This album was my introduction to the wonderful world of ELP and hence to Copland and others
So many thanks are due for the music I have heard since that teenager popped the cassette into the portable player that Christmas
RIP Keith.
"Hoedown" (1972)
A showstopper that was actually a show starter for two tours, "Hoedown" was the first ELP adaptation of composer Aaron Copland, as brassy a show-off (in his way) as the trio itself. Keith Emerson began work on the piece after returning from a classical festival in Romania, so East European elements find their way into his rollicking organ and Moog arrangement alongside American folk tunes like "Shortnin' Bread" and "Turkey in the Straw." Emerson stumbled onto the track's signature synth sound by chance: "We'd started working on that arrangement and then I hit, I don't know what, I switched a blue button and I put a patch cord in there, but anyway, 'whoooeee.'"
This was recorded in just 3 takes (I was there)- and then dubbed. NoOne can make same sound today with same equipment, and still claim that it was all done by only 3 people...
I saw them live in Miami just after this album was released, and Keith had this insane spinning piano with fireworks! It was the craziest thing I have ever seen or will see. The trio had the chemistry achieved by few groups. RIP Keith and Greg!
July, 1972, Concert 10, Pocono Raceway...the sounds of ELP in the wee hours of the morning, playing this...oh, the memories for this 17 year old girl...farewell Keith!
