ASTRALPHASIA - プログレ日記(Prog Blog)

元キング・クリムゾン～EL＆Pのグレッグ・レイクが本日、58歳になりました。



DGM Live によれば、1948年生まれのグレッグはドーセット出身で、
12歳の時に母親にギターを買ってもらいDon Strikeの教室で
ギターのレッスンを受けました。
ロバート・フリップも2年前からこの教室に通っていたそうです。


"He was a good teacher but a bit of a disciplinarian. On my guitar, I had to do these violin exercises by Paganini, which was a weird concoction of music. You were required to read the music, but I always tended to play them by ear. Whenever my eyes would stray from the music score, he'd hit my fingers with a ruler."

譜面を見ながらの演奏は得意ではなかったようですね。


Strike’s methods must have toughened Greg’s fingers as in 1965 he formed his own group, Unit Four in which he played guitar and sang, an early fan of which was Robert.

1965年にUnit Fourというグループを結成、ギタリスト兼ヴォーカリストを担当。


Greg remembered “"Fripp used to come along and check me out. He used to jump over the wall at clubs because he couldn't afford to get in and he would come along and watch me, and at the end of the gigs he would come up and talk and we'd start to chat about guitar and play a bit and so on.

フリップとはこの頃から友人になり、音楽談義をよくした。


We discovered that we'd both had the same guitar teacher and we both had similar guitar techniques and we struck up a friendship. I used to go round to Robert's house and we used to play guitar duets in his bedroom and that kind of thing."

フリップの家ではよくジャムったようですね。


By 1967 Lake had developed something of a reputation as a local hotshot and following a brief stint in The Time Checks, Lake helped form The Shame, securing the interest of MGM with a cover of Janis Ian’s “To Old To Go 'Way Little Girl” as their first single.

Fripp roadied for The Shame for a week in Penzance while waiting for his place in university recalling: “Greg and I spent many late nights and early mornings with guitars, trying to make teenage sense of our lives, discussing and planning the future of the world. At the time Greg was one of my closest friends, and we enjoyed the kind and degree of intimacy which young men with guitars will easily understand.


It was obvious to those in the playing pool that some of us would go to the professional route and leave Bournemouth, where semi-professional and professional life were virtually the same. It also seemed likely that some of our team would become successful, and some famous. In my circle, Greg Lake was considered one of the front-runners for fame."

It was while Lake was playing in The Gods (alongside future Uriah Heep members) in November 1968 that he received a telephone call offering him a job. The call was quickly followed up by a personal visit from Michael Giles, who drove down to Dorset to see if he liked the cut of Lake’s gib. "Robert stayed in London and I went down to have a talk to Greg. I was very impressed with his physical presence and the sound of his voice. I never saw him play or anything, we just had a meeting"

It was December 1968 and following the departure of bassist Peter Giles, Lake moved to London and took up the bass and vocal duties for the fledging, as yet unanamed band that included Ian McDonald, Michael Giles and Robert Fripp. Initial rehearsals took place in Brondesbury Road and the difference in the music was immediate. "I couldn’t sing like that, Robert couldn’t sing at all, Peter couldn’t sing like that” recalls Michael Giles. “None of us had that sound or power."


It’s not easy assessing the contribution each member made to the band that became King Crimson, but the acquisition of Greg Lake was the last chance for a group of musicians who at the time were going nowhere fast.


Possessed of an awe-inspiring, majestic voice more than equal to the instrumental blood and thunder around him, he capable of soaring over it with impressive ease.

A seasoned, confident front man he was blessed with a copper-bottomed playing style, albeit not always suited to the improvisatory side, he was essential in giving Crimson much of the onstage charisma which wowed the crowds and critics alike.

Though Lake would enjoy greater commercial success as one third of ELP he is in doubt about the importance of the group he helped to found. "King Crimson had this strange blend of personalities and the net result of it was music that was dangerous and passionate. These elements in combination I think are probably the most fascinating in music. Where there's a passion the music is always living on the edge, where there aren't any rules and certainly not rules which are obeyed. It was a very special band."