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The Nice - Ars Longa Vita Brevis CD (album) cover

ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS

The Nice

 

Symphonic Prog

3.26 | 149 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Sean Trane
Special Collaborator
Prog Folk
2 stars 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

Sean Trane | 2/5 |

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