''Greg Lake'' is the debut studio album by English rock singer and guitarist Greg Lake, released in the United Kingdom on 25 September 1981 by Chrysalis Records.

The album

Background

In contrast to the

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

and

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percus ...

, the groups which Lake had been member of, this album is characterized by a guitar-driven straightforward hard rock sound. The change in musical style is explained by his desire to perform as a guitarist rather than playing bass. To record the album, Lake teamed up with a string of prominent musicians, including Gary Moore,

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

, and Toto members Steve Lukather, David Hungate and

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working o ...

. Moore played a major role including writing the song, "Nuclear Attack". In 1993, when the album was finally released on CD (in Japan), it was re-titled ''Greg Lake & Gary Moore''.

Reception

Marc Loren has given ''Greg Lake'' a retrospective rating of three stars out of five on

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

. He has described it as a "powerful and enjoyable album", which contains "well written songs and some sizzling guitar work by Gary Moore", and has praised Lake's production skills. ''Greg Lake'' charted in the United Kingdom and the United States, reaching the same number 62 spot in both countries. Several songs were released as singles in different territories. "Let Me Love You Once Before You Go", a cover of the 1977 song written by Steve Dorff and Molly Ann Leikin for

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dram ...

, was issued in the United States and peaked at number 48 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Nuclear Attack" was a minor radio hit and reached number 34 on the

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

chart.

Track listing

Personnel

* Greg Lake – vocals, rhythm guitar, production * Gary Moore – lead guitar * Tristram Margetts – bass *

Tommy Eyre Tommy Eyre (5 June 1949 – 23 May 2001) was an English session keyboardist from Sheffield, England, who appeared on records by Joe Cocker, John Martyn, Gary Moore, Michael Schenker, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Greg Lake, B.B. King, ...

– keyboards *

Ted McKenna Edward McKenna (10 March 1950 – 19 January 2019) was a Scottish drummer who played with The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Rory Gallagher, The Greg Lake Band, and The Michael Schenker Group. He also toured with Ian Gillan for a short period ...

– drums

Additional musicians

* Steve Lukather – guitars *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher ...

– guitars *

Snuffy Walden William Garrett Walden, known as W. G. Snuffy Walden (born February 13, 1950), is an American musician and composer of film and television soundtracks. Walden is an Emmy Award winner for the theme music to ''The West Wing'' (NBC), has been nomin ...

– guitars * David Hungate – bass * Bill Cuomo – keyboards * Greg Mathieson – keyboards *

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

* Willie Cochrane –

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

* David Milner – pipe * Michael Giles – drums * Jode Leigh – drums *

– drums

Technical personnel

* Alex Grobb – producer (on "It Hurts") * Haydn Bendall – engineer * Brian Robson – engineer * Ian Short – engineer * Paul Dobbe – engineer * Harold Blumberg – engineer * John Timperley – engineer * Nigel Walker – engineer * Tony Benyon – cover concept *

John Pasche John Pasche (born 24 April 1945) is a British art designer, best known for designing the Rolling Stones' tongue and lips logo. Pasche completed his BA degree in graphic design from the Brighton College of Art between 1963 and 1967. He completed ...

– art direction

Charts

References

{{Authority control Greg Lake albums 1981 debut albums Chrysalis Records albums Albums produced by Greg Lake