The Nice

Their '69 one, that's, you know, $100 or $200 for that one whenever you see that.

But anyway, um, they were, they were the first to sign with Charisma, along with two other bands, Van der Graaf Generator and The Nice.

Those were the three that first signed with Charisma.

Um, their, the '74 album, the one I have, uh, they toured to support that album.

Okay.

Yeah.

That's cool that they were the, uh, just hearing you say that they were the third band to sign with Charisma, along with Van der Graaf Generator and The Nice.

I mean, just, just those two bands alone, like, those are such high caliber groups.

Jimmy loved him.

And I was lucky enough to work with The Nice and then Emerson Lake and Palmer.

Jimmy loved Keith Emerson.

Loved his playing.

I'm keeping up.

Tell me the Keith Emerson story, because if I'm not mistaken, him and the musicians who became The Nice were originally your band.

Oh, they were my backing band.

You know, I...

I would do "First Cut" and, and later I would do "Angel," but so anyway, so then, so then, uh, I hooked up with Keith and Keith put the band together.

I named that band.

If I had been like, uh, Ike Turner and, and, and, um, and made a copyright on that name, I'd still ha- it would still be PP Arnold & The Nice.

Whoever w- is in that band [laughs] would be PP.

And, and it says that they r- they seemed to be poised to break out of their cult band status, but they never made the jump.

And it says, uh, they were closer to, uh, Yes and King Crimson than they were to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer or The Nice.

Their unique sound melded hard rock and classical music with an almost medieval approach to singing.

They, uh, they weren't...

But one of the best releases I bought, and I was totally unaware of this until last Sunday.

You may remember a band called Refugee, which featured Patrick Mraz, who obviously went on to join Yes and then the Moody Blues, Lee Jackson and Brian Davison from The Nice.

Now, what happened? I'll give you a bit of a back story with this particular project.

When Keith Emerson left the Nice, he was already familiar with Patrick Mraz because at the time he was playing with a Swiss band called Main Horse.

And when he left the Nice to join, well, basically form ELP, he suggested to Lee Jackson and Brian Davison, if ever you decide to get back together again, Get this guy on board.

Patrick Meraz.

Which they obviously did.

With the live version of Papillon.

um

the reimagining of classical music by Aaron Copland or Bach, or like Keith would always quote Bach, whether it was with ELP or The Nice, which was before Emerson Lake and Palmer, and that band was more focused on arranging.

So they would take a Bob Dylan song and rather than sing the entirety, like, all, like, eight verses.

They might just do the first verse, and then Keith would launch into this extended passage of, like, free jazz moments and then Bach quotes and then, like, maybe the last Dylan verse or something.

25 bucks for bottled and bottled.

Nice.

$19 for the black label.

And then the green label is $15.

And so the whole album just blended seamlessly.

It was kind of cool.

The Nice...

A band formed in 1967 led by keyboardist Keith Emerson, later of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

But one of the best releases I bought, and I was totally unaware of this until last Sunday.

You may remember a band called Refugee, which featured Patrick Mraz, who obviously went on to join Yes and then the Moody Blues, Lee Jackson and Brian Davison from The Nice.

Now, what happened? I'll give you a bit of a back story with this particular project.

When Keith Emerson left the Nice, he was already familiar with Patrick Mraz because at the time he was playing with a Swiss band called Main Horse.

And when he left the Nice to join, well, basically form ELP, he suggested to Lee Jackson and Brian Davison, if ever you decide to get back together again, Get this guy on board.

Patrick Meraz.

Which they obviously did.

With the live version of Papillon.