From Loudersound.
Greg Lake‘s evergreen Christmas classic I Believe In Father Christmas is due to be re-released for Christmas 2020 thanks to the restoration of the original video to 4K. You can watch the brand new video in full below.
The song features on the recently released The Anthology – A Musical Journey which features music from Emerson Lake & Palmer, King Crimson, Lake’s solo career, 1967’s Don’t Go ‘Way Little Girl, recorded with The Shame and 1969 psych rarity Love recorded with The Shy Limbs.
Despite it’s strong anti-commercial message I Believe In Father Christmas remains a warm, catchy and enduringly popular Christmas song. The single was originally a hit worldwide in 1975, reaching Number 2 in the UK charts and selling over 13,000 copies in two days only to be kept from the UK number one slot by Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
Greg, who died on 7th December 2016, aged 69, co-wrote the single with Pete Sinfield. ELP’s keyboardist Keith Emerson had encouraged each member of the band to come up with solo material, so in 1975 Lake teamed up with lyricist Sinfield to create something out of a “Christmassy” chord sequence Lake had written.
The result was thoughtful, but melodic too: a humanist, Christmas song that also manages to warm the cockles. By adding a snippet of twinkling sleigh-ride music by classical composer Sergei Prokofiev at Keith Emerson’s suggestion, summoning the sparkle of Christmas, creating, as Sinfield has said, “a picture-postcard Christmas, with morbid edges.”
This new 4K version of the original promo video has been painstakingly and expertly restored from a recently discovered rare copy of the original film for I Believe In Father Christmas which was shot partly on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and in the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. The video includes previously unseen footage from the Vietnam War and was directed by Arnould Schwartzman who went on to win an Oscar in 1982 for his film Genocide.
The new video restoration included manually cleaning the film to remove the sticky residue from the sellotape joins to allow it to pass freely through the scanner, rebuilding the cuts to remove the jumps, recreating damaged frames based on those surrounding it, frame by frame dirt and scratch clean and eve repainting in camel legs!
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- Emerson Lake & Palmer - Emerson Lake & Palmer - 1st - French - vinyl LP - £95.00, $118.75, €106.40 (New Item) (arrived 15-Jan-2021 09:52)on January 21, 2021 at 8:13 am
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Emerson Lake & Palmer (Rare 1970 French first issue 6-track LP on the pink with white 'i' label, with original powder blue inner, the daring debut by the power-prog trio, matt picture sleeve. The sleeve shows just a little light shelfwear with the label showing a name annotation & the vinyl remains in excellent condition with only light signs of play. A classic album worthy of a place in any prog collection ILPS9132)
- Emerson Lake & Palmer - From The Beginning - UK - cd album box set - £50.00, $62.50, €56.00 (New Item) (arrived 02-Nov-2020 11:51)on January 21, 2021 at 8:13 am
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER From The Beginning (2012 UK 52-track 5-CD album set which lavishly celebrates one of the greatest rock groups in the world. This career-spanning collection includes a number of single b-sides, significant live recordings,alternative studio mixes & material taken from band rehearsals. Housed in a deluxe digi-book with a fantastic 60-page picture booklet containing extensive sleeve notes by all the members discussing the ELP years along with rare & previously unseen photographs & images)
- Emerson Lake & Palmer - Tarkus - 1st - EX - UK - vinyl LP - £50.00, $62.50, €56.00 (Back In Stock) (arrived 14-Sep-2020 06:21)on January 21, 2021 at 8:13 am
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Tarkus (1971 UK first issue 13-track LP on the pink rim palm tree label, the prog supergroup's second longplayer engineered by studio icon of the day Eddie Offord. Features a seldom heard guitar solo by Greg Lake during Battlefield, housed in a lightly textured & heavy duty gatefold picture sleeve with fantastic William Neal artwork. The sleeve is Excellent with just some minor age wear, mostly to the edges & the vinyl grades Excellent with the lightest evidence of play only ILPS9155)
- Emerson Lake & Palmer - Pictures At An Exhibition - German - vinyl LP - £15.00, $18.75, €16.80 (New Item) (arrived 01-Oct-2020 10:30)on January 21, 2021 at 8:13 am
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Pictures At An Exhibition (Mid 70s German 11-track LP on the beige & brown Manticore label, the prog superstar trio's first live album, with cover art by William Neal. The gatefold sleeve shows just a little light edge creasing & the vinyl is Excellent HELP1)
- Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery - 1st - VG - UK - vinyl LP - £25.00, $31.25, €28.00 (New Item) (arrived 05-Oct-2020 11:35)on January 21, 2021 at 8:13 am
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Brain Salad Surgery (1973 UK 8-track LP, housed in a superb fold-out/die-cut H.R. Giger designed sleeve with US company catalogue inner & UK fold-out/die-cut lyric insert. This copy has picture labels & US pressed vinyl with 'MC46669' number printed on the labels. The packaging [VG] shows some light paper scuffs through the years, mainly to the back, whilst the vinyl has a few cosmetic marks to show signs of play. Overall a very respectable copy K53501)
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