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Emerson, Lake & Palmer Get ‘Definitive’ Book

“This is the story as it happened, as the group told it, because it’s in our own words,” Carl Palmer says

Emerson Lake & Palmer, circa 1970.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The prog rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer will get their first official book, titled ELP, out later this year.

ELP was created by Carl Palmer and the families of Keith Emerson and Greg Lake — who both died in 2016. It contains unpublished interviews, rare photos, recordings, and more. “This is the definitive Emerson, Lake & Palmer book,” Palmer said in a statement, included in the video below. “There are photographs which I’ve never, ever seen before — can you imagine, after all this time? This is the story as it happened, as the group told it, because it’s in our own words. What a fantastic book.”

The book will be available for preorder in May, but you can sign up for it here. Three editions will be released: Classic, Signature, and Ultimate. The latter two are signed by Palmer and family members, with an additional CD of archival interviews and other items.

In 2013, Lake spoke about the trio to Rolling Stone — as well as “From the Beginning,” included on our list of essential ELP songs. “Although we did some extravagant things — though they look tame and restrained by today’s standards — but at the time we had 140 people on the road with 11 tractor-trailers. We had our own doctor and all these crazy things. But for us, it was not just trying to be as loud and as big as we could. We were always trying to go one step further, one step bigger. In the end, it became a huge production, but it wasn’t gratuitous. It was linked directly to the music.”

From Rolling Stone US