As another genuine rock legend passes, I recall fondly Emerson's impact on me as a member of The Nice when I was a teenager, and especially the band's album Ars Longa Vita Brevis, one of the first I bought and owned. There were great quirky songs like Little Arebella, but it was the rock-classical suite Ars Longa... on side 2 that made an impact, merging my then growing interest in classical music with progressive rock, most notably Emerson's virtuoso organ playing.
The album also had another significant impact on me at the time, around 1969. For my GCE English Language writing exam, I composed a response based on the four movements of that suite [using the album title as mine for the essay, thus a Latin aphorism to appear knowing] and used from memory - and I mean this twice - Awakening, Realisation, Acceptance and Denial as sub-headings for my 'pastoral' piece. I obviously don't recall anything more, but it must have had some elements to appear relatively impressive.
So within this fond farewell I include my thanks to Keith Emerson for his part in the youthful journey I was making back then.
A fuller appreciation of the album, and that 'O' Level exam, can be found from an earlier posting here.
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