EMERSON LAKE & PALMER

Review Nº 883

Emerson, Lake & Palmer was the progressive rock first super group. Greeted by the rock press and the public as something akin to conquering heroes, they succeeded in broadening the audience for progressive rock from hundreds of thousands into tens of millions of listeners, creating a major radio phenomenon as well. Their flamboyance on record and in the studio echoed the best works of the heavy metal bands of that era, proving that the classical rockers could compete for that arena scale audience. They were also responsible to bring the classical music to the public in general, making of them a great ambassador of the classical music. Over and above their own commercial success, the trio also paved the way for the success of such prog bands as Yes, who would become their chief rivals for much of the 70's.

"Live At The Royal Albert Hall" (DVD) has twelve tracks. So, we have, "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression ? Part 2)" from "Brain Salad Surgery", a medley taken from the title track suite "Tarkus" from "Tarkus" with "Eruption", "Stones Of Years" and "Iconoclast", "Knife Edge" is from their eponymous debut studio album, "Paper Blood" is from "Black Moon", "Creole Dance" is based on the Alberto Ginastera's "Suite De Danzes Cirallas", "From The Beginning" is from "Trilogy", "Lucky Man" is also from their eponymous debut studio album, "Honky Tonk Train Blues" is from "Works Vol. 2", "Romeo And Juliet" is also from "Black Moon", "Pirates" is from "Works Vol. 1", "Pictures At An Exhibition" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition" and the final medley with parts of "Fanfare For The Common Man" is also from "Works Vol. 1", and "America" is an extract of a piece by Leonard Bernstein and "Rondo" is an extract t of a piece by Brubeck.

About the pieces, "Knife Edge" is a great piece with emphasis to the bass lines. "Lucky Man" is a great acoustic ballad, beautifully sung. "Pictures At An Exhibition" is an re-arranged piece that stays true to the original, but played with the rock energy. The medley of "Tarkus" is a short part of a complex piece with great creativity. "From The Beginning" is a very beautiful acoustic song with a very simple musical structure. "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression ? Part 2)" is one the four parts of the piece. It belongs to one of their best pieces only can be compared with the suite "Tarkus". "Fanfare For The Common Man" is a great re-arranged piece, one of the best on "Works Vol. 1". "Pirates" is another great composition on "Works Vol. 1" too. "Honky Tonk Train Blues" is a re- arranged nice and funny song played in a boogie-woogie and jazz style. "Paper Blood" is a simple commercial rocker but damn good for what it is. "Romeo And Juliet" is a superb re-arrangement of "Dance Of The Knights" from Prokofiev's ballet "Romeo And Juliet". This is an amazing version of an amazing piece. "Creole Dance", "America" and "Rondo" are all great, especially the last two that were played together.

With this show, Emerson, Lake & Palmer showed that they had not lost anything in the 14 years of absence and performed as a group, and their new material kept up with their tradition of blending the lines of the classical music and rock. This DVD showcases the power and majesty that made of this band such a force in the 70's. It has the power and majesty of the symphonic and the energy of rock. It's hard to imagine this power coming from only three persons. But, when one see the vast array of keyboards that Emerson plays, mostly analog but with some concessions to digital modernity, it's perfectly understandable. Emerson with his freewheeling and his devil may care style of playing, is magnificent on the keys, whether prodding them to full power or showing off the subtle nuances that demonstrates his prowess to coax the most subtle sounds from them. Palmer whose work on the drums is equally amazing and subtle, but with grace at the same time, showed why he is a power in the rock circles. Lake was captured in finer voice and his nuanced playing bass and occasionally guitar stands out and the force of the other two never overshadows his playing.

Conclusion: This DVD shows, to me, a great live gig. Emerson is, as always, the master showman. For the encore, Emerson pulls a few The Nice era numbers out, and, as expected, he brings out the knives. The stage spins to reveal a poor hapless Hammond spinet organ. Emerson proceeds to abuse the instrument within inches of destruction. When he pins himself under the organ and plays it, this after spray painting an ELP's logo graffiti style on a faux brick wall. He can't help think of the originality and grandiosity of this amazing super group. This 70's odd minute DVD is a wonderful addition to the musical library for a far ranging variety of reasons, not the least of which is for historical purposes. Here, you can see where the prog rock music you are listening today had some of its roots. There is the power and the majesty of the music that these three great musicians generated, and for what was, and still is some of the finest blending of the classical music with rock. So, don't be fooled and check, soon as possible, this amazing live concert.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Tarkus is a good album because of one thing: the title track. This sprawling composition with an avant-garde sound overshadows all the other tracks of the album, and they simply feel optional to listen to after this. In short, I haven't listened to the album completely more than once. I listen to the title track and that's it. Compared to this masterpiece of a composition, the other songs simply feel like filler tracks, as no doubt others have said before. It isn't to say that these other tracks are bad, they're not. However, they feel like simple, mainstream classic rock songs for the most part. In this way, they feel almost out of place when included in an album with a track like Tarkus, which is really its most important part; the album is named after it. Because this album only has one truly impressive, masterful track, and because the other might as well not have been included here, this album cannot be called a masterpiece.

The song Tarkus is arguably one of the greatest pieces of progressive rock ever composed. At first, it feels more complicated and leaning into the avant-garde genre than other long, sprawling progressive rock ballads. For this reason, it may not be as accessible as some other progressive rock songs are, especially to people who are new to the genre. ELP always did make music that was edgy and even a bit pretentious. While some may say that it's a bad thing, I feel like that "pretentiousness" only serves this record, not hinder it. With Tarkus, they composed something truly amazing and that's - at least partly - thanks to their will to go beyond what's accepted, even in progressive rock. An amazing showcase of first-rate synthesizer-playing and outstanding lyrics, Tarkus will probably remain in my top 5 progressive rock songs list for a long time to come.

Therefore, Tarkus still remains an essential record in progressive rock because of the title track alone, but that's about the end of the album's magnificence.

Review Nº 880

"High Voltage" is a compilation album of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and that was released in 2010. It has only tracks from four studio albums of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and a track from the Emerson, Lake & Powel's album. It has three tracks from their debut studio album, two tracks from "Tarkus", one track from "Works Vol. 1", one track from their debut live album "Pictures At An Exhibition" and one track from "Emerson, Lake & Powell". So, their studio albums "Trilogy", "Brain Salad Surgery", "Works Vol. 2", "Love Beach", "Black Moon" and "In The Hot Seat" aren't represented here.

So, "High Voltage" is a compilation album with only eight tracks. "Tarkus" is from "Tarkus". "Tarkus" is a suite divided into seven parts, "Eruption", "Stones Of Years", "Iconoclast", "Mass", "Manticore", "Battlefield" and "Aquatarkus". This is a very complex and a fantastic piece with great creativity, very experimental and certainly very avant-garde for those years. This great progressive epic represents the lengthiest studio song made by the band until their song "Karn Evil 9" released on "Brain Salad Surgery". This remains a favourite song for the fans and was consistently played live by the group. It's probably also my favourite piece of them. "Battlefield" is absolutely superb, beautiful, memorable and an unforgettable song. "Pictures At An Exhibition" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". "Pictures At An Exhibition" was a suite written for piano by Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. This band's version of Mussorgsky's beautiful work remains as one of the best examples of a rock version of a classical piece. This wasn't their first treatment of a classical piece. Keith Emerson had made several previous versions of some other classical pieces with The Nice. But it was the first time he reached a mass audience or get heavy radio play, at least some excerpts. It introduced the notion of "classical rock" to millions of listeners, making the classical music seen from another point of view, becoming to be considered less pretentious and more popular into the public. "Nutrocker" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It's a jazz variation of a Tchaikovsky's theme. This is a showcase of the band disposition to light things up after an extended, demanding display of the serious music. This re-elaborated version of a "Nutcracker" section is yet another example of the trio's interest in exploring the roots of chamber music and translating it into a rock context. "Touch And Go" is from the Emerson, Lake & Powell's album. It's a simple rock track. This is a Greg Lake's driven song with his voice sounding steady and clear, with a power to it which had been lacking on the immediately previous albums. It has good and majestic keyboards, an intricate bass line and Powell plays simple and effective drums. This is probably the easiest song to emulate and has a sort of up-tempo and energy with a touch of light classical music. This was the "hit" of that album, the song to be passed on the radios. "The Barbarian" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". Despite it has been attributed to the trio, this is a musical arrangement of a Bela Bartok's piano piece, named "Allegro Barbaro". Although, the original piece is only for piano, the band rearranged the song for organ, bass and drums. It's quite a heavy song, entirely instrumental and almost completely dominated by Keith Emerson's Moog and other synthesizers. This is a great aggressive track with a hard rock influence. "Fanfare For The Common Man" is from "Works Vol. 1". It's a great interpretation of a classical piece of Aaron Copland re- arranged for a rock band. Aaron Copland's original is wonderful, and ELP didn't do a bad job on the arrangements. Synths are heavily used, especially in the later sections. It sounds like the early ELP, being experimental and heroic. "Lucky Man" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's a ballad written by Greg Lake for acoustic guitar, when he was a schoolboy. However, at the beginning, the song wasn't well received by Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. It's a song with acoustic guitar, beautiful singing and a great synthesizer solo towards the end. It's one of the best songs written by Lake. It also became as one of the band's most commercial and accessible tracks in their entire career. "Take A Pebble" is also from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's a beautiful ballad by Lake. This is the lengthiest track on that album. This is a magnificent song with powerful vocals by Greg Lake. It's a soft acoustic track with Greg Lake in fine vocal form and playing some wonderful acoustic guitar. His singing is simply terrific, with the final line of the verses building on the legacy of King Crimson's "Epitaph", which sounds even better.

Conclusion: Like is usual with almost all compilation albums of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, "High Voltage" is a good compilation album from the band, despite it doesn't cover the majority of the career of ELP. Still, and like is also usual with almost all their compilation albums, it has a good selection of tracks where some belong to their best and most progressive phase. It has especially four of their best and most acclaimed pieces. I'm talking about their four lengthy pieces, "Tarkus", "Pictures At An Exhibition", "Fanfare For The Common Man" and "Take A Pebble". Besides that, we can also see some other great tracks from the band that belongs to their golden era, "Nutrocker", "The Barbarian" and "Lucky Man". Even "Touch And Go" from "Emerson, Lake & Powell" is really a great addition to this compilation album.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 878

"Fanfare For The Common Man [The Anthology]" is a compilation of Emerson, Lake & Palmer released in 2001. It has tracks from eight studio albums and of their debut live album. It has four tracks from their eponymous debut, two tracks from their second "Tarkus", six tracks from their third "Trilogy", three tracks from their fourth "Brain Salad Surgery", three tracks from their fifth "Works Vol. 1", two tracks from their sixth "Works Vol. 2", one track from their seventh "Love Beach", two tracks from their ninth "Black Moon" and one track from their first live "Pictures At An Exhibition".

So, "Fanfare For The Common Man [The Anthology]" is a compilation album with twenty four tracks. "The Barbarian" is an arrangement of the Bela Bartok's piano piece "Allegro Barbaro". Despite the original piece be only for piano, the band re-arranged it for organ, bass and drums. This is a version with a strong hard rock influence. "Take A Pebble" is a beautiful ballad with powerful vocals by Lake. His singing is great with the final line of verses building on the legacy of King Crimson's "Epitaph", which sounds even better. "Knife Edge" is based on the first movement of Leos Janacek's "Sinfonietta". It's a great piece with a great showcase by all band's members, with particular emphasis to the great bass lines. "Lucky Man" is a ballad with acoustic guitar, beautiful sung and with a great synth solo in the end. It's one of the best songs by Lake. It's also one of the band's most accessible pieces. "Tarkus" is a complex and fantastic piece with great creativity, experimental and avant-garde for those years. This great prog epic remains a favourite for the fans and was consistently played live. "Jeremy Bender" is in the same mould of "Benny The Bouncer". I'm not a great fan of this kind of songs, but is pleasant enough to hear. "The Sheriff", as I mentioned previously, I don't particularly like this kind of songs despite not be a bad song. "Nutrocker" is a jazz variation of a Tchaikovsky's piece. This re-elaborated version is a good example of the trio's interest in exploring the roots of the chamber music translating it to a rock context. "Living Sin" is a good dark piece. It has different vocals along the song, which is very uncommon with the band. Here, they do a great use of them. "The Endless Enigma" is a great piece, one of their best compositions. Unfortunately, it was rarely performed live. "From The Beginning" is a beautiful acoustic song with Lake on vocals and guitar and with some participation of Emerson in the end of the track. It has a simple structure but it's one of the best compositions of them. "Hoedown" is a re-interpretation of the piece of Aaron Copland, "Rodeo". This is a fantastic piece, another great version made by the band. "Trilogy" is one of their best and most beautiful compositions. It's largely an instrumental very much over piano in the beginning heavily influenced by the classical music. In the middle, the music blasts with all the instruments playing in continuo. "Jerusalem" is a British church hymn. This is the band's arrangement of Charles Hubert Parry's hymn, based on the prologue of William Blake's poem "Milton". It's a great version of the original piece. "Still ... You Turn Me On" is a Lake's classic acoustic ballad in the vein of "Lucky Man" and "From The Beginning". This is one of Lake's best ballads. "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression Pt 2)" is one of the parts of the epic piece "Karn Evil 9". It's an instrumental featuring Emerson on piano sounding like jazz and Palmer's drumming showing his percussion skills. "Fanfare For The Common Man" is a great interpretation of another Copland's piece re-arranged for a rock band. The original is great and the band did a great arrangement. Synths are heavily used, especially in the later sections. "C'Est La Vie" is a well known acoustic song. It's similar in style to Lake's ballads on their earlier albums. I like it, especially of the amazing voice of Lake. "Pirates" was originally written for the soundtrack of a cancelled film of Frederick Forsyth's book, "The Dogs Of War". It's melodic, progressive, dynamic, charming and complex. It has a nice keyboard work and is sung with great passion. "Brain Salad Surgery" is a short piece full of strange and silly keyboard sounds and strange lyrics. This is a sarcastic song. "Honky Tonk Train Blues" is a song with Emerson having fun with the grand piano in a boogie-woogie style while the rest plays in a swing jazzy style. "Love Beach" is a very have simplistic music with few pleasant tunes and with very weak lyrics. I never liked this song. "Black Moon" opens with a tense dark atmosphere created mostly by Emerson's keyboards. The lyrics are biting and the synths give a certain structure to them. "Affairs Of The Heart" is a love ballad with acoustic guitar and a pleasant orchestration, somewhat in the vein of "Lucky Man".

Conclusion: "Fanfare For The Common Man [The Anthology]" is a good compilation of Emerson, Lake & Palmer that is well representative of the band's career at the time, with their first eight studio albums represented. Some of their best and most representative pieces are here, despite be more focused on their less lengthy pieces. It's also true that it has also some weaker tracks, especially "Love Beach". But even the tracks chosen from the "Works" volumes aren't really bad. So and all in all, "Fanfare For The Common Man [The Anthology]" has a good collection of tracks of the band that encompasses a wide variety of their music catalogue. It's nice for those who are looking for a fine sampler of the band.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

This appears to be an at least somewhat truncated version of ELP's California Jam set, though according to setlist.fm the only songs you're actually missing here are Hoedown, Jerusalum, and Tarkus. What remains is a fairly interesting set with significant spotlight on the group's solo talents and some good runthroughs through group tracks, including a sort of "edited highlights" condensation of Karn Evil 9. It's pretty good, though at the same time it's obviously blown out of the water by the far more expansive Welcome Back My Friends live set recorded mere months before. With the significant amounts of solo showboating, it feels like this marks the end of ELP as an actually cohesive band unit; Works, and its emphasis on solo compositions, would see the divergent directions the trio were puling in begin to unravel the band entirely. Still, what a powerful way to go out.

There are several moments in ELP's career that are incredibly significant ? the band's charming beginnings and exploration of classical crossover on their 1970 debut album, the forging of the masterpiece that is 'Tarkus', or the dramatic live adaptation of 'Pictures at an Exhibition' - but even among such greatness, their finest hour remains 'Brain Salad Surgery', the fourth album by the power trio, released in December of 1973. This album is one of the most surreal and audacious works of progressive rock to have ever graced the world of music, replete with aberrant passages of instrumental frenzy, complex and pretentious, humorous and occasionally cynical, there is a bit of everything on 'Brain Salad Surgery', which is one of those fascinating records that musicians study under a microscope for generations; this should speak about just how intricate the music on here is, definitely making up for a cathartic listening experience.

Opening up with the Hubert Parry hymn 'Jerusalem', with Lake singing the words of William Blake, this short introduction leads to one of the most aggressive and majestic compositions of the entire Emerson, Lake & Palmer catalogue - the adaptation of Ginastera's 1st piano concerto, 4th movement, title 'Toccata'. This fiery piece is the brainchild of Emerson, this genius of the keyboards, who successfully interpolates the classical into the framework of a rock compositions in a way that is so complex and innovative that hardly anyone has been able to replicate it since. The semi-acoustic Lake ballad 'Still?You Turn Me On' counterbalances the overall "technical ecstasy" of 'Brain Salad Surgery'. 'Benny the Bouncer' is a ridiculous short track that somehow sits surprisingly well within the context of this flawlessly surreal album and then comes the centerpiece of the entire ELP mythos - the 30-minute suite in three movements, 'Karn Evil 9'. This is a gorgeous, satirical, fantastical and incredibly complex work, and if we have to be honest, this is what ELP is all about and this is where everything sets in; in a word, the point of arrival for this band (and for the progressive rock genre, too).

No matter how imaginative, cluttered and complex 'Brain Salad Surgery' may seem, it is an unmatched release in many terms. The sheer strength of each composition as well as the absurd variety of styles covered are among the reasons why this is a monumental art rock album, to this day remaining the most consistent but also most absurd Emerson, Lake & Palmer achievement.

This band and this album is way to low rated without reason. Really, we taking about 1986 type of symphonic prog with some AOR a la Asia, well the result is not bad at all. All members involved are super musicians and is shown on every track here, Cozy Powell is the master on drums and respected among all musicians of any genre and the other two are from famous ELP, the keyboard wizard Emerson and the bass machine Lake.

Simply named self titled issued in 1986, this is a solid album all the way to my ears, instrumental greatness, 80's keyboard driven prog rock as must sound this type of music for that period. All pieces are strong. Simply and well worth 3.5 stars from me. A nice forgotten one. Similar to some Rick Wakeman albums around that era

Review Nº 867

"The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a compilation of Emerson, Lake & Palmer that was released in 2001. It's a compilation album with tracks from five of their works, two tracks from their eponymous debut album, two tracks from their third album "Trilogy", four tracks from their fourth album "Brain Salad Surgery", three track from their fifth album "Works Vol. 1" and two tracks from their debut live album "Pictures At An Exhibition". It has also a non-album's track.

"The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" has fourteen tracks. "Lucky Man" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's a ballad for acoustic guitar. It's a song with acoustic guitar, beautiful singing and a great synthesizer solo towards the end. It's one of the best songs written by Lake. It became as one of the band's most commercial and accessible tracks in their career. "Knife-Edge" is from "Emerson, Lake & Palmer". It's based on the first movement of Leos Janacek's "Sinfonietta" classical piece. This is another piece with a fantastic showcase by all band's members, with particular emphasis to great bass lines. "From The Beginning" is from "Trilogy". It's a beautiful acoustic song featuring Lake on vocals and guitar with some participation of Emerson in the end of the track. It's a song with a simple structure. We can say this is one of the best compositions written by Lake for the band. "Trilogy" is from "Trilogy". It's one of the highest moments on that album, one of their best and most beautiful compositions. It's largely an instrumental piece much over piano in the beginning, heavily influenced by the classical music. In the middle, the music blasts with all instruments playing in continuo. "Jerusalem" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's a classical British church hymn. This is a band's arrangement of Charles Hubert Parry's hymn, based on the prologue of William Blake's poem "Milton". This is a great version of the original piece. "Toccata" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". This is an instrumental track based on the fourth movement of Alberto Ginastera's "1st Piano Concert". This is a modern classical piece created by an Argentinean composer and re- arranged by Emerson. This is a great interpretation by the band. "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 2)" is a track from "Brain Salad Surgery". "Karn Evil 9" is a great opus. It's divided into three movements or impressions. Here we have only the "First Impression Part 2". It's an instrumental track featuring Emerson on piano sounding like jazz and Palmer's drumming showing his percussion skills. "Still... You Turn Me On" is from "Brain Salad Surgery". It's the obligatory acoustic number of that album. It's a Lake's classic acoustic ballad in the vein of "Lucky Man" and "From The Beginning". It's one of Lake's best ballads, a big radio hit in USA. "Pirates" is from "Works Vol. 1". It was originally written for the soundtrack of a cancelled film version of the Frederick Forsyth's book, "The Dogs Of War". It's melodic, progressive, dynamic, charming and complex. It has a great mix of contemporary classical music with a nice keyboard work and it's sung by Lake with great passion. "Fanfare For The Common Man" is from "Works Vol. 1". It's a great interpretation of a classical piece of Aaron Copland re-arranged for rock. Copland's original is great and ELP didn't make a bad job on the arrangements. Synths are heavily used, especially in the later sections. It sounds like early ELP, being experimental and heroic. "C'Est La Vie" is from "Works Vol. 1". This is a well known acoustic song. It's probably the most similar in style to Lake's ballads on their earlier albums. I like it, especially of the amazing voice of him. "Peter Gunn" is a non-album's track. It's an instrumental by the American composer Henry Mancini. The song was written for the television program of the same name. Emerson, Lake & Palmer decided to release a cover of the song on their live album "Emerson, Lake & Palmer In Concert". This is a live version and is a great cover. "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It's a short and energetic melodic instrumental. It sticks solely to Mussorgsky without co-writing credits from Emerson and Palmer. This is a fast paced piece with bass and percussion supporting Emerson's Hammond. "The Great Gates Of Kiev" is from "Pictures At An Exhibition". It contains the most solemn moments of the opus, including some organ-toying by Emerson. The culminating climax generates an enthusiastic response from the audience. This is a majestic piece. It exposes the true sense of prog, which is, the classical music mixed with rock.

Conclusion: "The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is one of the many compilation albums of the band and as happened with many of them, it's also a good compilation album of ELP. It revisits some of the best tracks of them that belong to some of their best albums. I'm especially talking about some of the tracks that were taken from their albums, "Emerson, Lake & Palmer", "Pictures At An Exhibition", "Trilogy" and "Brain Salad Surgery". They're all great but with an especial emphasis to their most elaborated tracks, "Knife-Edge", "Toccata", "Karn Evil 9 (1st Impression - Part 2)", "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" and "The Great Gates Of Kiev". But, even the three tracks from "Works Vol. 1" are all great, especially "Fanfare For The Common Man". Finally, the non-album's track "Peter Gunn" is a nice addition to this compilation too. So, "The Very Best Of Emerson, Lake & Palmer" is a good compilation album that deserves 3 stars.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

I don't put this on the same level as their Isle of Wight performance or Welcome Back My Friends - two live releases which between them touch all the bases this release does - but I do think this is a really solid live performance from ELP which further showcases how good they were in a festival environment. The lack of novelty goof-off tracks is certainly appreciated - I always found that those dragged down ELP's studio albums a tad, so having a setlist which is all killer, no filler is decidedly positive - and the performance of Tarkus here is grand.

Review Nº 862

"Works Live" is the fifth live album of Emerson, Lake & Palmer and was recorded at the 26 August 1977 at the Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Canada, which is featured on the album's cover, but it was only released in 1993. It was the later re-released and re-packaged from their third live album "Emerson Lake & Palmer In Concert", released in November 1979, following Emerson, Lake & Palmer's break up. So, we can say that "Works Live" is nothing more than an extended version of "Emerson Lake & Palmer In Concert". "Works Live" has about twice of the tracks of the live original release.

"Works Live" is an album taken from their "Works Vol. 2" live tour, the last live tour released by Emerson Lake & Palmer before the breakup of the band. So, this is a live album that, consequently, features essentially tracks that were released on their two last studio albums, at the time, "Works Vol. 1" and "Works Vol. 2". Both were released in 1977.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer hired a 70's piece orchestra for some live concerts of this live tour but eventually they had to dismiss the orchestra due to budget constraints that almost bankrupted the band. On this live release, the orchestra performs on tracks "C'Est La Vie", on "Fanfare For The Commom Man", on "Knife Edge", on "Abaddon's Bolero", on "Pictures At An Exhibition", on "Closer To Believing", on Keith Emerson's "Piano Concerto No. 1", and on "Tank".

"Works Live" has fifteen tracks. "Introductory Fanfare" is a very short track, composed by Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. It represents the theme to open the concert and is pleasant enough to introduce the live show to the audience. "Peter Gun (Henry Mancini)" is a version of a classic TV theme song, an American private eye television series which aired from 1958 to 1961. It was never released on any of their studio albums and frequently the band opened with this song on the "Works Vol. 2" live tour. A slightly edited version of this live recording was included on the 1980 "Best Of" compilation and released as a single in some countries. "Tiger In A Spotlight" was released on their sixth studio album "Works Vol. 2". "C'Est La Vie" was released on their fifth studio album "Works Vol. 1". "Watching Over You" was released on "Works Vol. 2". "Maple Leaf Rag" was released on "Works Vol. 2". "The Enemy God Dances With The Black Spirits (Excerpt From "The Scythian Suite" 2nd Movement - Prokofiev)" was released on "Works Vol. 1". "Fanfare For The Common Man" was released on "Works Vol. 1". "Knife Edge (Adapted From Janacek's "Sinfonietta" was released on their eponymous debut studio album. "Show Me The Way To Go Home" was released on "Works Vol. 2". "Abaddon's Bolero" was released on their third studio album "Trilogy". "Pictures At An Exhibition" was released on their debut live album "Pictures At An Exhibition". "Closer To Believing" was released on "Works Vol. 1". "Piano Concerto No. 1 (Third Movement: Toccata Con Fuoco)" was released on "Works Vol. 1". "Tank" was released on "Works Vol. 1".

We can divide "Works Live" in two different parts, the "Works" tracks and the others. "Works Live" was opened with "Introductory Fanfare" a nice introduction to the show. "Peter Gun" is an interesting version, a fresh way of the original theme. About the "Works" tracks, we can say that there is some great material here. So, about all those tracks, we can highlight "C'Est La Vie", "The Enemy God Dances With The Black Spirits", "Fanfare For The Common Man", "Piano Concerto No. 1 (Third Movement: Toccata Con Fuoco)" and "Tank". "C'Est La Vie" is a great track, of the band. This is a Lake's song, one of his best contributions to the band. It's one of the highest points on the album. "The Enemy God Dances With The Black Spirits" is the band's treatment of a Prokofiev's suite. This is a very nice track, a storming and dramatic interpretation by the band. "Fanfare For The Common Man" is a great interpretation of a piece of Aaron Copland re-arranged for a rock band. "Piano Concerto No. 1 (Third Movement: Toccata Con Fuoco)" is a highest point here. I always loved this piece. "Tank" is an interesting remake of the original with an orchestral accompaniment. About the tracks before "Works" albums, "Knife Edge (Adapted From Janacek's "Sinfonietta" is a great piece that showcases with particular emphasis the great bass lines. "Abaddon's Bolero" has a simple structure with a theme that gradually builds a hypnotic climax. "Pictures At An Exhibition" is a nice new version performed with the addition of the orchestra.

Conclusion: As I said before, "Works Live" is a re-released and re-packaged from their third live album "Emerson Lake & Palmer In Concert". As its name indicates and I mentioned above, "Works Live" was released to promote "Works Vol. 2" before the band breakup. So, it's not strange that the focus of this live concert was centred on "Works" albums. And as we know, "Works" albums aren't properly the best and most representative albums of the band's career. Besides, "Works Live" was essentially an obligated release. Even though, "Works Live" is a good live album that presents itself as a showcase of the band, incorporating each member's skill separated and the band working together as a band. And, "Works Live" completes "Emerson Lake & Palmer In Concert". Besides, the addition of the orchestra isn't that bad either, and makes for a great compliment to the band, and adds much needed atmosphere to the band's performance.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)