It's safe to say if the Psych movement hadn't existed a lot of genres of music may never have come about. Because there was such a free form aspect to it, it was possible to jam a bunch of guys together, one who was a Classical musician, another who was a Jazz musician and a die hard Blues fanatic, and put them in the studio and the results were The Nice.

Had The Nice not existed it's also safe to say Prog-Rock might not have taken off the way it did, Emerson Lake and Palmer would never have existed and probably music would be at a dead standstill right about now.

But they did and they were wildly popular, especially in the UK and Europe from the late 1960's until their demise in the early 70's when Emerson, Lake and Palmer emerged from the ashes. Keith Emerson was a founding member of The Nice, and coupled with their musical abilities was a completely off the wall live presentation that made them the stuff of legend for a very long time. As a sidelight, Lemmy, who would later go to pursue his own career with Hawkwind and Motorhead, was a roadie for The Nice and it's been said he was very much inspired by the sheer pyrotechnics of working with the band.

So you see, they got around and their influence was felt in all parts of Rock music.

Tonight's track comes off their first album, The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack. The album title is a take-off on all the band members names; Keith Emerson (Emer), Davy O'List (List), Brian Davison (Dav) and Lee Jackson (Jack). Rondo is an 8 minute instrumental that takes off on Dave Brubeck and Vivaldi and tosses in a whole music library along for the ride.

It was the start of what would be a very much traveled road.