# ELO vs. ELP



## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

One consecutive letter of the alphabet different in acronymical name, but which do you prefer?

Dodgy beards and sunglasses combinations or sticking knives in Hammond organs and ringing bells with your teeth?

Sweet feel good pop with violins or knuckle-busting keyboard solos?


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

ELO is annoying crap, they have little to do with progressive stuff and most of those 32864649266191296693269 albums they recorded with 12974793479341 diffrent musicians is worthless pop.

ELP is good for newbies in good non-classical music, Emerson is pretentious guy that want to look like serious composer. For someone that just begins to listen to such stuff their albums may seem attractive but with time and experience you realise that large part of their music is silly. But big + for them for being important signpost for newbies.


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## Argus (Oct 16, 2009)

Aramis said:


> ELO is annoying crap, they have little to do with progressive stuff and most of those 32864649266191296693269 albums they recorded with 12974793479341 diffrent musicians is worthless pop.


So I can add ELO to a list that includes Rossini and paintings of cool ****.

How can you not like Mr Blue Sky? Or Livin' Thing? Or Don't Bring Me Down? 

I haven't listened to that much ELO but I think Jeff Lynne knew how to write a timeless catchy pop song. I can only imagine it's the darkest of souls that can't get enjoyment out of Mr Blue Sky.

In other words, sometimes a cupcake is all you want to eat.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Not a big fan of either, but I voted for ELO because Mr.Lynne sticks to what he's good at (writing as you point out catchy pop songs) while ELP try to impress beyond their capabilities. ELP also sound cold and soulles to me.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

ELP all the way, man. ELO is just... I don't want to say it. I mean, come on, ELP reinterpreted Ginastera while he was still alive... WITH THE COMPOSER'S APPROVAL. Seriously. What have ELO done to match that? And ELP has done a lot other than that.


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

World Violist said:


> ELP all the way, man. ELO is just... I don't want to say it. I mean, come on, ELP reinterpreted Ginastera while he was still alive...


and Copland...but I've never been a big prog-rock fan, except for some things by King Crimson and Pink Floyd and the occasional song here and there.


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

jhar26 said:


> and Copland...but I've never been a big prog-rock fan, except for some things by King Crimson and Pink Floyd and the occasional song here and there.


Not forgetting Mussorgsky.
I was a big ELP fan when I was a youngster in the 70s. But over the years I came to find a lot of their output did not stand the test of time. I think for prog, Genesis (early) and Yes have aged a bit better.
However at the time it first appeared it was quite exciting and original. All those synths!
I played Pictures at an Exhibition till it wore out.
ELO I don't know very well except the very famous tracks but I suspect their songs will last longer, at least as far as the general public go.

I saw ELP live and it was a gas but I'll probably never listen to much of them again.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

> So I can add ELO to a list that includes Rossini and paintings of cool ****.


I'm glad that you are preparing list based on my ideas. Can't wait to read your essays about my life and works, it's good to know that you try not to miss any opportunity to learn more about these things.


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## franz (Sep 28, 2010)

I'm not a huge fan of ELO and I'm more of Prog Rock guy anyway, so by default my choice was ELP.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer's sense of showmanship is perhaps their best aspect. And they stuff they did with Classical Music was amazing, the Pictures At An Exhibition album is truly amazing and it has alerted me to Mussorgsky, who I must check out soon.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Hmm...a bit like comparing frivolous singspiel to sludgy grand opera. I prefer ELP but both are equally fair game for being open to ridicule.


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## Petwhac (Jun 9, 2010)

elgar's ghost said:


> Hmm...a bit like comparing frivolous singspiel to sludgy grand opera. I prefer ELP but both are equally fair game for being open to ridicule.


It's easy to ridicule. Harder to give an intelligent critique.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Especially when it's often difficult to take both groups seriously. ELO's songwriter was essentially a McCartney wannabee and ELP got overambitious to a ludicrous degree. I do have a lot of time for ELP's Ginastera and Copland reworkings but their Moussorgsky didn't work. As for ELO, the only thing I can say about their string section (seeing as it's the only thing that can tenuously link them to CM) is that it made the band sound cheesy beyond belief. Pity Roy Wood didn't stick around as his vision for the band would have been far more entertaining than what Jeff Lynne's became.


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## chillowack (Jul 16, 2009)

Definitely ELO! They are one of my three all-time favorite classic rock bands (the Beatles and Queen being the other two).

Nothing against Emerson Lake & Palmer--I haven't heard a ton of their stuff, to be honest--but when it comes to ELO and the brilliant Jeff Lynne, few classic rock acts can compete IMHO.

Thanks for the interesting poll!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I am a prog rock lover, but I don't particularly like ELP, especially their excursions into classical. I liked ELO's albums better, and they had a string of hit singles that became part of my growing up. So ELO with a wide margin.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

I'd have to go with ELO who did do some genuinely good songs. I haven't heard as much by ELP though. I do however like Emerson's piano concerto and C'est La Vie by Lake. But with alot of the famous progressive groups of the period I can't help but wonder if some lesser known ones might be better often but they didn't have the marketing, big record company or in some cases maybe didn't sing in English. Pink Floyd though were definitely one of the better groups as well as being famous.


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

ELO get's my vote. Can't stand ELP.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Never cared for ELO. I like ELP's self titled, Tarkus, and Trilogy.


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## motpasm23 (May 30, 2009)

I find ELP to be almost unbearably pretentious and tacky about 60% of the time, but the other 40% their works--be they "transcriptions" of classical pieces or original compositions--to be quite good and extremely original, at least for the prog rock idiom. ELP I think is decent, but not really memorable. So I voted for ELP.


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## dmg (Sep 13, 2009)

ROCKS SIDE TO SIDE UNCONTROLLABLY


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Seems to have aged well (and so have his aviator shades as it seems he's been wearing the same pair for the last 35 years):


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

ELP is without a doubt full of talent, but their forays into classical music seem very uninspired. Deep Purple is my favorite rock band that attempted classical. They may not have had the musicianship of ELP, but they had a better understanding and they approached it with a respect unmatched by most.


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## hocket (Feb 21, 2010)

Whilst hardly my favourite thing ELO did write some ace pop tunes, in spite of the most blatant case of a John Lennon impersonator in history.

ELP are pretty much my definition of total cack. Titanic egos and virtuosity put before aesthetics. It's like in the movie 'The Commitments' when they say that 'Jazz is musical wanking' -that's what ELP is.

ELO -no contest.


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## Barking Spiderz (Feb 1, 2011)

I have an intense dislike for both in equal measure. Cant stand prog with all its CM pretensions and ELP are neck and neck with Yes and Dream Theater as the most bombastic. ELO were just a karaoke Beatles pastiche with a string section. At a push I'd give ELP the nod over ELO only because ELO were/are on the radio more and therefore harder to escape from.


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## Moraviac (Feb 18, 2011)

I think ELP is an outstanding band. Yes, they had some bombastic egos, which was very irritating, and yes, their classical music covers may not have been the best, but they did have some merits.

First, as Carl Palmer once said, they wanted to let the kids come in contact with some music with more quality (read: classical music). They didn't do the "obvious" covers like Grieg's "Hall Of The Mountain King" or Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d-moll, but they took pieces like "Allegro Barbaro" from Bartok, "Sinfonietta" from Janacek and "Toccata" by Ginastera.

Second: their own compositions were very creative, very inspired and also they proved themselves very versatile. Take A Pebble, the Tarkus suite, Karn Evil 9 and Pirates, to name but a few, are well - wrought, high quality pieces of music.

Third: some of the classical composers they covered were very happy themselves with ELP's covers (Ginastera and Copland come to mind).

After the heydays of prog rock ELP fell back into mediocrity, but beyond the thick necks and giant egos, they did produce some sensational music.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Tricky, its a close call


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

My long-held disdain for ELO hasn't changed a jot over the last seven years. The prospect of sitting through just one of their albums gives me the vapours.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

ELO, as you might expect, gets my full support .


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

ELP no doubt for me. From the Beginning is one of my fav 70’s songs.


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## Casebearer (Jan 19, 2016)

ELP is allright but not that interesting. ELO is the nightmare that made me decide to stop listening to popular music for several years (together with Supertramp, Gerry Rafferty and The Eagles).


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## The Deacon (Jan 14, 2018)

hocket said:


> Whilst hardly my favourite thing ELO did write some ace pop tunes,


Have you listened to side 1 of ELP "Love Beach"? That is all very good pop.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

ELP. I loathed ELO. If I never heard Mr. Blue Sky again I would die happy. That song is overplayed, stupid and awful.


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## The Deacon (Jan 14, 2018)

Thread is a joke.

Electric Light Orchestra is candy floss for children.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

The Deacon said:


> Thread is a joke.
> 
> Electric Light Orchestra is candy floss for children.


Post is a joke. I'm so glad my inner child still lives. Sad that it has died in others, yet they do not realize it enough to mourn.....


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2018)

Merl said:


> If I never heard Mr. Blue Sky again I would die happy. That song is overplayed, stupid and awful.


I remember hearing (on Radio 1's Fluff Freeman's Saturday Rock Show!) an interview with the drummer Bev Bevan that made me laugh. He described Jeff Lynne explaining the drum part to him for this new song he'd written, called Mr Blue Sky. Bevan said that Lynne told him to play duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh. So Bevan thinks OK no problem, it's just pop music, simple little intro. But then Bevan asks "OK so then what do I play after that?" And Lynne says, "Nothing, you just keep going duh duh duh duh duh duh all the way through"; to which Bevan responded "You have got to be ******* joking."

:devil:

Anyway....For me ELO just sounded like they'd nicked half an idea from the Beatles and made a career out of it. ELP, on the other hand, pushed the boundaries of classical-infused rock. One of the best gigs I went to was on their Brain Salad Surgery tour. Easy choice for me.


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