The Nice – Five Bridges (1970) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 45:40 minutes | Scans included | 1,85 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 927 MB
Five Bridges is a delectable representation of early-’70s progressive rock. Its makeup contains all of the elements needed to complete a solid prog album: a heavy intermingling of synthesizer and electric guitar, strong punctuation of both bass and drums, a central concept, and the fusing of rock and classical music, which in this case employs the Sinfonia of London. The eight tracks, centered around Newcastle’s urban structure and life in a blue collar society, are as colorful as they are intricate. “Intermezzo” from Sibelius’ Karelia Suite, and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique” are marvelous examples of classical and rock commingling, with the spotlight focused on Keith Emerson’s keyboard virtuosity. The second movement from Fantasia is a sparkling model of improvisational use containing various rock & roll rhythms and time structures, while the third track entitled “High Level Fugue 4th Bridge,” was inspired by Guida’s “Prelude and Fugue” and incorporates assorted jazz techniques and boogie-woogie styles into a classical recipe. “Country Pie/Brandenburg Concerto, No. 6” unites Dylan with Bach for a most extraordinary illustration of instrumental creativity. Each example of genre merging is pristine and fluid, making the actual overlapping of multiple styles completely transparent. Five Bridges may rank just a tad below The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack or Ars Longa Vita Brevis on the patience scale, but it does demonstrate how Emerson’s work with ELP came into fruition.
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The Nice – Elegy (1971) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 39:21 minutes | Scans included | 1,59 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 797 MB
Comprised of songs cut during the final 13 months of the Nice’s existence, Elegy is a must-own title for fans of Keith Emerson, offering his best live performance on piano (“Hang On to a Dream”) ever to get a legal release, showcasing his organ playing on unique and beguiling arrangements of Tchaikovsky and Dylan material, and ending with a live version of the Nice’s showstopper, “America”.
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The Nice – Autumn ’67 – Spring ’68 (1972) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 44:38 minutes | Scans included | 1,81 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 884 MB
Originally, this collection was put together in 1972 by Tony Stratton-Smith from outtakes of the Nice’s early stay at Immediate Records, and issued (at least, in the U.S.) with no explanation and little annotation, making it a bit confusing to longtime fans of Keith Emerson and the trio. Its timing was also unfortunate, in that a huge cache of record club copies of the Nice’s first three albums on Immediate, pressed by Columbia Special Products, had shown up in cut-out bins at just about the same time. One had to listen closely to see that everything here was an alternate take of material from the band’s first two albums. Essentially, Autumn 1967/ Spring 1968 (aka Autumn to Spring) was an outtake version of the group’s debut long-player, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack, shorn of the two longest tracks from that album, “Rondo” and “War and Peace.” And it worked better than that record for their absence, being trippier and a lot more playfully psychedelic, especially given the slightly rougher, unfinished renditions of most of the material, which lent it a bracing freshness, compared to the final versions. And the absence of “Rondo” and “War and Peace” means that the worst excesses of Keith Emerson’s and Davy O’List’s keyboard and guitar excursions are excised, and that’s for the better — there is still some psychedelic blues-based work in the manner of Jimi Hendrix or the Creation, in the form of “Bonnie K,” and Emerson’s flourishes enhance the psychedelic textures of the album in no small way. The whole thing is more fun in this form. And this album does, indeed, capture the Nice as a four-piece with O’List in the lineup, and as a psychedelic outfit — in contrast to their later, more widely exposed work, in which the psychedelic elements receded in favor of progressive rock and classically based showpieces, here it’s the progressive elements that are in the formative stage, mostly taking the form of flourishes and cadenzas around (and occasionally breaking into) choruses and endings, on songs like “Tantalizing Maggie.” The version of “The Cry of Eugene” represented here is also preferable to the rendition on the debut album; and the quartet version of “Daddy, Where Did I Come From” (which ultimately ended up, in somewhat altered form, on their second album, Ars Longa Vita Brevis), now comes off as a lot more fun than its later rendition, although it was obviously too raunchy to be released in 1968. This reissue offers excellent sound, considerably improved over the 1972 release, and also a pair of bonus tracks — the early single “Azrael” is a curiously theatrical piece of psychedelia, and certainly as bold an attempt at a debut single as anyone ever would have heard; and “Diary of an Empty Day,” which doesn’t sound different at all from the released version, but it’s still a fun piece of early prog rock.
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