The Nice were Keith Emerson's band prior to superstardom in Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Formed as a backing band for soul singer PP Arnold, The Nice laid the foundations for what would become progressive rock. Their debut album mixed rock with jazz and classical music, and their hard rock reinvention of Leonard Bernstein's 'America' propelled them into the US and UK charts, influencing their biggest fan, Jimi Hendrix, to reinterpret 'The Star Spangled Banner'. 'The Story of The Nice: Hang on to a Dream', first published in 2002 and now fully revised and updated, chronicles the history of the band. Drawing on interviews with band members and their associates, together with archive sources, it is a fascinating tale of musical ambition, engagingly told with a keen eye for period detail. Foruli Classics - classic music and popular culture books reborn.

In the early 1970s, an era of grand gestures in rock, no band could match the scale of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Boasting an impressive pedigree in previous bands, Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer were huge from the off, the ultimate progressive rock group. Their eponymous 1970 debut album mixed new band compositions with reinterpretations of classical pieces, an approach that reached its apogee with the 1973 concept album 'Brain Salad Surgery'. The band live were a spectacle like no other, with their giant quadrophonic PA and a shirtless Emerson hurling knives into his Hammond organ - but when punk happened ELP abruptly fell out of fashion, splitting in 1978. Subsequent reformations culminated in a final gig at London's High Voltage festival in celebration of the band's 40th anniversary. 'The Show That Never Ends ... Encore', first published in 2000 and now fully revised and updated, chronicles the epic ELP saga. Drawing on interviews with band members and associates, and a host of archive sources, it is a gripping account of ego, band politics, period detail and sweeping musical ambition. Foruli Classics - classic music and popular culture books reborn.