyboardist Keith Emerson's first commercially successful band.
Pictures at an Exhibition is a live album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in November 1971 on Island Records. It features the group's rock adaptation of Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky, performed at Newcastle City Hall on 26 March 1971.
The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack is the 1968 debut album by the English psychedelic rock and progressive rock group the Nice.
Atlanta Rhythm Section is an American Southern rock band formed in 1970 by Rodney Justo (singer), Barry Bailey (guitar), Paul Goddard (bass), Dean Daughtry (keyboards), Robert Nix (drums) and J. R. Cobb (guitar). The band experienced its greatest chart success with Ronnie Hammond as lead singer 1972-1982. Hammond returned again 1988-2001. The band's current lineup consists of Justo, along with guitarists David Anderson and Steve Stone, keyboardist Lee Shealy, bassist Justin Senker and drummer Rodger Stephan.
Jackson Heights was a British progressive rock band from England. It formed in 1970 after The Nice organist and pianist, Keith Emerson, decided to leave the trio to form another band, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, leaving bassist-vocalist Lee Jackson and drummer Brian Davison on their own.
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David Kilminster is a British guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, producer and music teacher who has toured as a sideman with several prestigious musicians, including progressive rock artists Steven Wilson and Roger Waters.
Brian Davison, was a British musician. He is best known for playing drums with The Mark Leeman Five, The Nice, Brian Davison's Every Which Way, Refugee and Gong.
Keith Anthony Joseph "Lee" Jackson is an English bass guitarist known for his work in the Nice, a progressive-rock band, as well as his own band formed after the Nice, Jackson Heights, and finally Refugee with Nice drummer Brian Davison and Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz. Jackson plays bass left handed.
David O'List is an English rock guitarist, vocalist and trumpeter. He has played with The Attack, The Nice, Roxy Music, and Jet. He also briefly deputised in Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd.
Nice was the third album by The Nice; it was titled Everything As Nice As Mother Makes It in the US after Immediate broke their distribution deal with Columbia. Nice had been initially released in the US with a slightly longer version of "Rondo 69" not available on the UK or on the independently distributed US versions. The first US version of Nice was briefly reissued in 1973 by Columbia Special Products.
Elegy was the final official album release by The Nice, Keith Emerson having since moved on to Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Lee Jackson to Jackson Heights and Brian Davison to Every Which Way. It consists of live versions of songs from earlier releases, a studio take of a Tchaikovsky piece ("Pathetique") that had been released live on the previous album and a previously unheard cover of Dylan's "My Back Pages". Released a year after The Nice's final show in March 1970 in an attempt to capitalize on ELP's burgeoning success, the album achieved number 5 in the UK album chart.
From the Beginning is a box set which presents aural and visual documentation celebrating Emerson, Lake & Palmer's career; consisting of five discs that include a number of single b-sides, significant live recordings, alternative studio mixes and material taken from band rehearsals, plus a bonus DVD featuring 'The Manticore Years' documentary, presented in a deluxe book-style sleeve complete with a 60-page picture booklet containing extensive sleeve notes by the band discussing the ELP years. It also contains rare and previously unseen photographs and images.
Refugee is the only studio album from the progressive rock band Refugee, released in March 1974 on Charisma Records. It was re-released under the TimeWave label on 27 June 2006, and as an expanded three-disc boxed set from Esoteric Recordings in 2019.
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