Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Piano Concerto No 1 - Keith Emerson
2. Lend Your Love To Me Tonight - Greg Lake
3. C'Est La Vie - Greg Lake
4. Hallowed Be Thy Name - Greg Lake
5. Nobody Loves You Like I Do - Greg Lake
6. Closer To Believing - Greg Lake

Disc 2:

1. The Enemy God Dances With The Black Spirits - Carl Palmer
2. L.A. Nights - Carl Palmer
3. New Orleans - Carl Palmer
4. Two Part Invention In D Minor - Carl Palmer
5. Food For Your Soul - Carl Palmer
6. Tank - Carl Palmer
7. Fanfare For The Common Man - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
8. Pirates - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
9. Tank - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
10. The Enemy God Dances With The Black Spirits - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
11. Nutrocker - Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48871 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Running time: 105 minutes

CD Description
The larger-than-life music created by ELP was dependent upon the equally sizable musical/personal egos of its members. By 1977, the inevitable acrimony between the three had caused an aesthetic and spiritual decline. On the two separately issued volumes of WORKS, we can see a band on the verge of coming apart. Though the songs and arrangements are uniformlystrong, there's precious little interaction. Ironically, this allowed the members' individual styles to be seen that much more clearly.
The double-length WORKS VOL. 1 is arguably ELP's last great album. Taking the personal segregation to extremes, each member of the group was given one solo side(ah, vinyl) and they participated on one group-oriented side. Emerson is represented by a self-penned piano concerto, his finest straight-classical composition up to that point. Palmer exploits the full range of his percussive abilities onsix varied instrumental tracks. Lake naturally offers up some impressive romantic balladry. The group side features thealbum's highlight; an orchestral epic tale called "Pirates", its intrigue-on-the-sea lyrics written by former King Crimson lyricist Pete Sinfield, and its music some of the most sophisticated ELP ever produced.

Customer Reviews

READ! PLEASE READ!
None of you appreciate this for what it is. ELP pretty much dissapeared in 1974 after a long tour on their album brain salad surgery and reappeared in 1977 with 'Works' volume 1. It originally came out on a double vinyl set with each of the band members owning a side, and the last for the band together again. Emersons side was taken up entirelly with his piano concierto, an amazing piece with three movements from a rock organist! and as good as any modern composser gets. Greg Lakes covers his side with acousticly bassed guitar and singing with his incredable voice, and also orchestrated. Carl Palmers amazing mixture of jazz, classical, and rock, with his outstading lead percussion, also fully orchestrated. The band together again feature a variation of the famous 'Fanfare for the Common Man' with a great jazz/rock middle section. Secondly on the band side is 'Pirates' originally to be used as a soundtrack for a film that never took flight, with very deep and excellent lyrics which Lake and Seinfield (King Crimson member) worked on for a year after diving into in-depth reaserch on the subject. If you dislike this album from its retreat from rock, thats just your opinion on classical/jazz music, and doesnt justify your degrading of an obviously great piece of music. It is progressive yes, but its the best classical music/rock music variation album there is to date. After the realease of the album the band went on tour with a hand picked 60 piece orchestra from the London Symphony Orchestra, that alone is a great feat. Leonard Bernstein (One of the most famous compossers of our time) quoted he felt even a little bit intimidated that a modern pop group could create such good music. You people (reference to the reviewers below) allways ask for change, for new ideas, but when one hits you. You suddenly realize that what you allways want, where your inner desire lies is in the fact that change breeds contempt and you dont understand, what you want in repeated and monotonous terms is the samiliarity and perhaps only a slight change from the procceding albums.

An erratic mix
Browsing through the reviews for this CD I think I would have been put off buying this if that was all I was basing my decision on. But I knew many of the tracks when I made my choice - even if some were a shade forgotten.
It earns a 3 star rating from me as an average - but there is some pretty good stuff here too: 'Fanfare for the Common Man', plus the rousing 'Pirates' - and I'm sure that Keith's Piano Concerto 1 will grow on you too. The trouble is that those 4 star outings are let down by some of the other solo material. Worth picking up if you see it on special offer.

A strange musical sarnie.
This album is made up of 4 sections, 3 made up of seperate pieces made by each member and the 4 part tracks by the full band. Each track, on it's own, is brilliant. However listening to the whole thing is a bit strange. It's like a meal where you have all your favourite things on one plate. You may like steak, ice cream, chocolate and prawns but you don't want them all on the same plate just mixed up as one serving (or most people wouldn't anyway!).
I have this CD in my car and I tend to listen to seperate sections then change the cd rather than listen to it all in one go. However Greg Lake's song C'est La Vie is probably one of the greatest love songs ever made and, along with the mammoth version of Fanfare for the Common Man, make it worth buying the CD for those on there own. All the other tracks are an added bonus.