WORKS VOL. 1

Uh-oh, trouble on the Goodship Lolliprog. This is where ELP begin to unravel. When the majority of the album is devoted to individual compostions, there's a problem. The album opens with the prog excess of Keith Emerson. He decides to treat us with his very own concerto. I swear, this man is so prentious even Rick Wakeman thinks he's a bit stuffy. Lake's material is a bit more digestible yet no more enjoyable slab of borederline radio- friendly tunes, the most egregious being "C'est La Vie."

Palmer's side almost (note the almost) redeems things.His reworking of "Tank" is quite nice, while overall there is more attention to the music here than on the other two sides. The final side, which shows the band playing together, is an indicator that they still had some fight left. The re-working of "Fanfare" is an ELP classic, while "Pirates" is good despite some weird orchestration. Things are helped greatly by the lyrics.

The band would follow up this mostly banal album with an outtakes collection full of songs that were outtakes for a reason. Take a good look, fans, it's all downhill from here.

Grade: D