At their most immodest, Emerson, Lake & Palmer toured with 11 trailers (one just for backup gear), an orchestra, and 63 roadies, including one tasked with sweeping Greg Lake’s Persian rug in a pre-show routine that primed the crowd for the grandiloquence to come. (The rug served both form and function, as it reduced the risk of electrocution).

These days, Greg’s performances are far more intimate. His songs are served not with spectacle, but with stories. One such performance is captured on his album Songs of a Lifetime, where Greg tells his tales – his first guitar, seeing Elvis in concert, finding inspiration in France – between selections from his monumental discography, which includes not just ELP material, but also songs from his days in King Crimson. A founder of the band, he sang, played bass and wrote songs for their debut album, the seminal In the Court of the Crimson King. It was at a Fillmore West King Crimson gig in 1969 when Greg met Keith Emerson, whose band, The Nice, was on the bill.

Greg is in the enviable position of cherry-picking from decades of songs he composed that speak to what he calls “universal truth.” “Lucky Man,” “From The Beginning” and “21St Century Schizoid Man” might not mean to you what Greg had in mind when he wrote them, but they certainly mean something, and likely fit somewhere on your personal timeline.

As Greg is loath to interpret his own songs, the focus of this interview is their creation, and how music can generate a powerful bonding experience under the right circumstances (think Woodstock). We also learned about Greg’s strangest stage moment – the one even more memorable than ELP’s stage cannons, flying pianos and robot armadillo.

For the interview, please visit the Songfacts website!

Greg Lake is one of the most recognized voices in all of rock. His vocals have adorned such classic rock staples as “Court of the Crimson King,” “Lucky Man,” “Still You Turn Me On,” and “From the Beginning.” Lake’s latest project is called “Songs of a Lifetime,” a document of his recent interactive tour where he played some of his most famous songs and told the stories behind their creation. Icon Fetch talks with the former King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer vocalist & multi-instrumentalist about the intimate, interactive shows that he’s done, the process of writing his autobiography, and the idea of “shared music” that has gone by the wayside in the iPod era. He also tells us the great story behind “Lucky Man.”

For the audio interview, please visit the Icon Fetch website!

GREG LAKE ON ‘SONGS OF A LIFETIME,’ THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME AND WHY ELP WILL NOT REUNITE
by Sterling Whitaker April 6, 2013 11:10 AM

Greg Lake scarcely needs a big introduction to classic rock fans. A founding member of not one, but two of the most influential progressive rock bands of all time — King Crimson and ELP — the British singer-songwriter has fused his acoustic folk roots with an adventurous musical approach that has resulted in classics like ‘21st Century Schizoid Man,’ ‘In the Court of the Crimson King,’ ‘Lucky Man,’ ‘From the Beginning‘ and more.

Lake recently released ‘Songs of a Lifetime,’ which documents a tour of that name that saw the musician encapsulate his entire storied career on stage in a one-man show, performing the songs that have made his legacy, but interspersed with stories and personal glimpses.

Ultimate Classic Rock caught up with Lake to talk about that project, as well as his upcoming autobiography ‘Lucky Man,’ the legacy of progressive rock, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and why ELP will not reunite. Far from the pretentious image many critics have projected onto him, Lake was good-natured and funny, speaking eloquently and with great wit about his long career. When he called for the interview, the caller ID brought up a number in Florida, leading into an unusual, but humorous segue.

What are you doing in Florida?

Believe it or not, I’m just getting ready to go on a cruise ship. We’re gonna play five days in the Caribbean with the Moody Blues.

Oh, cool.

[Laughs]. I don’t know if that’s the right word! [Laughs]. But it should be funny.

For the rest of the interview, please visit UltimateClassicRock.com!

Greg Lake – The Rock Guitar Daily Interview
Tony Conley

“Songs of a Lifetime is a celebration of the age of shared music. That’s what it is. I spent a long time preparing the show, I recorded all the music from scratch to build the show into what it is. I was determined that it should not be one of those, ‘legend in his own lunchtimes,’ sitting on a stool boring everyone rigid. I wanted it to be entertaining, and I wanted it to be emotional.” ~ Greg Lake

Well, he certainly made it that – if you’ve not yet seen, or heard Songs of a Lifetime, it is a tremendously well done overview of the musical journey of Greg Lake. He covers his life from an early adoration of Elvis and The Beatles to the high flying private jet days of ELP to what he considers the necessity of reconnecting with his fans in a return to the ‘shared music’ experience, and he’s done it in an extremely entertaining and emotional package.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from my time with Greg, but whatever I hoped for was greatly exceeded by the man’s generous and charming demeanor. We managed to keep the ball afloat for over an hour, and ended with an agreement to get together soon for more talk, and a glass of wine – this conversation definitely primed my desire to read his soon to be published autobiography, which he expects will be out by summer’s end. What you’ll find here is that Greg Lake is a great storyteller.

Our conversation, unfortunately, started with my informing Greg of the passing of guitar legend Alvin Lee. I asked Greg if he had yet heard the news:

Greg Lake: “No idea, no….no I didn’t. Good lord. Very sad, very sad. Thank you for letting me know – I wasn’t close to him as a friend, but obviously he was there as I was growing up, and a big part of the rock scene in England during my formative years.
“It just makes you realize that we have to be grateful for every day we’ve got. Because you never know. I suppose everybody, when you get older, you start to value your time more. When you’re a young man, you just don’t think about it, do ya?”

For the rest of the interview, please visit the Rock Guitar Daily website!

Roberto Serra – Iguana Press/Redferns via Getty Images

ELP frontman on his desire to reunite with King Crimson and getting sampled by Kanye West

By ANDY GREENE
March 5, 2013 1:00 PM ET

As a co-founder of King Crimson, Greg Lake is without a doubt one of the inventors of progressive rock. His voice powers classics like “In the Court of the Crimson King” and “21st Century Schizoid Man” (recently sampled by Kanye West on “Power”), and as the frontman of the Seventies prog supergroup Emerson, Lake and Palmer he wrote, sang and produced hits including “Lucky Man” and “From the Beginning.”

Despite these accomplishments, Lake has never gotten much critical acclaim. His key role in the development of King Crimson is often overlooked, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer are perhaps the least respected of the progressive rock giants – and that’s really saying something. Many of the original punk bands pointed to them as the main reason their revolution had to happen, mocking everything from their stage outfits to their massive light shows to their very name.

Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer don’t get along very well these days, and they’ve only managed a single concert in the past decade. Lake tours on his own, performing the one-man show Songs of a Lifetime. It features music from his days in King Crimson, ELP and his solo career. In a unique twist, he invites fans onstage to share their memories of the songs. He also has an autobiography coming out called Lucky Man.

We spoke to Greg Lake about the early days of King Crimson, the fall of ELP, his desire to reunite with both acts, getting sampled by Kanye West, and why he feels that punk isn’t real music.

For the full article and interview, please visit RollingStone.com.