[1bigK]

Both groups have just three musicians, and both groups are progressive rock. So which group do you like and why?

Yes there is going to be a poll but just two choices ELP or RUSH. If you don't like either group than just say so. The purpose of this poll is for fun and an education(hopefully) on both groups. The poll is also a competition to see which group is more favored by GT.

Careful there cyberghost, your thread is getting dangerously close to the all to familiar Hannie threads. The only thing missing is the "Just nosy, it is what I do."

 

[Berto]

Rush. The best expression of a power trio between the two. I like ELP too, know a few Lakes tunes on guitar, know Emerson was a gun guy, etc....but the soundtrack of my life contains a whole bunch of Rush.
The worlds lost its greatest rock percussion and lyricist in Neil.

 

[1bigK]

ELP! And it isn't even close, despite what the poll is saying.

I have seen Rush in concert, 2112 tour I believe. Geddy Lee's voice is okay in limited doses, but I have always found that it had the ability to become the equivalent of a flaming dagger to my eardrums after a while. And their music tends to get monotonous because of the same driving beat over and over. I left the show half deaf and unimpressed.

One of my musical regrets was that I had never seen ELP in concert, (bad on me for missing out) but I have always thought that their music was far more interesting because of the wide and diverse range that it covered. I have always appreciated the stories and pictures that their songs painted. Greg Lake was far more talented and interesting as a songwriter/lyricist then Neal Peart, hands down.

 

[racerford]

ELP! And it isn't even close, despite what the poll is saying.

...........

One of my musical regrets was that I had never seen ELP in concert, (bad on me for missing out) .....

Having been to an ELP concert, it was quite a show. This coming from someone that saw the Who when they were a back-up band to Herman and the Hermits, when they still smashed their equipment at the end of their show.

Take a look at some of the better YouTube videos of the various ELP concerts, and you will regret it more..... The quality of the sound and video is poor on most of them, but it will give you the gist of the visual of their performance.

 

[1bigK]

Having been to an ELP concert, it was quite a show. This coming from someone that saw the Who when they were a back-up band to Herman and the Hermits, when they still smashed their equipment at the end of their show.

Take a look at some of the better YouTube videos of the various ELP concerts, and you will regret it more..... The quality of the sound and video is poor on most of them, but it will give you the gist of the visual of their performance.

I have seen quite a few YouTube videos of ELP shows. You just have to accept the audio limitations of those videos to enjoy them. Most were amateur recording from in the crowd or 18'th generation shared bootlegs, so they are what they are. But they have shown me that on that score I truly dropped the ball. Stuff happens.

 

[nipperwolf]

Same here. They were my first major concert. Brain salad surgery tour. 1973?

Forgot to mention. Saw them 5 or 6 years later here at the Purdue Elliot hall of music.
The sound was amazing.

 

[rock_castle]

Rush had Neil Peart.

 

[ChuteTheMall]

Meanwhile, 50 years ago: :fred:

View: https://youtu.be/X61swsuCNuw

View: https://youtu.be/jgTQv8erbh8

 

[MB-G26]

Well, I'm not (wasn't) really in the Rush sux camp, and surely they DID have some music that was akin to the aspects of EL&P that made me love EL&P - but overall Rush was just too intense much of the time, w/o the refined creativity that I always felt EL&P had.

EL&P's overall styles, variances, story telling, orchestral & theatrical effects, musical visualizations, and so on..... always took me to a diffetent, and better, place.

Emerson Lake and Palmer, or almost any other band over Rush.
Why?
Simple. Rush sucks!

 

[Gareth68]

What bout Rush light? Triumph!!

 

[JM StL]

ELP is for older people like me..saw them live 2X. Rush is for those in their 40's-mid 50's. Both are great but I'll take ELP.

 

[Lockback]

Interesting poll ...
I voted for Rush. I wouldn't have said that 25 years ago. I was a huge ELP fan. I like classically-flavored rock music and loved Keith Emerson's keyboards, Greg Lake's singing and Carl Palmer's drumming. I hated Rush. The early stuff like "Tom Sawyer" and "Working Man", featuring Geddy Lee's screeching vocals, made certain body parts pucker.
But as the years went by, Rush matured. I loved their 1984 album "Grace Under Pressure". Very sophisticated and yet quite accessible. Neil Peart, their drummer, was not only a virtuoso on the skins, but an amazing lyricist.
I heard "Far Cry" on the radio and downloaded the "Snakes and Arrows" album, the first album I ever acquired on the internet. I did the same for "Clockwork Angels".
I used to play keyboards but now play guitar (again) so I think it's somewhat natural I've gravitated from a keyboard dominated band (Emerson, Lake & Palmer) to a guitar-based band (Rush).
Both are comprised of excellent musicians. I love them both but I'd take Rush.

 

[ChuteTheMall]

The prequel was King Crimson and the sequel was Asia

View: https://youtu.be/rsTasQET9UI

View: https://youtu.be/dynHpPU3cvQ

 

[lazarus66]

What bout Rush light? Triumph!!

Great band right there.

 

[Dragline]

I’ll take ELP every day. Saw them live many times. Keith Emerson was a genius and far ahead of his time. His blending of classical with electronic was unparalleled.
But in general, I think ELP vs.Yes would be a much closer comparison.

 

[jame]

Of the two, I’ll give it to ELP for their trail blazing innovation.
(Tool mops the floor with them in that regard)

If we’re talking about expertise in percussion, it has to go to Peart.
(But Slipknot’s previous drummer Joey Jordison arguably surpasses Peart’s skills)

 

[Haldor]

Neil Peart. Damn that guy could play the drums.

I really wish I had gotten to hear Neil and Eddie Van Halen play together. Too bad the bands had just a hate-on towards each other.

Geedy has a weird voice, but his singing is like playing an instrument. It works in their music.

 

[jame]

Neil Peart. Damn that guy could play the drums.

I really wish I had gotten to hear Neil and Eddie Van Halen play together. Too bad the bands had just a hate-on towards each other.

Geedy has a weird voice, but his singing is like playing an instrument. It works in their music.

Van Halen and Peart together?

Zowie.

I thinks it’s good that ever happened. The world would have exploded.

 

[BIGJC]

Both groups have just three musicians, and both groups are progressive rock. So which group do you like and why?

Yes there is going to be a poll but just two choices ELP or RUSH. If you don't like either group than just say so. The purpose of this poll is for fun and an education(hopefully) on both groups. The poll is also a competition to see which group is more favored by GT.

Apples & Oranges but I'm going with Rush for their overall musicianship.

 

[Borg Warner]

I like Rush and I respect their musicianship but they didn't do as many songs that I liked as ELP did, and if I listened to a whole album, I grew tired of Geddy lee's voice, song after song, andI had the same problem with Jon Anderson and YES.

Additionally I've been a huge fan of Kieth Emerson even before he teamed up with Greg Lake and Bruce Palmer. He was a group called The Nice with Lee Jackson on Bass, guitar, and vocals and Ian Hague on drums.

Kieth Emerson was a classically trained pianist and merged Classical Music with rock and roll. For this reason Emerson with Hague and Jackson and later with Lake and Palmer and Powell were more creative and more truly "Progressive" than Rush or anyone else in the progressive rock genre.

Here is Kieth Emerson and the Nice merging Elmer Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's "America" with Anton Dvořák's masterpiece, The New World Symphony. Both stylistically and thematically, this is sheer brilliance and it rocks!