What Happened To The Long Island Sound?
What happened to The Long Island Sound? Where did it go? The B-3 has long gone the way of the buffalo (only the wealthier musicians can afford to maintain one of these precious collectable gems), and the label, The Long Island Sound, with it.
At its peak, the B-3 signified a funky party music that catered to the slightly rebellious, white suburban youth--and there were lots of them. Where did they go? Unquestionably, more of these cumbersome beasts were pushed onto Long Island stages than Keith Emerson or his English mates dared dream. Was this really a unique sound or, was this sound merely a derivative expression of soul music in a psychedelic age? Was The Long Island Sound just another quickie marketing label intended to push product? Why, during the latter part of the '70s, when there were hundreds of Long Island bands and even more Long Island clubs in which to play, was this musical era not so identified? Was it simply because the B-3 was replaced by sleek, lightweight electronic keyboards, the label turned passe, or, was it because the sound was too diverse to classify? Anyway, who cares? It was a great party whatever you called it!
