Search - Emerson Lake & Palmer :: Works Live

Excellent live show recording

J. Talsma | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 03/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Apart from the somewhat misleading title - originally this was on vinyl an single album version called "In Concert" which is more apt but also more worn, like "Live" and the likes - because not all the songs are from the both Work albums, this is a true liverecording in a format few bands could do and fewer have done. It was the strong wish of Keith Emerson to perform live with the aid of an orchestra. After having released four studio and 2 live recordings he opted for a change of direction, willing to put ELP on stake as one of the others would refuse to tour with a big backing by other musicians and a conducter. Having performed his piano etude on Works vol. 1 with such an orchestra and worked with others on some of the Vol. 2 tracks, Lake did the same with his ballads on Vol. 1 and the group effort "Pirates." Even Palmer teamed up with several other musicians to work toghether and used a full orchestre on a few tracks. Although band and orchestra gelled toghether they played only a handful of shows in the U.S. All kind of rules distracted them from working together each night and the costs were increasing. The band was not able to pay the orchestramembers and the whole project was blown up, leaving ELP in dire straits. They had to play many 3 piece shows to recover the debts. Not many people therefore had the honor of seeing band and orchestra playing the music of ELP on a larger scale. Their complex compositions seem to be tailormade for this format. Using the unique Yamaha GX1 triplekeyboardsynthesizer extensively Emersons play gells with the orchestra as one. He is backing Lake with his ballads and even immitates the harmonica in one those tracks, in another the accordion. The whole package breathes more than the also outstanding live "Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends", (no songs biting each other, the setlists differ complety). The Works albums were mostly soloprojects, only a handful of songs were groupefforts. "Fanfare for the Common Man" was one of them and here in a great rendition. "Knife Edge" form the first album, wins with the extra backing, so does on the later added side "Abaddon's Bolero" from the "Trilogy" album, and even the already famous adaption of Mussorsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", clocking in over a quarter, which was omitted from the setlist after the release of "Tarkus" album for a long time, gains from the orchestrabacking. Not many bands have made progress like ELP did and certainly not to this extent. Sadly many problems overcame the band when bringing this outfit on the road. This album, a 2 CD, is a fitting souvenir from that era. It fusions all kinds of music, rock, classical, folk, and brings a broader instrumental view. The sound is crystalclear and crisp. It adds to the ouevre of one of the best progressive rockbands. As such it stands on his own. It certainly has more to offer than the albums after which is named.

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A Good Selection

Progessive Rock Fan | Denver, CO | 08/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're an ELP fan you will like this one. The sound quality is very good, and it is one of the few chances to hear the band with a symphony as backup. I have the vinyl release of this album from the 70's and the CD sounds just as good as the vinyl. It also includes a 2nd disc of unreleased material from the tour that was not included on the vinyl version."