Song of the Week – Still… You Turn Me On, Emerson Lake & Palmer

IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

The Rock world lost another legend this week. Greg Lake of the original King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer passed away on December 7th at the age of 69.

I’ve had an ELP cut on my SotW idea list for several months. So I guess now is as good a time as any to present it.

“Still… You Turn Me On” is a lovely ballad in the same style as one of Lake’s most popular songs, “Lucky Man.” It was on ELP’s excellent 1973 album, Brain Salad Surgery.

BSS was an ambitious album. On it the band tackled William Blake (“Jerusulem”) and classical composer Alberto Ginastera (“Tocatta”). While this isn’t my favorite ELP record – I’m partial to the debut and Tarkus – it has its moments, including “Still… You Turn Me On.”

It has another stunning vocal by Lake, a beautiful musical arrangement using multiple guitars (the wah-wha is awesome) and keyboards, and poignant lyrics.

Do you wanna be the pillow
Where I lay my head
Do you wanna be the feathers
Lying on my bed
Do you wanna be the cover
Of a magazine
Create a scene

Every day a little sadder
A little madder
Someone get me a ladder

I rediscovered the song a few months ago when reading an article by M.C. Antil called “50 Deep Tracks That Will Blow Your Kids’ Minds.” “Still… You Turn Me On” comes onto the list midway at #25.

M.C. Antil – 50 Deep Cuts That Will Blow Your Kids’ Minds

One of my bandmates, Chris H. shared a fine YouTube video of Lake performing his holiday classic, “I Believe in Father Christmas,” performed in 1975 with Ian Anderson. Since we’re in the season it is appropriate to share that too.

ELP’s “over blown,” pretentious approach to making records is often held responsible for the backlash that produced the DIY attitude of Punk Rock. I get that, but I think there’s room for both. Progressive Rock has not been treated kindly by rock historians. Evidence of that is the dearth of prog rock artists that have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That needs to be corrected.

Enjoy… until next week.

4 thoughts on “Song of the Week – Still… You Turn Me On, Emerson Lake & Palmer

  1. There’s been a prog revival of sorts in the hard rock arena (Swedes of course – where else do they make hard rock anymore?).

    A leading band of this genre is Opeth and, when I found them, I wanted so much to have found something new that I liked. Alas, too prog for me.

    https://youtu.be/LhqijfqecvA

  2. “Whatever we do, let’s make sure to avoid anything resembling a tune.” I will grudgingly admit that I liked some prog rock in its day: the stuff that played TO a song rather than OFF the song or the stuff that dispensed with pop structure altogether. I saw this band at the Academy of Music while tripping and was awestruck. This one is good even in the cold light of reality, although it’s still too long. The part that starts around 5:30 is great.

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