If anyone has the right to revive the iconic progressive music trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer, it’s Carl Palmer. The precise, polyrhythmic drummer is the last living member of this groundbreaking British group (keyboardist Keith Emerson and singer/bassist Greg Lake both died in 2016).
So how do we explain the concert being called “The Return of Emerson, Lake & Palmer” that will take place at Ruth Eckerd Hall on February 23rd (this Friday)?
Palmer’s idea was to perform a concert using film footage and multitrack audio from two consecutive Emerson, Lake & Palmer shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Keith Emerson (left), Greg Lake and Carl Palmer in the early 70’s. Photo: BMG.
Mr Palmer says: catalyst He considered holograms like Whitney Houston, Tupac Shakur, and Ronnie James Dio, but ultimately decided they looked and felt cheap.
Palmer recalled that the DVD compilation of ELP’s Albert Hall performances on October 2 and 3, 1992, was filmed with five cameras and the musicians recorded on multiple audio tracks.
In this interview, Palmer told fans how it all worked out and what to expect at Friday’s (admittedly weird-sounding) all-out celebration of “The Show That Never Ends.”
St. Pete Catalyst: Did you literally go into multitrack and remove the drums?
Carl Palmer: Yes, because all instruments, including voices, are recorded on separate tracks. This means that when you come to a concert, your keyboard, acoustic guitar, and bass guitar will all be on separate tracks. This means you can take the drums out, play them live, and mix them with keyboards and voices as if Emerson, Lake & Palmer were in the room.
They do the same thing every show.What do you think is the biggest challenge in syncing everything??
Well, it’s all on the click track, so there’s no difficulty in synchronizing it. I just crop the timeline or crop the visual camera shot. There were five cameras. It’s all simple things. It just takes time.
You’re not wearing headphones to listen to a click track. How about speeding it up a bit?
My mono speakers have a monitor and a click track. I don’t use stereo on stage. Lower the sound level and let the microphone pass through less, muddying up the sound. It’s not that I sped up, it’s that I kept up with the band, Keith and Greg. Because that night we were in flux. But the real drums I played that night are gone. I just add to what they’re playing – and I learn where it goes faster and where it goes slower, and I learn what happened that night. And when you hear it every night, it’s exactly the same.
And because each night has different acoustics and each room has a different environment, the mix is different every night. In other words, you’ll never be able to see a real Emerson, Lake & Palmer concert this close. Because you can see Greg singing and it’s perfectly timed. It’s him – it’s not a hologram, it’s him at his best. And you can see Keith playing the synthesizer with perfect timing in his solo.
There is a lot of technology in the world today. I don’t know how to operate it personally, but I do know when it’s right and when it’s wrong. I can hear really well, I can see really well, and I know what I have to do. I did all the visual editing. All the best camera shots are here.
How many times do you think we’ve watched this show already?
32nd time. I didn’t go on a lot of dates. I just finished two dates in Tokyo. Before that, we performed 12 concerts in America.
Please tell us about the programs that were filmed for DVD.
The time is the middle of the early 90’s. It was originally at Sanctuary and that’s when we actually recorded it and got the group’s approval. It was two nights at the Royal Albert Hall. We picked the best nights and it was mainly the first night. I think it was over 70% from the first night. Sanctuary then sold the DVD to Universal. Therefore, DVDs are not very well known. He went missing during a dispute between the two companies. So we were very disappointed in that.
But actually, it’s working in my favor now, so I’m very happy.
Did you also use outtakes from the original shoot?
I had access to everything. When you’re in a concert hall, he has three screens. And Keith needs to be in something to give the whole thing a little more weight and a little more depth from a show standpoint. Otherwise, you’ll need vintage footage on a separate screen. That’s how I was looking at the edit and trying to synchronize where the three screens were dealing with all three of us and her. Or maybe I’m in the middle with Greg on each side and all I can do is listen to Keith’s voice. Then display vintage footage of Keith on his third screen. It’s probably a video of him playing the song he was playing at the time. It continues like that. It’s quite complicated so it took about 11 weeks.
Did they have to delete footage of you performing at the ’92 concert?
Yeah, because you don’t want me on the screen. If you see me on the screen, you should be able to see me playing the drums in the hall. You don’t need to see young Carl Palmer there. I want you to see where I am now, playing with these two and sounding like a band. The visual side of me from the past is not needed on screen.
Then you will have a perfect marriage. This has never been done before. You need to understand that. We actually play together as a group. The keyboards are mixed live on individual tracks for the main Moog, Mini-Moog, and GX-1. The same goes for acoustic guitar, bass guitar, and voice. All instruments were recorded one by one. It’s all mixed live with the drums I’m playing that night.
What was your thinking behind having two other live musicians on stage?
Because I have six or seven songs that I’m going to play with Greg and Keith. There are some songs that I like to play: “Welcome Back,” “Fanfare,” “Lucky Man,” “Still You Turn Me On,” you name it. There is no footage of them performing – “Tarkus”, “Carmina Burana”, “Hoedown”. That’s why I also have a band on stage to integrate all the songs. And there are some works where Simon and Paul actually augment Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Karl, is this an emotional experience for you?
No, actually not now. His first three weeks were hell. Because I got very emotional going through all the camera shots. I had a lot of material to choose from, although I tried to stick to what Greg and Keith had selected for the video. Sometimes I had to jump into the other cameras and see if there was something a little better for that moment that this show needed.
To be honest, after about three weeks, my job became a person. “I have to get this done to the highest quality. I have to get this to a level where I know they will approve. I feel happy and confident that I can play this song every night.” I have to do this with the feeling that I can show it to the public.” And I got to that point.
And now when I play every night, I look up and see Emerson playing “Fanfare,” and I’m there with him, and I hear his keyboard a little different than it was the night before. I know it sounds different. It’s mixed live and looks great. In a way, it’s like playing with them all over again.
Find tickets here.
“Return of Emerson Lake & Palmer” publicity photo.