The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack

Infobox Album
Name = The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack
Type = Studio Album
Artist = The Nice


Released = 1967
Recorded = 1967
Genre = Progressive rock
Length = 37:50
Label = Immediate Records IMSP 016

Essential (reissue)
Producer = Emerlist Davjack
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:isjm7i5jg7dr link]
Last album =
This album = "The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack" (1967)
Next album = "Ars Longa Vita Brevis" (1968)

"The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack" is the 1967 debut album by the English progressive rock group The Nice. It is considered one of the first albums in the genre.

The name Emerlist Davjack is a pseudonym created by combining the last names of the four members of the group; Keith "Emer"son, David O"'List", Brian "Dav"ison, and Lee "Jack"son.

The album was promoted by a sampler [Featured on the Castle Communications 2000 box set "Here Come The Nice" (CMETD 055-1)] featuring a commentary by John Peel, which included the following comments:

1967 was a strange year for pop music with groups experimenting with new sounds and bouncing on and off bandwagons with dizzying speed and agility. They were calling themselves ridiculous names and regretting it shortly. The Nice came together in a void and will be here when the others are in pantomime in Wolverhampton [An industrial City in the UK Midlands unfairly criticised for comedic effect for its alleged lack of cultural significance] .

Track listing

#"Flower King of Flies" [A reference to Beelzebub] [Sample lyric: "Saffron Land, the Flower King of Flies, children dancing to a song of love and in time to a gong and bells sublime"] (Keith Emerson, Lee Jackson [The original disc credits all compositions to "Emerlist Davjack"] ) – 3:19
#"Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack" [This track was used as incidental music for a children's television drama at the time, but it has not yet been identified] (Emerson, David O'List) – 2:49
#"Bonnie K" (Jackson, O'List) – 3:24
#"Rondo" [Includes a short excerpt from Bach's "Toccata & Fugue in D Minor"] [Instrumental] (Dave Brubeck, Emerson, O'List, Brian Davison, Jackson) – 8:22
#"War And Peace" [instrumental] (Emerson, O'List Davison, Jackson) – 5:13
#"Tantalising Maggie" (Emerson, Jackson) – 4:35
#"Dawn" (Davison, Emerson, Jackson) – 5:17
#"The Cry of Eugene" [Later re-recorded by Jackson's group "Jackson Heights"] [Refers to "Harlequin & Columbine"] (Emerson, Jackson, O'List) – 4:36

The following have been added on reissues of the album:
#"Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack" [Single Version] (Emerson, O'List) – 2:48
#"Azrial (Angel of Death)" (Emerson, Jackson) – 3:44
#"Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon" [Possibly a reference to The Song of Wandering Aengus by William Butler Yeats or The Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury (in which the Yeats poem is quoted) or Silver Apples of the Moon by Morton Subotnick (a record released in the same year) ] (Davison, Jackson) – 2:47
#"America" [instrumental] (Leonard Bernstein, Davison, Jackson, Stephen Sondheim [Although none of The Nice's versions feature his lyrics] ) – 6:18
#"America" (Bernstein, Davison, Jackson, Sondheim) – 3:55

Personnel

*Keith Emerson - organ, piano, harpsichord, vocals
*Lee Jackson - bass, guitar, vocals, tympani
*David O'List - guitar, trumpet, flute, vocals
*Brian Davison - drums, tubular bells, tympani
*Billy Nicholls - uncredited harmony vocals on "Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack"
*Derek Burton - Cover Design

References