‘Touch and Go’ by Emerson, Lake and Powell: Doyle’s ‘Not-So-Top-10′ playlist

There was an obvious reason for me to pick and ELP song this week as founding member and all-around-genius Keith Emerson committed suicide.  Most of us would think that if we had Keith Emerson’s life we’d be unbelievably happy, but you never know what demons a person has.

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer were one of the most influential progressive rock acts ever, fusing classical and rock music to create something brand new.  The atmospheric was something no one had ever heard before, but they certainly had their critics; some complained that they were pretentious and their music ponderous, but I was always a fan.

 ELP was not a singles band, however, they were an album band.  Their biggest hit was “From The Beginning” which reached #39 in 1972.  “Lucky Man” was released twice, but didn’t make it past #48.  The song I requested was recorded during the phase when Carl Palmer was in the band Asia, which is why it’s Emerson, Lake, and Powell instead of Palmer.

Guess what?  Big Joe snubbed me again.