ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS

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2,5 stars really!!! Unfortunately the departure of O'List drastically changed the sound , the power and the structure of this band and it was never the same after that. As Emerson had nobody else to dialogue with musically speaking to give answers to his lines, he became the true and unchallenged leader and soon let all of his excessive moods wander onto the vinyl. However a big improvement is the recording quality. gone is the muddy sound of their debut and every instrument is clearly heard - well there is only three left ;-)

Arabella , Daddy and Happy Friends are still the same kind of psychic tunes found on their debut and reminding of Floyd's debut. However , the Karelia Suite reworks as well as the whole of side 2 are the typical example of classical reworks I hold few interest in and are a bit pointless nowadays although at the time of release , they were influential. IMHO, this is exactly one of the cliché of prog I dislike : the classical Oeuvre rework or in some other cases the rip-off. On top of it , there is a lenghty drum solo in the Prelude to the suite. I can accept drum solos on live albums but I always cringe a bit when there is one on a studio album.

I regard this one as "Works-the preludes" as a wink to mid-era ELP discography! The first disaster in trying to rock the classics

I would like to give this 2 and half stars as it is a notch up from their first album.The side long suite 'Ars Longa Vita Brevis' is the reason for getting this.This is where prog rock started.Unfortunately the production quality of the whole album is just plain awfull as Emerson even admitted at the time.Keith Emerson fans will already have this.Others should avoid.

I've heard three albums by The Nice (Ars Longa Vita Brevis, Five Bridges and Elegy) and all three leave me with the same impression ... that The Nice was innovative for its time, but fatally flawed.

Flawed for two main reasons, the first being that budding genius keyboardist Keith Emerson was too talented and ambitious for his fellow band members, particular lead vocalist Lee Jackson. I've not usually fussy about vocals, but Jackson's singing is awful. While Jackson (as bassist) and drummer Brian Davison are a competent and occassionally creative rhythm section, there is a feeling of unfulfilled potential about The Nice's music.

Secondly The Nice was a band pulling in too many different directions and were not particularly outstanding in one style. A diverse combination of shorter psychedelic tunes, lengthy pomp-rock and whole classical suites (sometimes with an orchestra) coupled with a lack of true compositional skill (well, that was something that would eventually change) meant that The Nice are always going to be come a cropper when compared to the giants of prog that succeeded them.

Having said all that, The Nice are still worth listening to, even if most people coming to the band right now will probably be ELP fans who will need to readjust their expectations. Ars Longa Vita Brevis is probably my favourite of the three albums I've heard and if you bear in mind that this was released in 1968, it really is pretty damn progressive stuff.

The album commences with a trio of shorter, occasionally baudy tunes. Daddy Where Did I Come From? is a juvenile, slightly rude psychedelic tune, with some funky keyboard work that barely holds this piece together and a fair amount of narrative that really buries the piece. Little Arabella has some nice jazzy overtones with a great solo from Emerson, who does great organ work as well as some nice underlying piano stuff and Happy Freuds is probably my favourite tune of the first three opening ones. The verse sees Jackson singing at his best, and there's a nice psych interlude that complements the stately melody of the main tune.

Then we have Emerson's first stab at re-writing the classics. Sibelius' Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite is a song that The Nice would redo on Five Bridges Suite but I like it more in this version. You're not going to get prizes for guessing who the star of the show is ... despite the bombast I think this is one of Emerson's finest performances ever. A great mixture of clasical infections and rock vibes, it foreshadows in many ways the direction that Emerson would follow (to greater effect) in ELP.

The title track is a symphonic suite in six parts and while it's rather uneven, I think it deserves attention if only for the ambition Emerson shows. It doesn't get the best of starts as Prelude is just a rather pedestrian classical segment featuring an orchestra while the 1st Movement: Awakening is basically a failed Brian Davison drum solo (I am a fan of drum solos by the way, but this one doesn't make the grade). From then on in, it's generally marvelous stuff though. The 2nd Movement: Realisation is classic 60s rock with a cool riff apparently co-written with guitarist Davy O'List who left before this album. While Lee Jackson's atrocious singing makes an unfortunate appearance I really enjoy the progressive psychedelic jam that sees Emerson on piano. The 3rd movement: Acceptance starts off with some prominent brass work and there's an orchestral segment before Keith comes in ... if it seems all too familiar it's because the band and orchestra are doing a version of Allegro from Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3! I know classical purists will be in tears, but I think most proggers should enjoy it, I certainly did. Keith kicks butt on this one. The 4th Movement: Denial is for the most part typical 60s organ-led blues rock although Lee Jackson comes in with vocals towards the end. Like that other classical/rock fusion experiment of the time ... Deep Purple's Concerto For Group And Orchestra ... it can be pretty messy yet is intriguing.

I've heard complaints about the sound quality of the recordings and recommend the remastered versions from Castle which are awesome (I've got the Castle remastered version of Ars Long, but older versions of two other Nice albums, and the difference is amazing ... this disc also has two bonus tracks albeit in the form of single edits of tunes already on the album). ... 64% on the MPV scale.

It's another "proto-prog" album, whose interest is connected to a few orchestral scores in the vein of Brubeck or Thelonius Monk, the real music background of Emerson...nevertheless the songs sometimes are ingenuous and raw as well, in spite of appreciating the second side, the suite in which the contamination between the classic music language and the profane a bit irritating one, is well balanced.

True score: "2 stars"

"2 stars and an half-3 stars", as for its importance once again!!

Nice try. but no cigar

The Nice's second album saw the band reduced to a trio with the departure of guitarist David O'List during recording. The band initially looked to recruit a replacement guitarist, with Steve Howe actually joining the band but for less than a day. Ultimately it was decided to carry on as a three-piece. This of course meant that the already heavy bias towards the keyboards of Keith Emerson was tilted even further in that direction.

The album opens with a trilogy of throwaway psychedelic songs which, while mildly amusing, do little to explain why the band is now held in such high esteem. It is only when we get to the band's interpretation of the classic piece Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite composed by Sibelius that we are reminded of Keith Emerson's true talent. It should be said that this is not the stunning live version which appears on the Five bridges album, the version here being devoid of the orchestral arrangement and Emerson's knife attack on his instrument being somewhat muted. This rendition is very much an organ recital, Emerson playing it pretty straight in terms of keeping to the original composition.

The feature track though is the suite in 4 movements which gives the album its title. This was the first time the band has worked with an orchestra, the piece being an ambitious undertaking which only works in parts. On the downside, we have a superfluous drum solo and some mediocre composing. On the plus side, the third movement is a fine interpretation of part of Bach's Brandenbuger concerto. In reality, this is rather a crude effort to combine band and orchestra, the two coming from completely different directions. As such, the piece of value as a historical item rather than a musical one.

In all, an album which demonstrates how the fusion of band and orchestra, and of rock and classical music was a more painful process than history might now indicate. While there is plenty of innovation and a genuine effort to break down barriers here, the results are patchy at best.

It is not possible to overestimate the Nice's importance to Progressive Rock. In their moment, they were prog and if the eye-opening debut Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack didn't show that, this dazzling follow-up did. Sure they're so old and dated you'd never put them on unless alone in the house. Yes Lee Jackson is an intolerable singer, Davey O'List was a dreadful guitarist and the band couldn't seem to mix a record to save their lives. And of course some of the songs are, let's say, immature. But things were looking up for the band in the summer of 1968; halfway through the recording sessions for Ars Longa Vita Brevis, Dave O'List left due to personal issues (his career at this point strangely mimicking Syd Barrett) and Keith Emerson, finally divorced from this banshee of a player, took the lead and never let go. And though the first album hadn't done as well as hoped, Emerson, Jackson and Davison had become a well-respected underground pop/psych band looking forward to a fruitful new period of music and triumphs. Take a good listen; this is the prototype for what became the most well-known Prog supergroup the world has ever seen, and this second offering is a noticeable improvement from the first. The six-part, 20 minute, fully orchestrated title cut closed the deal. If this was psychedelic rock then it had spontaneously mutated into something quite a bit more, led by a gifted pianist/composer with a firmer grasp of music than anyone had seen in rock to that point.

A bit of boogie from Keith's piano go-go dances the inquisitive 'Daddy Where Did I Come From?', a twisted little creep tune with the organ on deep background and some troubled dialog. Fun if equally creepy 'Little Arabella' is completely mad, supported by a bridge of horns and Emerson's tea party strangeness, and pixied poke at psychobabble 'Happy Freuds' may bring a grin. But it's the moans of 'Intermezzo's cello that signal the start of something special. The band lumbers in, Jackson's less than light touch on bass and Brian Davison doing a typically good job, somehow holding this ambitious new venture together. Careful improvisation follows showing how jazz, classical and rock can meet and maybe, someday, even get along. Emerson was in an ideal position to do this-- no one could touch him and the title is extraordinary symphonic rock, the real stuff, covered in muck maybe, but there. Davison takes a four-minute drum set, Keith reveals his penchant for both American and Latin jazz - soloing beautifully through here and having a blast - and royal horns break to allow Johann Sebastian his due, woven quite nicely into the band's pumping jam with the orchestra's accents growing more frequent, culminating in a huge theatrical finish.

Posthumously imitated far more often than they're credited for and yet seen widely as a novelty, in reality the Nice were incomparable. Unrewarded trailblazers and rugged pioneers of those lean and treacherous early days of 'progressive rock' that they started but others would finish with much more flair and skill. But their memory deserves every bit of credit it can get its grimy hands on and their ancient, ridiculous, paisley-patched music seems to somehow get better with age. Go figure.

After the dynamics and colorfulness shown on their debut album, The Nice had to face their second recording endeavor as a trio (most of it, since O'List left after the sessions had already started), the result being Ars Longa, Vita Brevis. This was a tremedously pioneering album in the development of what was to be the symphonic trend of progressive rock. This is actually the album in which The Nice seems almost ending the transition from being a psychedelic art-rock band to a symphonic power-trio. And I emphasize the power-trio factor since Emerson saw himself in the position of adding extra power to his performative antics (including all the live paraphernalia) in order to compensate for the loss of the guitar as the natural coordinator: in this way, the reduced band could already start to function as a small orchestra of rock. But the aforesaid transition wasn't over yet, so we can still find lots of humorous and naive psychedelic structures, as you can tell in tracks 1 and 3. The former is, as the title explicitly indicates, a satyre about the uncomfortable first children's quiestions about sexuality and reproduction, while the latter is a not too flattering tribute to the pretensions of psychiatry. The use of funny vocalizations and catchy R'n'B rhythms properly fit the standards of British psychedelic rock: as a comparison, the band shows more finesse than Syd-era Pink Floyd and less finesse than Procol Harum on the joyful tracks from their first two albums, and a similar rawness to the first Mothers of Invention releases. 'Little Arabella', while keeping some unhidden relation to the spirit of the aforesaid tracks, is on another level. It is jazzier in its overall mood and it also includes some classical undertones in the interactions between organ and piano underneath the boogie-jazz scheme: this piece was clearly composed from a power-trio perspective despite tha fact that it isn't really as loud or pompus as your regular power-trio stuff. The symphonic side that has actually emerged in the band's ideology is present in the album's predominant parts: the 'Karelia' track and the namesake suite that occupied the vinyl edition's B-side. 'Karelia' offers a playful rendition of the Sibelius original, very akin to its cheerful essence. Emerson's chops are not too over-the-top, so the organ sounds manage to stay quite clean in the mix (the album doesn't have a great sound production, let me add at this point); the rhythm duo brings a reliable foundation for the organ constant colorfulness. The album's sidelong suite is the apex, and here's where things get as loud as can be at this moment of The Nice's history. Movements 1, 2 and 4 state a very cohesive expansion of basic ideas, while Movement 3 brings a different stage in the shape of a Bach-reconstruction with a heavy presence of orchestra: it does break the connection but instead brings a healthy dose of chamber pretension that symphonic rock can't normally do without, especially due to the elements of exquisiteness and elegance that it provides. Movement 1 brings the main opening motif followed by a drum solo before the Movement 2 brings a sung section and a classical-meets-jazz piano solo (yet another occasion for Emerson's chops). The last Movement retakes the ethusiasm started (then aborted) at the piano solo but reconstrued under the guidelines of organ with more emphasis on the rock than on the jazz factor. It goes all the way into the Coda, closing down the suite and the album with a plethoric mood. Almost excellent in itself, Ars Longa, Vita Brevis reveals itself as an excellent step for progressive mankind despite being just a small step for a trio who still had a few more works in store for release before their eventual breakup.

(I dedicate this review to the memory of the recently deceased Brian Davison).

This first ELP album mainly prevails thanks to the two reworked classical themes Karelia Suite and the title track Ars Vita Longa Brevis.

They hold everything one loves (or hate) from the later works of the and. Self indulgence from dear old Keith; but not only. After an obviously pompous "Prelude", the next "Awakenings" holds a drum solo which was probably not the best musical idea that the band has ever had.

There is nothing to say about the musicians of course, the drumming from Palmer is excellent. What! It is not Palmer, hum.Davidson? Are you sure? Oh, it is an album from "The Nice" and not an ELP one. I'm sorry about that! I guess that you got the idea.

Realisation holds all the pomposity of the later trio as well as weak vocals. The "Acceptance" part is way better, and offers a very pleasant interplay between each band members while "Denial" is my favourite section of this long suite. Great keyboards playing from the master and strong backing from the rhythmic as well.

In all, I consider the title track as the best part of this album.

From the first three songs of this "Ars Longa." only "Daddy..." is worth a mention. A fine psychedelic track well in line with those late mid-sixties and strongly early Floyd oriented. The jazzy Little "Arabella" and the childish "Happy Freuds" can be considered as pure fillers IMO.

This album is just a rehearsal of some pictures at an exhibition. But very pale in comparison. Still, it must be considered as highly innovative at the time of its release. Five out of ten but I upgrade it to three stars.

Ars Longa Vita Brevis is the second full-length studio album by UK psychadelic/ progressive rock act The Nice. The Nice is often considered as one of the most important proto-prog acts of the sixties because of how they blended psychadelic rock with classical influenced piano, organ and harpsichord playing by Keith Emerson who would later become a member of prolific progressive rock act Emerson, Lake and Palmer. While the debut album by The Nice called The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack (1967) is truly a groundbreaking album the classical influences are much more pronounced on Ars Longa Vita Brevis and fans of Emerson, Lake and Palmer are adviced to take a listen to this album. There´s been a lineup change since the debut album as guitarist David O'List left the band during the recordings leaving The Nice as a three-piece without a guitarist. A real shame as David O'List brought much to their sound IMO.

The first three songs on the album are in psychadelic rock style ( with vocals) and they remind me a bit of the sound Pink Floyd had on their debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967). The songs are pretty good without reaching excellent IMO. The last half of the album is much more classical influenced ( with full orchestra parts) and progressive though. Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite is an 8:57 minute long interpretation of a part of the Karelia Suite by classical finnish composer Sibelius. The last song is an 18:20 minute long again classical influenced and mostly instrumental ( there are vocals) piece of music and should be considered the centerpiece of the album. Keith Emerson shows the full arsenal on this one. Pretty impressive for the time.

The production and the musicianship are excellent. While Keith Emerson clearly outshines both drummer Brian Davidson and bassist/ vocalist Lee Jackson their performances are very good too. The production is much better than on the weakly produced debut and it means that Ars Longa Vita Brevis welcomes you in and doesn´t push you away like the debut´s sound quality seems to do at times.

Ars Longa Vita Brevis is another rather groundbreaking album by The Nice but personally my enthusiam is a bit lukewarm about the compositions. The album is more interesting than it´s good IMO but I will give a 3 star rating.

With singer/guitarist David O'List leaving the band before this, only the second album by The Nice, was released, this record became the precursor to Emerson Lake & Palmer's music. And for 1968, it's quite good.

The album starts with the strange Daddy Where Did I Come From?, a throwaway piece, that starts out as a ditty about how a parent reacts to a child asking about sex, and bizarrely turns into an indictment against drinking. If you thought Benny The Bouncer was out of place... But Emerson saves this with a couple of nice keyboard interludes.

Little Arabella is a jazzy number, with Emerson providing cool Hammond licks. Then comes Happy Freuds, easily the worst song on the album. Lee Jackson's vocals make it almost painful to listen to.

The remainder of the album is worth the price of admission. Starting with Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite, and continuing through the six movement Ars Vita Longa Brevis, the band does an excellent job of playing classical music adapted for the power trio. If you didn't know better, you might think you were listening to very early ELP. This is highly recommended for the ELP enthusiast.

It's always hard to review a 1968 album in the 21st Century without making an effort of imagination and situate yourselves in the era, and only then you can realize the importance of THE NICE. Lets remember that when Ars Longa Vita Brevis was released, Psychedelia was the most developed musical genre, most bands were experimenting with sitars and oriental sounds while others were adding artificial orchestral intros and codas to Pop songs like THE MOODY BLUES, but THE NICE were releasing pure keyboard oriented Prog (with some Psych remains) adding the classical / Orchestral components, as an integral part of their music, in other words, they were far ahead of the musical movement.

The album starts with "Daddy, Where Did I Come From?", a song criticized as some sort of 12 bar comedy relief, but hey, ELP made similar songs like "Benny the Bouncer" that everybody accepted. Honestly I like THE NICE track much more, mostly because the Baroque oriented organ blended with Psychedelic elements like shouts, moans and strange voices. Good experimental material.

"Little Arabella" stats wit a nice keyboard and percussion intro which leads to a jazzy section interrupted by pompous Hammond eruptions which most people consider a filler, but in my opinion makes an excellent intermezzo before the strongest material begin to appear with the extremely weird "Happy Feuds" which sounds as music from the 60's British Invasion blended with pompous Hammond.

But the real stuff begins with the excellent "Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite", a fantastic adaptation of the vibrant Sibelius work. This theme is a predecessor of what ELP would base their career, with the difference that Brian Davidson is better keeping the tempo than Palmer ever was (Not saying a better drummer), in other words THE NICE were doing music from the mid 70's in the late 60's with great success.

On an interview PETE TOWNSHEND confessed he wanted to make a long suite around this era, but the producers convinced him that it was madness, because Rock songs had to be 2:30 to 3:00 minutes long at the most, so instead he worked the concept of Rock Opera with 2 - 3 minutes songs interconnected, but in 1968, THE NICE dared to release the 20 minutes multi-part suite "Ars Longa Vita Brevis", I can't assure is the first one of it's class, but I haven't heard an older one.

The track starts with the classical oriented instrumental "Prelude", a short section that announces what can we expect of the 19 following minutes, but as soon as it melts with the "First Movement Awakening" (Mostly a Brian Davidson drum solo), we know there's more than what can be expected, not the best one I ever heard, but surely unexpected.

For the second movement "Realisation", the band recruits the guitarist Malcolm Langstaff with whom they create a well elaborate and complex piece that mixes several different genres and styles, from Classical to Jazz and even pompous Symphonic in a style that would be rescued by ELP.

The third Movement "Acceptance "Brandenburger" where Keith Emerson explores Johan Sebastian Bach's music and gives us a preview of what he will be doing for the next ten years with the music of artists as Mussorgsky, Bartok, Ginastera, etc. Simply brilliant

The Fourth Movement "Denial" is more a Jazzy experiment of the whole band with a fantastic bass work by Lee Jackson supporting Emerson's wonderful excesses (somehow reminiscent of "Rondo"). Complex, elaborate, frantic..What else can we ask?

The Epic and the album end with the 49 seconds "Coda-Extension To The Big Note", an extremely pompous epilog that takes us 10 years into the future, because it reminds me of the spectacular sound of "Fanfare for the Common Man" (I heard Fanfare before so Coda reminds me of it, despite being released before).

Now, Ars Longa Vita Brevis is not only a versatile album, but also one of the first expressions of Symphonic Prog and probably the first Prog Rock Suite, in other words a pioneer in al senses, if THE NICE had released this album today or even in 1973, nobody would had cared, but in 1968 it was revolutionary, so I would be absolutely unfair if I rated it with less than 4 stars, that would be 4.5 if the system allowed us.