Greg Lake
Gregory Stuart Lake, better known as Greg Lake ( born November 10, 1947 in Poole, England ) is an English bassist, guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. He became known as a member of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. His best-known self-written song is the acoustic ballad Lucky Man, which he wrote during his school days.
- 2.1 King Crimson
- 2.2 Emerson, Lake and Palmer 2.2.1 Singles
- 2.2.2 albums
- 2.2.3 concert albums and compilations
Biography
King Crimson
End of the 60 Lake played in the band The Gods, of which some members later Uriah Heep founded. Even before the first album was released, Lake left the band to set up, together with his old school friend Robert Fripp, the band King Crimson, in the Lake initially took over the role of bassist. For the debut album In the Court of the Crimson King, he also assumed the role of the singer. The album was supposed to be produced by Tony Clarke, who worked for Moody Blues at that time. However, this already on the first day left the recording, because he did not understand what the band was trying to create. Therefore, Lake jumped in as a producer.
King Crimson came along with the band The Nice on their farewell tour of North America. Following the tour Lake left the band in April 1970 to set up with Keith Emerson, The Nice, the ex - keyboardist, and drummer Carl Palmer, the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP ). Nevertheless, he still helped with the completion of the second King Crimson album, In the Wake of Poseidon by borrowing most of the songs his voice. So also the lead single Cat Food with Lake emerged as the lead singer. He also contributed his singing and his guitar playing to the album Still ( 1973) King Crimson lyricist Peter Sinfield -.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer became one of the most successful bands of the 1970s and were instrumental in the development of progressive rock. Lakes striking and expressive voice contributed significantly to the songs like Still ... You Turn Me On ( Brain Salad Surgery ) and The Sage ( Pictures at an Exhibition ) of the band. Although he also played ( acoustic and electric ) guitar with some of the pieces, he worked mainly as a bass player. In the studio version of the ballad "From the Beginning", he played all three instruments ( acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar), which were superimposed on the mixer together with the voice and the more subtle parts of the other musicians. Greg Lake also gained greater fame through his solo single I Believe in Father Christmas in 1975, which was later released on the ELP album Works Volume II in another version. Greg Lake wrote especially the texts of the first albums himself, later he was assisted in this task by Peter Sinfield, who also wrote the lyrics for the band King Crimson or completely replaced.
In 1973, the label Manticore Lake, where he also took some talented musicians under contract. After the less successful album Love Beach ( 1978) to ELP broke for the first time - for two main reasons: When Greg Lake, considerable vocal problems showed. In addition, the reinforced slope clashed for more conventional ballads style with the conception of music by Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer that the emphasis in ELP - wanted to put on highly complex instrumentals - as before.
Asia and solo
After the band had dissolved, Lake brought the two solo albums out Greg Lake (1981 ) and Manoeuvres (1983 ), where among other things, ex -Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore starred. In the late fall of 1983, he replaced a few concerts in Japan, including the worldwide live broadcast of a concert in Tokyo by the television channel MTV, John Wetton as a singer and bassist of the band Asia. Lake wanted to direct the musical style of the band in a more sophisticated direction, but this was rejected by the other musicians. At Christmas it was clear that he would not remain in Asia.
1984 tried to Jim Lewis, vice president of Polydor Records to bring Keith Emerson to ELP together again. He met with Lake, and the two decided to try it a second time. As drummer Carl Palmer was contractually or their record company Geffen Records tied to Asia, dedicated Emerson Lake and Cozy Powell. As Emerson, Lake & Powell, the band recorded an album ( published in 1986 ) and went on tour. After disputes with Emerson, the trio broke but in the same year again.
In 1987, Brian Lane tried, the manager of Carl Palmer, ELP also to call to life. In March, the three musicians rehearsed even for two weeks together, but the bad relationship between Keith Emerson and Greg Lake kept unchanged and failed another attempt at reunification ELPs.
Lake turned in 1989 a new project that brought him together with the Asia- keyboardist Geoffrey Downes and with former King Crimson drummer Michael Giles. The year-long collaboration Downes ' Lakes and Giles ' under the project name Ride the Tiger yielded eight new songs, but these are still partly unpublished until today. The song later appeared on the Street Wars ELP album In the Hot Seat, Love Under Fire can be found on the Asia album Aqua. Two other pieces were on Lakes From The Beginning. The Greg Lake Retrospective published.
Reunion with ELP
In 1992, "Black Moon " is a hard rock oriented album was added to the original cast, and although the subsequent world tour was a great success, the band broke after a further studio album ( "In the Hot Seat " ) and subsequent tour in 1998 after their last concert in San Diego, California, on again.
Re on your own, he toured with Ringo Starr's 2001 All- Starr Band.
Greg Lake band
From October 2005, Lake appeared with his band on a brief break to him in the UK. The band consists of David Arch (keyboards ), Florian Opahle (guitar), Trevor Barry ( bass) and Brett Morgan (drums).
The beginning of 2006 the band released a double DVD, which received mostly positive reviews.
Musical Influences
An important aspect of Lakes role as a musician is the fact that Lake is regarded by many as a bassist, who have the way to play bass, revolutionized and redefined. His bass playing almost reached a piano -like timbre. His distinctive style of play had great influence on other bands. In addition to Paul McCartney, Chris Squire, Jack Bruce and a few others, he is regarded as one of the most influential British player ever.