In defense of Works

It was evident that ELP had lost its inventiveness after Brain Salad Surgery and a tiring tour. They chose to have a double LP with each member contributing a side and the last side being a collaborative effort, instead of a one-disc album where they perform as a group. And the result of such a decision is probably the most terrible double-LP album in the history of the genre. Only Lake's material has some lovely moments as well as parts with him on the vocals on Pirates.

Love Beach, despite its awful sleeve design, is a masterpiece album in comparison with Works.

There was a 3 year gap between BSS and Works so I don't think the World Tour of 1973/74 had much to do with it. They wanted to release 3 solo albums but the record company wouldn't allow it so they had to compromise. Carl Palmer had the most interesting material and along with his excellent Percussion concerto (composed by Joseph Horowitz) could have put out a strong legit solo album. Lake had a had a hit with his Xmas record and had some recognition as a solo artist but he wasn't prolific as far as writing songs go so a full album would have been tricky. Emerson was very much tied to the band but eventually put out some excellent solo albums in the 80's. One of the good things that came out of Works (more specifically the tour) was the link up with orchestral conductor Godfrey Salmon. Salmon helped with the arrangements of Inferno and Nighthawks. For Works Emerson had used John Mayer who was the leader of the London Philharmonic and who had also orchestrated the 1972 track Abaddons Bolero. He did a fine job imo.

Works had a reason for existing and made some sense at least. Love Beach was poorly conceived and none of the excitement or inspiration that made the band what it was was there anymore. It's hard to take an album that includes A Taste Of My Love seriously. If it was meant ironically then we could have laughed but actually it was meant to be serious. Works is at least listenable and Fanfare For The Common Man was and still is a very unique sounding piece of music. That carried the last vestige of magic that once surrounded the band. Ultimately they were pretty much done by 1974 in terms of creative ideas and should have stopped then (yes I made this point on the other thread and it's still true).

 I get why folks don't dig Works.  I agree with Octopus-4.  Palmer's side is the weakest.  

Agreed - the post-modern irony of the cover of 'Love Beach' is also lost on most prog fans.  Throbbing Gristle did something similar with '20 Jazz Funk Greats' atop Beachy Head.

I was hugely disappointed when I heard Throbbing Gristle's 20 Jazz Funk Greats for the first time recently, because I really was expecting to hear some Jazz Funk Greats, but instead, it turned out to be an unlistenable Avant Prog album.