Day: December 9, 2016

RIP Greg Lake

- Roshan

Greg Lake, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who helped propel prog rock into the mainstream as a member of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and King Crimson, died Tuesday. His manager told the BBC he had recently had “a long and stubborn battle with cancer”; the news comes nine months after the death of his bandmate, Keith Emerson. He was 69. As a lyricist and vocalist, Lake helped define prog rock’s flair for introspection with a dash of fantasy. He sang with clarity and confidence, making his voice a singular force among his and his fellow musicians’ experimentation. Whether playing bass or guitar, as he often did with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, he wrote in a way that allowed for his bandmates to build vast, intricate soundscapes. He was a skillful player whose guitar playing, in particular, added depth to some of ELP’s grand classical experiments, such as their rock interpretation of Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Greg Lake was born in Bournemouth, England on November 10th, 1947. He befriended eventual King Crimson leader Robert Fripp, who played guitar and lived nearby, and sought out opportunities to play music. In 1967, he joined the Gods, a group that had previously featured Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, but Lake left before they recorded their debut LP. The seeds of King Crimson were also formed in 1967 and Lake joined in 1968. The group played its first concert the following April and Lake sang lead vocals and played bass on their debut, 1969’s groundbreaking In the Court of the Crimson King – which Pete Townshend called “an uncanny masterpiece,” according to The Guardian – and its follow-up, 1970’s In the Wake of Poseidon. While on tour with King Crimson, Lake befriended Emerson, then a keyboardist of their tourmates the Nice. The two musicians had similar musical aesthetics and formed a new group, recruiting Palmer, who had played with the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster, to join them. The trio considered bringing a full-time guitarist into the fold – Lake was pulling double duty on bass and guitar – but, according to the book Legends of Rock Guitar, the only musician they all agreed could keep up with them was Jimi Hendrix and their acrynomic name would then become “HELP.”

Emerson, Lake and Palmer made their live debut in 1970, releasing their self-titled debut that same year. They were an near-instant hit. Each of the albums they put out in the Seventies – including their landmark Brain Salad Surgery – went gold in the U.S., and several charted in the Top 10 of Billboard’s album chart. The ambitious Tarkus, their second album – a deft and grandiose fusion of classical and rock – was a Number One album in the U.K. in 1971. Lake served as sole producer for most of the group’s works, which sold more than 48 million albums, according to the BBC. Their live performances featured light shows and theatrics, including the parading of their “Tarkus” mascot, and their highest-charting album in the U.S. was the live outing, Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends – Ladies and Gentlemen, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The group recorded the album in Anaheim, California in 1974; its title referencing lyrics in the Brain Salad Surgery track “Karn Evil 9.”

At the peak of ELP’s success in 1975, Lake put out a solo single, “I Believe in Father Christmas,” which was a Number Two hit in the U.K. behind “Bohemian Rhapsody.” After the trio disbanded in 1979, Lake launched a solo career and, in 1981, issued a star-studded self-titled LP, which featured performances by guitarists Gary Moore and Steve Lukather, drummer Jeff Porcaro and saxophonist Clarence Clemons. It made it up to Number 63 on the U.S. chart and its follow-up, 1983’s Manoeuvers, which also featured Moore, did not make the Top 200. Subsequently, Emerson and Lake regrouped in the mid-Eighties, but with drummer Cozy Powell instead of Palmer, who was playing with Asia. Their sole LP, Emerson, Lake and Powell, was a hit, making it up to Number 23 in the U.S. Palmer came back, and the original trio continued through much of the Nineties, with a reunion in 2010. He released a final solo album, Ride the Tiger, in 2015. In 2001, Lake toured as a member of the seventh incarnation of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. In 2003, Lake played the bass on The Who song “Real Good Looking Boy”. The group’s usual bassist, Pino Palladino, was set to do it but he was touring during the time of recording, so Lake was asked instead.

In 2005, Lake toured Germany and the UK with his assembled group, the Greg Lake Band, which included David Arch on keyboards, Florian Opahle on guitar, Trevor Barry on bass, and Brett Morgan on drums. In 2006, Lake played as a member of the supergroup The RD Crusaders in aid for charity. Lake performed “Karn Evil 9” with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at several shows. In 2010, Lake and Emerson completed an acoustic world tour, performing ELP songs. The tour got off at a bad start following a backstage altercation between the two, but “we completed the tour and it was very happy. We actually ended up enjoying ourselves”. In July 2010, Lake joined Emerson and Palmer for a one-off gig from Emerson, Lake & Palmer at the High Voltage Festival in Victoria Park, London, to commemorate the band’s fortieth anniversary. Lake continued to tour solo in the 2010s. His Songs of a Lifetime Tour began in 2012 which featured songs of his career and those by his favourite artists, including Elvis Presley and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates. The tour ended in November of that year.

Moana

- Roshan

Moana is a 2016 New Zealand-American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, and co-directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams. The film features music written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina. Featuring the voices of Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger and Alan Tudyk, the film tells the story of Moana, the strong-willed daughter of the chief of a Polynesian tribe, who is chosen by the ocean itself to reunite a mystical relic with a goddess. When a blight strikes her island, Moana sets sail in search of Maui, a legendary demigod, in the hope of saving her people.

Moana is a cute toddler when we see that she is drawn to the ocean as she is collecting seashells. As the movie explains, in the beginning, there was only ocean. Then Te Fiti, an island goddess, emerged. Te Fiti’s heart, a small pounamu stone, possessed the power to create life. It was stolen by the demigod Maui, who was planning to give it to humanity as a gift. But the lava demon Te K? confronted him, causing the heart to become lost in the ocean along with Maui’s magical fishhook. Moana’s destiny is to retrieve the heart, find Maui and confront Te Ka, bringing the heart back to Te Fiti. Her overprotective father, chief on the small Polynesian island of Motunui, forbids her and his people from venturing out beyond the reef. Chief Tui, insists the island provides everything the villagers might need, but when fish become scarce, coconuts begin to spoil, and the island’s vegetation begins to die, Moana proposes going beyond the reef to find more fish. Tui angrily rejects her request, as sailing beyond the reef is forbidden. Moana’s mother Sina confesses Tui fears the ocean because he lost his best friend when he attempted to sail beyond the reef.

Tui’s mother, Tala, who encourages her granddaughter despite a failed attempt at sailing, takes her to a secret closed cave where Moana learns off the island’s ancestors who were seafaring voyagers. Tala gives Moana the heart of Te Fiti, and soon falls ill while Tui and Moana are having an argument. With her dying breath Tala tells Moana to go and so reluctantly the young teen takes one of the sailing canoes and sets off to find Maui, with her pet rooster Heihei, who has accidentally stowed away on the sailboat. Moana follows a constellation that looks like Maui’s fishhook, but a huge wave caused by a typhoon flips her sailboat and knocks her unconscious. She wakes up the next morning on a small island inhabited by Maui, who distracts Moana by boasting of his exploits, traps her in a cave and steals her sailboat. After escaping the cave, Moana tries to convince Maui to return the heart, but Maui refuses, fearing other dark creatures will be attracted to its power. They must soon fight of pygmy pirates Maui agrees to help bring the heart back to Te Fiti, but in order to do so, he needs his hook, which is hidden in the Realm of Monsters and held by a giant coconut crab named Tamatoa.

They trick the giant crab and retrieve the hook Maui teaches Moana how to sail and to navigate by the stars and, with Moana’s encouragement, reacquaints himself with the transformational powers of his magical hook. Moana learns that Maui was a human raised by gods after being abandoned by his parents. at Te Fiti, where Te K? appears and tries to destroy them. Maui tries to fight back, but Te K? is too strong and he tells Moana to turn back. She ignores him, believing that they can use Te K?’s aversion to water to their advantage, and Te K? severely damages Maui’s hook and repels their boat out to sea. Maui leaves Moana stranded, fearing that going back to fight Te K? will permanently destroy his hook. He tells her that the ocean chose the wrong person to save her people. Moana is distraught and she begs the ocean to take the heart and find another person. Tala’s spirit appears to her and encourages Moana to find her true self.

Moana gets the heart back and returns to Te Fiti, and gets past Te K? to return the heart. Maui, having had a change of heart, returns to distract Te K?, though his hook is destroyed in the battle. Moana, reaching the top of the mountain, realizes that the island is gone and that Te K? is actually Te Fiti without her heart. Moana asks the ocean to clear a path so Te K? can approach her. Moana restores her heart, and Te Fiti returns. In gratitude, Te Fiti gifts Moana a new canoe and Maui a new hook before slumbering at peace. Maui and Moana bid each other a fond farewell. Moana returns to her island and later sets sail with the rest of the villagers in search of new islands as Maui accompanies them in his hawk form.

Fun to watch and throughly enjoyable. I have never been to an animation movie in a theatre before and certainly did not like the 3D but it was a good film to watch and the songs were fun. 8 outta 10!