“Bog broke at school. Melody Maker news – ELP split from Island, now on Manticore/WEA. Magninimous amount of revision achieved”
Who broke the bog? Did I break the bog? Did the school only have one bog? All these questions and more are answered in the special blu-ray “director’s cut” of this blog, available from Amazon and other stylish retailers.
Even if I had spelled magnanimous correctly, does the word properly sum up the revision levels? I think not. Good job I wasn’t up for my English O-Level!
As far as I can remember, the ELP news was far from a huge secret at the time, the band eager own their own label… which is what Manticore Records was.
According to greek myth a manticore is a legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth (like a shark), and a trumpet-like voice.
Did Greg Lake think he had a trumpet-like voice? I’m sure there are those who agree with that. I suspect that the closest Keith Emerson had to the “body of a red lion” was after he’d spent a few hours down his local boozer. Carl Palmer’s dentist must hate him.
The manticore creature had already been seen on the inner sleeve of their “Tarkus” album, facing up the mighty armadillo tank on the cover. As in all Manticore vs Armadillo Tank confrontations, the tank prevailed.
If you want a giggle, here’s a piece of Manticore Records trivia, sure to win you several hundred pounds/dollars should it ever turn up in a pub quiz… in 1975, Manticore Records (home, amongst others, to ELP & Italian prog-rockers P.F.M.) was distributed in the USA by….. Motown! I kid you not. That must’ve made for some interesting management meetings?
Excerpts from a 70's Teenage Rock Opera 