| The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 O'List, Davison, Jackson, Emerson | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1 March 1968 [1] | |||
| Recorded | Olympic Studios, Autumn 1967 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 37:50 | |||
| Label | Immediate | |||
| Producer | Emerlist Davjack | |||
| The Nice chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack is the 1968 debut album by the English psychedelic rock and progressive rock group the Nice.
Originally formed in the spring of 1967 as the live backing group to soul singer P.P. Arnold, The Nice quickly established an identity of their own. By August, they had split from Arnold and were receiving rave reviews for their live performances, which secured them a residency at The Marquee. Andrew Loog Oldham approached the group soon after and signed them to Immediate Records, where they were ushered into Olympic Studios that fall with Oldham's insistence that they only record original material. [2] According to O’List, Mick Jagger was originally planned to produce the album, but was unable to do so. Engineering duties were undertaken by Glyn Johns, who contributed echo effects to “Flower King Of Flies”, also sung by O’List. [3] [4]
The album was primarily composed of psychedelic pop typical of the period ("Flower King of Flies"," Tantalising Maggie", "The Cry of Eugene"), with Keith Emerson contributing layers of keyboards (piano, organ, harpsichord) and occasionally adding in quotes from well-known classical pieces. There are also two lengthy acid-rock instrumental jams, "Rondo" and "War And Peace", which point in the group's future progressive rock direction; on these, Emerson incorporates glissandos, feedback, and pitch-bending into his Hammond organ solos as he did on stage, along with an innovative patchwork quilt of blues, jazz and classical motifs.
At the 1967 Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival, lead singer Jackson claimed the song "Flower King of Flies" was about Paul McCartney.[ citation needed ] "The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack" was used as incidental music for the 1968 children's television drama "The Tyrant King", directed by Mike Hodges and written by Trevor Preston for Thames Television, from the London Transport book by Aylmer Hall. The 6-part series also featured music by the Rolling Stones, the Moody Blues and Pink Floyd.[ citation needed ] The title track was released as the album's lead single in November 1967 along with the non-LP B-side "Azrial (Angel of Death)"; while it received a positive review from the Daily Mail, it failed to chart. [2] Because the group lacked a strong lead vocalist they frequently used echo and filter effects on their vocals, such as on "Tantalising Maggie", while the heavily psychedelic "Dawn" features an eerie whispered vocal from Jackson against extensive stereo panning of both guitar and organ feedback.
"Rondo" is based around an extended quote and re-harmonization of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Blue Rondo à la Turk", adapted from 9/8 to 4/4 time, while the organ solo includes a short excerpt from Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor . "War and Peace" also contains a quote from Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, which would be more fully developed on the following album's "Brandenburger". "The Cry of Eugene", which was later re-recorded by Jackson's group Jackson Heights, refers to "Harlequin & Columbine" and features trumpet work from guitarist Davy O'List. This would be the only Nice album to feature O'List.
The name Emerlist Davjack is a portmanteau created by combining the last names of the four members of the group; Keith Emerson, David O'List, Brian Davison and Lee Jackson. The original disc credits all compositions to "Emerlist Davjack"; later releases give more specific credits. The first half of the title ("the thoughts of") is apparently a reference to bassist Lee Jackson's habit of carrying a copy of Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book", an alternate name of which was "Thoughts of Chairman Mao." [2]
The cover, photographed by Gered Mankowitz at a Soho studio, shows members of the band shirtless and wrapped in cellophane. According to Emerson, the back cover was to feature slides of the band superimposed over a woman's naked body, although his embarrassment over it caused a less controversial (though still distorted) band photo to be used. [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| Melody Maker | (positive) [6] |
The album was released in March 1968 in mono and stereo editions, promoted by a sampler (featured on the Castle Communications 2000 box set "Here Come The Nice" (CMETD 055-1)) featuring a commentary by DJ John Peel, which included the following comments:
1967 was a strange year for pop music with groups experimenting with new sounds and bouncing on and off bandwagons with dizzying speed and agility. They were calling themselves ridiculous names and regretting it shortly. The Nice came together in a void and will be here when the others are in pantomime in Wolverhampton.
The album received largely positive reviews, although it failed to chart. Melody Maker opined that the album "successfully captures the musical ingredients that make them so rewarding live", noting interesting experiments in electronic and percussive effects. [6] In the US, Cash Box noted that "Rondo" "starts cookin' early" and also named "The Flower King of Flies" and "The Cry of Eugene" as highlights, calling it a "candidate for plenty of sales action." [7] A retrospective review by AllMusic's Bruce Eder is mixed, as he calls it a "flawed but valiant effort" with strong instrumental work that is let down by the lack of a real lead singer. [5]
Alternate mixes of six of the album's songs would be included on the 1972 compilation Autumn '67 - Spring '68, with longer running times on several.
The album was named as one of Classic Rock's "50 Albums That Built Prog Rock". [8] The adaptation of "Rondo" proved highly influential on many prog keyboardists to come, with Tony Banks noting that the Genesis song "The Knife" was based around a similar organ motif after seeing The Nice play it at The Marquee. "Rondo" would remain a signature piece and encore in Nice, ELP and Keith Emerson Band concerts until Emerson's passing in 2016.
Note: tracks #12 & 13 are reversed from label order, with track #12 running 6:18 and track # 13 running 6:06
Source: [9]
with:
Emerson, Lake & Palmer were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of the Nice, Greg Lake of King Crimson, and Carl Palmer of Atomic Rooster. With nine RIAA-certified gold record albums in the US, and an estimated 48 million records sold worldwide, they are one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock groups of the 1970s, with a musical sound including adaptations of classical music with jazz and symphonic rock elements, dominated by Emerson's flamboyant use of the Hammond organ, Moog synthesizer, and piano.
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, the piano suite by Modest Mussorgsky, performed at Newcastle City Hall on 26 March 1971.
War and Peace is a novel by Leo Tolstoy.
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.
Five Bridges is a live and studio album and fourth overall by English progressive rock band The Nice, released in June 1970 by Charisma Records. Most of the album was recorded live in concert at Fairfield Halls in Croydon, London, in October 1969. The final track, "One of Those People", is a studio recording. The album's centrepiece is "The Five Bridges Suite", a five-part composition about Newcastle upon Tyne that features the group performing with the Sinfonia of London session orchestra conducted by Joseph Eger.
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.
"Blue Rondo à la Turk" is a jazz standard composition by Dave Brubeck. It appeared on the album Time Out in 1959. It is written in 9
8 time, with one side theme in 4
4, and the choice of rhythm was inspired by the Turkish aksak time signatures. It was originally recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quartet with Dave Brubeck on piano, Paul Desmond on alto saxophone, Eugene Wright on bass, and Joe Morello on drums.
Ars Longa Vita Brevis is the second album by the English progressive rock group the Nice.
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.
Vivacitas is a live album recorded by the Nice, who reformed for a set of concerts, augmented by the Keith Emerson Band for the second half of the concert. David O'List, The Nice's original guitarist, did not take part, and was replaced by Dave Kilminster. The album consists of versions of pieces which had been live favourites during the Nice's heyday between 1967 and 1970, three piano solo pieces by Emerson, some pieces from the Emerson, Lake & Palmer repertoire performed by the Keith Emerson Band, and a 2001 interview with Emerson, Lee Jackson and Brian Davison by Chris Welch.
King Progress is the debut album by Jackson Heights. The album was released in the U.K. on Charisma Records in 1970. In the U.S., the album was released on Mercury Records in 1971. The album is known for the song "The Cry of Eugene", a track originally written and played by The Nice on their first album, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack.
Autumn '67 – Spring '68 is a 1972 compilation by the English psychedelic rock and progressive rock group the Nice. The album consists of outtakes and alternate versions of previously released songs, which were recorded between Autumn 1967 and Spring 1968.
The Tyrant King is a six-part children's serial drama directed by Mike Hodges, made by ABC Weekend TV and screened by Thames Television in 1968. It was dramatised from the book of the same name by Aylmer Hall, adapted for television by Trevor Preston. It was notable for its use of a progressive music soundtrack, including music from The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues, Cream, Pink Floyd, and in particular, The Nice, whose song "The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack", from the album of the same name was the title track.
