The nice – Ars longa, vita brevis – 1968

[Roland Bru]

The Nice is the first group where Keith Emerson, later of Emerson, Lake and Palmer, found some fame. This is some very pretentious Dren, ranging from prog rock to neo-classical to, well, poppy. A few observations:
1. Prog rock did not really exist then (December 1968), usually one considers In the court of the Crimson King, by King Crimson (1969) to be the first prog rock album
2. The neo-classical may be neo, it’s hardly classical, unless it’s classical to use a symphonic orchestra. But that is neo, because they preceded Deep Purple by more than a year with the first Concerto for Group and Orchestra. Being the fisrt does not necessarily mean you’re the best, as indeed they are not
3. Poppy may be the best word to describe some of the music, but in this case it’s practically the worst music
4. Add to this the fact that the recording is shabby and the lyrics makehardly any sense at all and you have something in your hands that is only of interests to Keith Emerson completists. Now that’s the kind of overly tolerant music lover I would not like to meet in some dark alley.

Is it all bad? No, Keith Emerson does know how to play the organ (and other assorted keyboards) and Intermezzo from the Karelia suite (yes, by Sibelius) is quite good.