Check out the exclusive premiere of "Powerful Man" by 3.2, a reboot of 3, the late-'80s collaboration between two-thirds of Emerson, Lake and Palmer -- Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer -- and Robert Berry.

The upcoming album, The Rules Have Changed, boasts the last project Emerson was working on when he died on March 10, 2016.

The song is a tribute to fathers and, as Berry tells UCR, the inspiration came from seeing how many rockers have produced equally talented offspring over the years.

"In my life, I have played with many very famous musicians," he says. "Each one has had a son that is affected by that fame. They see a powerful man up in that stage. But all also had a great dad off of that stage. Sammy Hagar’s son Aaron, Steve Howe’s son Dylan, Greg Kihn’s son Ry and Keith Emerson’s son Aaron. They were all raised by loving, powerful dads. And now in Keith's family, his grandson is following in his footsteps. Ethan Emerson may be as good as his granddad someday. Now that was a powerful man. They are all the inspiration for the song 'Powerful Man.'"

You can watch the song's official music video below.

3 were formed in 1987 with the intention of providing a more radio-friendly approach to prog -- similar to what Asia and GTR had been doing. Following the release of its debut album, ... To the Power of Three -- which included the single "Talkin' 'Bout" that reached No. 9 on the Mainstream Rock chart -- the band returned to the studio to create a follow-up. But Emerson, unhappy with Geffen Records, pulled the plug on the project, though some of the songs that were written later found a home on Berry's 1993 album Pilgrimage to a Point.

In 2015, Berry and Emerson resumed working together thanks to a deal with Frontiers Music, but Emerson took his own life before the album was completed. Berry gathered the ideas Emerson had written up to that point, added some of his own and finished the project.

"It was a series of events that led to this possibility," Berry says. "But mostly the willingness of Keith and myself to try once more to get it right and do our best work -- our most important work for some time. We knew it had to be fiery, it had to have meaning, it had to be worthy of a lifetime in music. We also wanted to do it exactly the way we had planned for three months. The exchange of tapes, digital files and phone calls playing piano to each other; conversations filled with ideas, personal conflicts, observations and laughter. You can feel that in the music and if you listen really closely you can tell that Keith’s spirit continued guiding the whole process even after he was gone."

The Rules Have Changed will be released on Aug. 10. You can pre-order it using any of the links found here.

 

 

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