page_title: Emerson, Lake & Palmer
section_title: 1970–1971: Debut album, Tarkus, and Pictures at an Exhibition
hierarchical_section_title: Emerson, Lake & Palmer / History / 1970–1971: Debut album, Tarkus, and Pictures at an Exhibition
caption_attribution_description: Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Feb. 3, 1978 Moog modular Yamaha GX-1
context_page_description: Emerson, Lake & Palmer were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in April 1970. The band consisted of keyboardist Keith Emerson; singer, bassist, guitarist and producer Greg Lake; and drummer and percussionist Carl Palmer. With nine RIAA-certified gold record albums in the US, and an estimated 48 million records sold worldwide, they were one of the most popular and commercially successful progressive rock bands in 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.
  The band came to prominence following their performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970. In their first year, the group signed with E.G. Records, and released Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Tarkus, both of which reached the UK top five. The band's success continued with Pictures at an Exhibition, Trilogy, and Brain Salad Surgery. After a three-year break, Emerson, Lake & Palmer released Works Volume 1 and Works Volume 2. After Love Beach, the group disbanded in 1979.
context_section_description: In the months surrounding their debut gigs, the band recorded their first album, Emerson Lake & Palmer, at Advision Studios. Lake took on the role as producer, which he had also done in King Crimson, with Eddy Offord as their engineer. The album included studio versions of "The Barbarian" and "Take a Pebble", "Knife-Edge", based on the first movement of Sinfonietta by Leoš Janáček and the Allemande of French Suite No. 1 in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, Palmer's drum solo "Tank", the three-part "The Three Fates", and "Lucky Man", an acoustic ballad that Lake wrote when he was twelve. The album was released in the UK in November 1970, and reached No. 4 in the UK and No. 18 in the US. "Lucky Man" was released as a single that peaked at No. 48 in the US.
  From September 1970 to March 1971, the band completed their first concert tour with shows across the UK, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Their performance on 9 December 1970 at the Lyceum Theatre in London was filmed and released in UK theatres in 1972 with added psychedelic effects including characters from Marvel Comics.
  During a break in their first tour in January 1971, Emerson, Lake & Palmer returned to Advision Studios with Offord to record their second album, Tarkus. Friction between Emerson and Lake during the early recording sessions almost caused the group to disband as Lake disliked the material that Emerson was writing. Following a meeting with the band and management, Lake agreed to write his own songs and continue recording. The album was recorded in six days. The album's first side is occupied by the 20-minute title track, a seven-part song based on reverse evolution that was recorded in four days. Its cover art was designed by painter and graphic designer William Neal. Tarkus was released in June 1971 on Island Records. It was a commercial success after it reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 9 in the US. The band resumed touring with their first North American tour, starting 24 April 1971 at Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania and continued until the end of May. Further dates across Europe followed until the end of the year.
  Emerson, Lake & Palmer released their third album, Pictures at an Exhibition, in the UK in November 1971. They recorded their performance of it at Newcastle City Hall on 26 March 1971 and decided to release it with the concert's encore, "Nut Rocker". The group wished to release it as their second album, but Atlantic Records declined to as it is a classical-oriented piece and claimed it would not sell or receive any radio airplay, and offered to release it through Nonesuch Records which handled more budget, classical, and avant-garde albums. The band refused, and delayed its release on purpose until after Tarkus; Emerson said the delay was to also show to the press and public that they could write their own songs and were not merely a "band that did classical music". Following Island Records' decision to import 250,000 copies into the US which sold within a short amount of time, helped by radio DJ Scott Muni playing the entire album uninterrupted on WNEW in New York City, Atlantic decided to release it through Cotillion as a budget album in January 1972. The album peaked at No. 3 in the UK and No. 10 in the US.
caption: Emerson performing in 1977
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