Released 17 March 1977 Length 87:23 Works Volume 1
(1977) Works Volume 2
(1977) Release date 17 March 1977 | Recorded 1976 Label Atlantic Artist Emerson, Lake & Palmer | |
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Studio Mountain Studios; (Montreux, Switzerland); EMI Studios; Paris, France Genres Progressive rock, Classical music, Symphonic rock Producers Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, Carl Palmer, Peter Sinfield Similar Works Volume 2, Love Beach, In the Hot Seat, Welcome Back - My Friends - t, Pictures at an Exhibition | ||
Works, later reissued as Works Volume 1, is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released as a double album in March 1977 on Atlantic Records. Following their successful 1974 world tour, the group took a break from recording and touring. They relocated to Montreux, Switzerland and Paris, France to record a new album. Each member was allocated one side of a vinyl record to write and arrange their own tracks which were performed by the group. The fourth side features songs written by the entire group. Emerson wrote his Piano Concerto No. 1, Lake wrote several songs with Peter Sinfield, and Palmer picked tracks of varied styles.
Contents
Overview
The album was the band's first in three-and-a-half years, following the release of Brain Salad Surgery in 1973. However, it was different from the synthesiser-driven music that most fans had expected and received a mixed reaction from fans and press.
Side 1 is the Keith Emerson side, a concerto for piano and orchestra. Emerson was accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Mayer. On the documentary DVD Beyond the Beginning, Greg Lake says that Leonard Bernstein walked into the studio in Paris where this piece was being mixed because Keith wanted Bernstein to listen to it. Bernstein's reaction was: "It reminds me of Grandma Moses".
Side 2 is the Greg Lake side, and consists of acoustic ballads, all of which were written by Lake and Peter Sinfield.
Side 3, the Carl Palmer side, includes a remake of "Tank" (from ELP's eponymous first album), with orchestral accompaniment and without the drum solo. Another track on Palmer's side is the rocker "L.A. Nights", featuring Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh on lead and slide guitar and scat vocal. Also, two arrangements of outside composers' pieces figure on the Palmer side: one of Johann Sebastian Bach's baroque D Minor Invention No. 4, BWV 775, and a piece titled 'The Enemy God Dances With the Black Spirits', an excerpt of the 2nd movement of the "Scythian Suite" by Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953), written in 1915.
Side 4 features the entire band, and consists of a modern piece re-arranged for rock band, Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man", and the long-form song "Pirates", which features lyrics added to music Emerson had written for a cancelled film version of Frederick Forsyth's book The Dogs of War. Aaron Copland found ELP's version of his piece appealing although he was puzzled at the inclusion of a modal solo between two fairly straight renditions of his piece. "Pirates" was recorded in three separate studios and featured the Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris, conducted by Godfrey Salmon. According to Sinfeld, the band had wanted Leonard Bernstein to conduct "Pirates". Bernstein walked out after hearing the music, describing it as "primitive". Both "Fanfare For The Common Man" and "Pirates" feature Keith Emerson's extensive use of the Yamaha GX-1 synthesizer.
Reception
AllMusic's retrospective review was mixed. They particularly criticised the solo sides of Keith Emerson ("on the level of a good music-student piece, without much original language") and Greg Lake ("'C'est la Vie', the featured single, says little that 'Still...You Turn Me On', from their previous album, didn't say better and shorter"). They offered some praise for the Carl Palmer and group sides, but concluded that the group songs "cover a lot of old ground, albeit in ornate and stylish fashion."
Singles
Songs
1Piano Concerto No 1: I Allegro gioioso - II Andante molto cantabile - III Toccata con fuoco18:28
2Lend Your Love to Me Tonight4:05
3C'est La Vie4:18