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 - Works Volume 1 - 1st - UK - 2-LP vinyl set - £15.00, $19.35, €17.85 (New Item) (arrived 25-Jul-2024 15:18)on July 27, 2024 at 1:48 am
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Works Volume 1 (1977 UK first issue 14-track double vinyl LP by the prog rock trio, featuring a side devoted to each band member and one side from the band The embossed tri-fold picture sleeve has lyrics & band portraitsprinted across the inside and shows minor shelfwear while the vinyl remains in excellent condition with few signs of play K80009)
- Emerson Lake & Palmer - Trilogy - Remastered - UK - vinyl LP - £20.00, $25.80, €23.80 (New Item) (arrived 27-Jun-2024 12:00)on July 27, 2024 at 1:48 am
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Trilogy (2016 UK/EU remastered issue of the 1972 9-track LP pressed on Heavyweight Vinyl, housed in a deluxe gatefold picture sleeve complete with an illustrated inner with updated album notes. The sleeve shows minimal wear & the vinyl still looks barely played BMGCATLP5)
- Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery - Italian - vinyl LP - £50.00, $64.50, €59.50 (New Item) (arrived 10-Jun-2024 16:21)on July 27, 2024 at 1:48 am
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Brain Salad Surgery (Rare 1973 Italian issue 8-track LP, fold-out/die-cut H.R. Geiger designed sleeve and fold-out/die-cut lyric poster. The sleeve shows slome light wear with a small tear to the delicate sleeve with light edge scuffing and the vinyl shows just the odd light sign of play. A fantastic play copy MAN2003)
- Greg Lake - Magical: Deluxe Edition - Sealed - UK - cd album box set - £89.99, $116.09, €107.09 (New Item) (arrived 13-Jun-2024 14:41)on July 27, 2024 at 1:48 am
GREG LAKE Magical (2023 UK/EU Deluxe Edition SEVEN-CD Box Set - Greg Lake was a pivotal founding father of the progressive rock movement and this set is a remastered celebration of the solo career of this incredible, versatile, and much-missedmusician. Including the solo albums written and recorded by Lake along with rare tracks and live recordings that cover his time with ELP, King Crimson and beyond. The discs are housed within the 10 x 10” box with 68-page book containing extensive sleeve notes written by Jerry Ewing [editor of Prog magazine] who speaks with many of Lake's collaborators and delivers a fascinating history of the man behind the music. Additionally, this copy comes inside its original outer mailing box!)
- Emerson Lake & Palmer - Fanfare 1970 - 1997 - Numbered - UK - box set - £395.00, $509.55, €470.05 (New Item) (arrived 16-Jun-2024 09:55)on July 27, 2024 at 1:48 am
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Fanfare 1970 - 1997 (Lavish 2017 UK/EU/US Deluxe Limited Edition TWENTY-FOUR DISC Box Set - This Multi-Format collection comprises fully remastered CD versions of their ELEVEN studio albums [from their 1970 self-titled debut to 1994's In The Hot Seat] together with FIVE previously unreleased discs [all mastered by the internationally celebrated studio engineering team of Andy Pearce & Matt Wortham], including live albums recorded in the US, UK, France as well as an Old Grey Whistle Test appearance. Additionally, there is also a fantastic TRIPLE 140gram Vinyl LP set [in deluxe fold-out packaging] featuring previously unreleased live recordings from Rome & Milan in 1973; a bonus Audio Blu-Ray Disc containing the desirable stereo 5:1 & surround sound mixes of 'Emerson, Lake & Palmer', 'Tarkus', 'Trilogy' & 'Brain Salad Surgery' & finally TWO bonus vinyl 7" singles [with reproduced original sleeve artwork]. All of these discs remain in 'as new' condition housed inside the 12.5" x 12.5" x 2" rigid matt-black outer box with silver foil-blocked cover text complete with a treasure trove of bonus extras including a hardback 12” book, reprinted original 1970 poster & 1972 brochure & 1974 & 1992 tour programmes in a special stickered printed envelope & a metal & enamel ELP logo pin badge. Includes the original individually numbered back content insert, numbered out of 3000. The box remains in Excellent condition with some light shelf wear & the odd small corner bump & the contents are Near Mint BMGCAT101BOX) ***Limited to only 3000 copies***
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