Artist: THE NICE
Album: THE THOUGHTS OF EMERLIST DAVJACK RE-ISSUE (DIGI)

Year: 1967/ 2007
Media type: CD

Here come The Nice, pioneers of progressive rock and the group that launched keyboard wizard Keith Emerson on the road to fame. Way before the advent of ELP, The Nice were blending rock and the classics in an exciting style that combined wild showmanship with serious musicianship.

This was the group’s debut album, originally released on Andrew Oldham’s Immediate label in 1968, when the Nice still featured Davey O’List on guitar, vocals, and trumpet. Together with gravel voiced vocalist and bass player Lee Jackson and brilliant drummer Brian Davison, The Nice dip into pieces by Bach, Brubeck and Dylan, as well as their own original arrangements and themes.

It’s sheer psychedelic madness as they tear into ‘Flower King Of Flies’, a romping ‘Rondo’ and Emerson’s grandiose treatment of Bernstein’s ‘America’. The Nice were wilder than Cream or the Hendrix Experience when it came to pushing aside all musical barriers. With five added bonus tracks, this is a really essential psych/prog rock classic.

TRACKLIST:

1 Flower King Of Flies
03:20   
 
 2 The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack
02:49   
 
 3 Bonnie K
03:24   
 
 4 Rondo
08:21   
 
 5 War And Peace
05:13   
 
 6 Tantalising Maggie
04:35   
 
 7 Dawn
05:17   
 
 8 The Cry Of Eugene
04:36   
 
  Bonustracks 
 9 The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack (Single Version)
02:48   
 
 10 Azrael (Angel Of Death)
03:44   
 
 11 America
06:18   
 
 12 Diamond Hard Blue Apples Of The Moon
02:47   
 
 13 America (US single)
03:55