Emerson, Lake & Powell

All Music Guide:

Although the ELP acronym remained the same, Emerson, Lake and Powell otherwise failed to recreate the creative or commercial excitement of the earlier progressive rock trio which featured drummer Carl Palmer instead of Cozy Powell. After the original ELP lineup disbanded in 1979, keyboardist Keith Emerson composed a series of film scores, while bassist Greg Lake pursued a solo career; however, in the wake of the hugely successful comeback of longtime prog-rock rivals Yes, Emerson and Lake agreed to reunite, although Palmer -- now a member of Asia -- declined the offer. Drummer Powell, a veteran of such hard rock outfits as Rainbow, Whitesnake, and Black Sabbath, was tapped as Palmer's replacement, and in 1986 the trio issued a self-titled LP which cracked the U.S. Top 40, spurred on by the minor hit "Touch and Go." However, the famously mercurial Powell left the new ELP before the year was out, and with his departure Emerson and Lake's reunion ground to an abrupt halt (at least until 1991, when Palmer finally re-entered the fold). Powell died April 5, 1998 of injuries sustained in an auto accident.

Wikipedia:

Emerson, Lake & Powell, sometimes abbreviated as ELPowell, were an English rock band, an offshoot or variant lineup of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, that released one official studio album in 1986.

Keith Emerson and Greg Lake had planned to re-form the original ELP in 1985 but drummer Carl Palmer was unavailable because of contractual obligations to Asia. After auditioning a series of drummers unwilling to commit to the band, they approached Cozy Powell, a longtime friend of Emerson's, to replace him. The band have always insisted that it was a coincidence that his surname also happened to start with a , thus allowing the band to retain its original initials, although they also joked about looking for a "Gene Prupa" and having approached "Phil Pollins" and "Ringo Parr" before Powell agreed to join. Shortly into recording, Emerson's barn studio was destroyed by a runaway tractor, requiring some parts of the album be rerecorded, leading him to joke, "Perhaps we should have called it 'Emerson, Lake & Plow!'"

The band's self-titled studio album was a return to the familiar ELP style, with long progressive rock suites, mellow ballads and a classical theme ("Mars, the Bringer of War" by Gustav Holst, a piece previously performed by Lake during his tenure in King Crimson). One song, "The Score", even references the lyric "Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends" from ELP's "Karn Evil 9: First Impression" (on the album Brain Salad Surgery). Initially, when the record company suggested that the group perform "Mars," Emerson refused, saying it would be like ELP Plays the Classics or Richard Clayderman Plays 'Clair de Lune'. After Powell showed him a video of one of his former bands playing the number, however, Emerson agreed to try it.

In live performance the band also performed classic ELP and Nice material.

The band's live tour was marred by a dispute which led to the band firing its management, and "ELPowell" disbanded without recording a second album. Emerson rejoined Palmer and with Robert Berry formed the band in 1988, before the original ELP lineup reformed for 1992's album Black Moon, which bears some stylistic similarities to the Emerson, Lake & Powell album.

Some ELPowell studio rehearsals and live recordings found their way onto bootlegs in the 1990s. The material was subsequently remastered and given an official release on two 2003 CDs, available via the ELP website.

Cozy Powell died on April 5, 1998, following a car crash.