E.L.P. Works Volume One: the solo sides

ELP had intended to release solo albums concurrently but Ahmet Ertegun was not having any of it and insisted they do a group album first. In the end it was a fudge. The world watched and and it failed to achieve the success of earlier ELP albums. It was not just the structure it was the fact that they decided to move away from the more electronic based style of Brain Salad Surgery to the mainly acoustic stylings that were apparent on the album. Greg Lake was not the biggest fan of the heavy moog synth barrage and steadfastly refused to entertain any idea that they should go this way again. Lake also had had a big solo hit with I Believe In Father Christmas while Emerson was in the Italian and UK charts with Honky Tonk Train Blues, his homage to classic American ragtime like Scott Joplin. ELP played Mapel Leaf Rag on the Works tour as well. I like some of the Greg Lake/ Peter Sinfield sonsg but mostly it's a bit dull. Emerson's Piano Concerto is great and they opened with it at the Montreal Olympic Stadium gig! He wrote most of it on a boring train journey between Brighton and London and it was mostly inspired by Aaron Copland's Apalatian Spring.

Side 1 gets my vote. That and KE9 - 2nd Impression are my two favorite Emerson piano works...