WORKS VOL. 1

ELP made 5 great albums between 1970 to 1973. It seems most reviewers here feel that what came later was not the same level. I think diferent. It is mostly solo works but does that an important matter ? The first side of the double old LP is the piano concerto of Emerson. I never felt so strongly the beauty of a clasical piece (except "the adoration of the earth" the first part of Stravinsky's "the rite of spring") and it's realy beauty to tears. the second side is 5 love songs (or ballads) written by Greg Lake & Peter Sinfield. All songs are very nice except "Hallowed be thy name" which is briliant. And that is the worst side of the four ! The third side shows Carl Palmer works, well, not exactly. only 3 of the 6 cuts here are solely palmer's (and one of those is based on Bach). The first cut based on Prokofiev is arranged by all members and they make Prokofiev sound energetic like he never knew he can. this is a magical moment. The "two parts invention in D minor" is beautyful but this time I suspect it has more to do with Bach (that you can allways recognize, no matter who plays it). "Food for your soal" & "New Orleans" are 100% Palmer's and both nice, jazzy influenced pieces." L.A. nights" done by Emerson & Palmer is another strong piece as "tank" that was originally put in their first album and does not sounds different after 7 years and it's a wonder why they concluded it again this time. After all I think Palmer as a composer is here at his best. The forth side is theoretically the band's co-operation but the first one (out of two) is an arrangment of Emerson to another Copeland (remember howedon ?). It is called "fanfare to the conmmon man" and it is one of the best I ever heard. The last one is a 13 minutes song written by Emerson Lake & Sinfield - an epic song called pirates. This is very similar to some great cuts from the past (it reminds me a bit of trilogy) and a great way to end an almost perfect album. To be honest a rate of 4.5 stars will be more accurate than 5 but you guys took it so much down my 5 stars may balance a bit the situation. In my eyes your ELP collection is not done without this album.