Emerson, Lake & Palmer

The boys were gods, really. And Love Beach wasn't altogether bad. It's Emerson, Lake, & Powell and onward that I could never warm up to. Should have packed it in after 'Beach.

^ sorry it's just so dull to me.

My two-bob's worth - Works 1 is mostly a class act. I enjoy the individual facets here that make ELP what they are (were). Lake's singer/songwriter approach is hit and miss - as others have said - Hallowed Be Thy Name is excellent. Carl's side is very interesting. Keith's Piano Concerto is a bit more 'elitist' but a very pretty listen. The group side is classic.
The left-over fragments which make up Volume 2, even if a bit of an afterthought, is also good, Carl's work especially.
And Love Beach. Well, I like the bulk of it. Had it been presented in a better package (I.e. not a 'honky version of Pablo Cruise', as Hugues so aptly described in his review of the album) I'm certain it wouldn't get (as many) bad raps that it does. Sure, still some cheeze to cut through, but still some fine things to be heard.

Edited by Tom Ozric - August 21 2017 at 14:46

omphaloskepsis wrote: richardh wrote: Works Volume One is still for me the album I struggle to get my head round in terms of ELP back catalogue. It's easy to have an opinion about the others whether negative or positive but Works really showed what a challenge it was to keep this band from careering off the road ( and they did of course!) . I absolutely love Pirates  and the version of Tank as well as the Buddy Rich inspired Food For Your Soul but there is some 'dodgy' stuff on Lake's side and I've never been quite convinced by the long version of Fanfare For The Common Man. As a 2 minute 'hit' it was fine. Emerson's piano concerto is good but does it really belong on a group album? (but you could say this about a lot of the album of course)  Apparently it was originally intended to be 3 separate solo releases but Atlantic records were not keen. I think they could have called it a day after this album but presumably they were obligated to release further albums even though creatively there was just nothing left. Shame really and this must have been a big regret for them.  ELPowell is another story. Carl not available so Cozy was drafted in although I gather that Simon Phillips was up for it and would have been a better choice imo. It's quite a fragmented album idea wise (but then that's typical ELP I suppose) and some bits work while others don't. Its a pity they didn't stick with this line up for a bit longer as I think it had the potential to grow into something interesting but Palmer was always going to return once his Asia commitment was over.   How strange...I listen to Works Vol 1 more than any ELP album.   The lyrics to Hallowed be Thy Name are genius. Check out the words within words theme.   I purchased Works Vol 1 when it came out... I was 13.  Maybe that has something to do with my love affair with Works 1.   Whatever anyone says...Works Vol 1 is a one of kind album.

richardh wrote: Works Volume One is still for me the album I struggle to get my head round in terms of ELP back catalogue. It's easy to have an opinion about the others whether negative or positive but Works really showed what a challenge it was to keep this band from careering off the road ( and they did of course!) . I absolutely love Pirates  and the version of Tank as well as the Buddy Rich inspired Food For Your Soul but there is some 'dodgy' stuff on Lake's side and I've never been quite convinced by the long version of Fanfare For The Common Man. As a 2 minute 'hit' it was fine. Emerson's piano concerto is good but does it really belong on a group album? (but you could say this about a lot of the album of course)  Apparently it was originally intended to be 3 separate solo releases but Atlantic records were not keen. I think they could have called it a day after this album but presumably they were obligated to release further albums even though creatively there was just nothing left. Shame really and this must have been a big regret for them.  ELPowell is another story. Carl not available so Cozy was drafted in although I gather that Simon Phillips was up for it and would have been a better choice imo. It's quite a fragmented album idea wise (but then that's typical ELP I suppose) and some bits work while others don't. Its a pity they didn't stick with this line up for a bit longer as I think it had the potential to grow into something interesting but Palmer was always going to return once his Asia commitment was over.

^Spelt correctly! That would have been a fine track had it not been recorded using those plastic Korg sounds of the time.

YESESIS wrote: richardh wrote: Works Volume One is still for me the album I struggle to get my head round in terms of ELP back catalogue. It's easy to have an opinion about the others whether negative or positive but Works really showed what a challenge it was to keep this band from careering off the road ( and they did of course!) . I absolutely love Pirates  and the version of Tank as well as the Buddy Rich inspired Food For Your Soul but there is some 'dodgy' stuff on Lake's side and I've never been quite convinced by the long version of Fanfare For The Common Man. As a 2 minute 'hit' it was fine. Emerson's piano concerto is good but does it really belong on a group album? (but you could say this about a lot of the album of course)  Apparently it was originally intended to be 3 separate solo releases but Atlantic records were not keen. I think they could have called it a day after this album but presumably they were obligated to release further albums even though creatively there was just nothing left. Shame really and this must have been a big regret for them.  ELPowell is another story. Carl not available so Cozy was drafted in although I gather that Simon Phillips was up for it and would have been a better choice imo. It's quite a fragmented album idea wise (but then that's typical ELP I suppose) and some bits work while others don't. Its a pity they didn't stick with this line up for a bit longer as I think it had the potential to grow into something interesting but Palmer was always going to return once his Asia commitment was over.   Works Volume One is not that good until it gets to the Palmer stuff imo. Idk, for the most part I like it but real step down from the earlier albums and then I guess they were never the same after that. But those first four studio albums are still good enough to make them one of the three best prog bands ever imo.

presdoug wrote: ^ Oops, I forgot to mention Tarkus in my previous post. I love the whole album, actually. Especially side one. They opened their Ottawa concert with that, and inserted music from other albums of theirs in the middle of things, which was cool.

Yeah the first side of Tarkus is awesome, I love it. And man that concert sounds great. Wish I could travel back in time and go to it but oh well.

chopper wrote: richardh wrote: I gather that Simon Phillips was up for it   Well, he does have the main qualification.

That and he can play the the drums. I would have change my name to Andy Peters if it had got me in. They may have been disappointed though.

Edited by Blacksword - August 16 2017 at 06:56

^ Oops, I forgot to mention Tarkus in my previous post. I love the whole album, actually. Especially side one. They opened their Ottawa concert with that, and inserted music from other albums of theirs in the middle of things, which was cool.