Nice

Upon review, The Nice's self-titled third record is certainly not their strongest effort, as it fails to offer any progress on the band's prior two releases. The album opens with "Azrael Revisited," though Keith Emerson's piano is an inferior substitute to David O'List's guitar on the original single. Evidently short on material, The Nice then add two covers: A particularly languid reading of Tim Hardin's "Hang On to a Dream" did little but break into an extended solo from Emerson, while Bob Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" is laborious at best. With its jazzy horn arrangements, "For Example" fares better, offering a solid bite of the band's formula. The second side of the record was recorded during the band's first tour of the US, at the Fillmore East in New York. The Nice were in their element on stage, and the live rendition of "Rondo (69)" gives a good estimation of what the fuss was all about. Oddly, the album was the first for The Nice to chart, rising to No. 3 in the UK. And yet, disappointed by their stagnant success (and perhaps also their lack of material), Emerson would barely make it through the year with the band. Still, two posthumous albums were released, again mainly taken from live recordings. The first, Five Bridges Suite, released in June 1970, would be the most successful Nice album, reaching No. 2 in the UK. Its attraction was the suite of the same name, recorded live with an orchestra at Fairfield Halls. Released in April 1971, Elegy also would make the UK Top 5. Lee Jackson subsequently formed Jackson Heights, releasing four nondescript albums over the next three years, before teaming up again with Brian Davison in 1973 in The Nice-clone Refugee. Emerson was immediately off to Emerson, Lake & Palmer, where formula first proposed with The Nice would reach its natural conclusion.