By Dennis Hartley
1947-2016
You know what, 2016? Fuck you. Seriously. This is really too much.
Bowie. Prince. Sir George Martin. Leonard Cohen. Leon Russell. Glenn Frey. Paul Kantner. Keith Emerson…now, Greg Lake.
This is the toughest one for me since Bowie at the beginning of this year. Greg Lake was not only one of the gods of prog-rock, but for my money, owned the greatest set of pipes in any musical genre.
That voice has captivated me from the first time I heard “In the Court of the Crimson King” wafting from my radio back in 1969. Even through a tinny 4″ speaker, that beautiful, cathedral voice shot directly through my medulla oblongata and took my breath away. Instrumental accompaniment was always purely optional:
And speaking of “cathedral”…
The angels can retire now.
He had a voice like a god. And then he laid down and he died.
Yes, WE were the lucky men, and women, to have him as part of the soundtrack of our lives…