Rondo (The Nice, 1967)

"Rondo" is one of the most celebrated tracks from "The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack", the debut album by The Nice. Packed with jazz and classical quotes (Dave Brubeck is credited as one of the authors, Bach is still waiting...), "Rondo" will go into many variations during The Nice's and Emerson's career and also is one of the earliest prog pearls ever. The devilish rythm of this instrumental actually fits into lavish rock shows and the foursome performance surely was a riveting one.

The guys were K. Emerson, L. Jackson, D. O' List & B. Davison.

In short... Emerlist Davjack!

 

What should I choose as my favourite highlights? The guitar solo? Emerson's Hammond? The rythmic cavalcade? The coherent and colourful architecture? Or maybe the short church organ tribute to JSB? That's an impossible choice, IMHO: one has to take it or leave it as it is. I take it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Ars Longa Vita Brevis (The Nice, 1968)

This suite is one of the first fully progressive rock tracks in music history. The titles of its five movements (Prelude, then 1st to 4th Movement) announce the classical inspiration of the song, but the listener searching for pompous, baroque or symphonic and romantic compositions would be immediatele deceived. This is modern, XXth Century inspired music, full of experimental and even chaotic passages, where Emerson, Jackson, Davison and O' List reinvent rock music and open a new path for the forthcoming prog.

This was the second studio album for The Nice.

"Ars Longa Vita Brevis" actually is rock 'n' roll, but so well disguised and enriched, so fully transfigurated, so largely imbibed of jazz and contemporary classical experiments, that the listener couldn't even put a label on such a record. The display of different sources and instrumental skills in this suite don't hide the sense of strenght and the inner energy lying under each note. Was it only rock 'n' roll?