Emerson, Lake & Palmer Album: “Works, Vol. 1”

Pretentious, self-indulgent, pompous, ELP's heard em all. While this album may arguably deserve those criticisms more than any of their others, and it seems in danger of becoming a muddled, bombastic mess at times, it never does. It's kept from crossing the line just because (almost) everything works so well.

Emerson's piano concerto is considered one of his finest works, and rightly so. The piano-and-strings orchestration may also be much more palatable to some than the endless array of keyboard and organ sounds used on other albums. Lake provides a lush, dreamy set of tunes done with wonderful orchestration, and his voice is at its finest. Palmer gives an indication what an underrated drummer he is; his selections aren't mind-blowing musically, but display a percussive inventiveness on a level with Bill Bruford or Terry Bozzio. The group pieces, like everything else, aren't quite perfect. "Fanfare" is probably as bombastic as ELP ever got; listenable but somewhat overwhelming. At times it flies, at other times Emerson's organ sounds as though it's being mercilessly throttled to death. "Pirates" paints a vivid picture of sunny lagoons and high seas before the first word is even sung; it's one of their most well-composed pieces.

Not a recommended album for those new to the band (Trilogy or the self-titled album would be better), this is nevertheless a well-produced and satisfying work, and the most pure classical album they've done. Recommended despite some small flaws.

I used to listen to "Pirates" every morning before I went to school up until the time I was about 8 years old. This is what pirate music should sound like. When I heard the music for "that disney movie", I was like, "This doesn't sound like Pirates at all!"...the ELP song has forever burnt in my head what a soundscape to a swashbuckling adventure should be like, and it shall do the same for you. Buy it for Pirates.

The Emerson piano concerto isn't exactly Beethoven but it is still interesting in it's own way. Frankly I expected something less "pop" in a real concerto and more "Stravinsky"-ish from Emerson. Pay no attention to Larry Crane's comments about Lake. These songs are among the best Lake ever did. The other E.L.P. fans I know say this is about their favorite album just for the great Lake songs. Most but not all of the Palmer songs aren't that great, this type of weird fusion of New Orleans jazz and rock just didn't fly with me. Give it a listen to somewhere before you buy, you'll probably like it.

Keith composes a Piano Concerto that is very pro and enjoyable. - A+

Greg has a side of his "romantic" and "black humor" tunes he wrote with Sinfield. - A-

Carl does a side with Joe Walsh with some instrumental works that are nothing special and a pointless re-recording of Tank , however he does well with the classical Enemy God - C+

ELP 'comeback' with the Yamaha GX1 instead of the Hammond Organ on the brilliant Fanfare and the epic Pirates - A+

When one hears this album they are amazed how ELP went from BSS to Works !Group to Solos for each and 2 SONGS by the whole band,frankly I am amazed that they put 2 in.About my White Album ref.it was late in the bands history (one album before Love Beach). If you want a fair representative of the Works seriesget a hold of a copy of Works Live,the sound isn't great but the music makes up in full for it.Decent but not Great.