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#12 in US (May 77) |
#2 in UK (July 77); "C'est La Vie," #91 in US (Sept 77) |
| Works, Volume 1, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in April, 1977. ELPfan 09's rating: 10/10 |
Keith Emerson
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In ELP's equivalent of the White Album, each band member gets one side in this double album to highlight their skills. Emerson uses this to pursue his dream to write and record with an orchestra, completing his "Piano Concerto No. 1." The London Philharmonic Orchestra performs during the recording.
Lake composes and performs 5 songs with the help of Peter Sinfield. "C'est La Vie" and "Closer to Believing" are accoustical ballads similar to "Lucky Man" and "From the Beginning." All songs feature Lake's guitar and vocal talents very effectively.
Obviously, Palmer's side is my favoirte off this album. "The Enemy God," a piece by Prokofieff, has Palmer playing on drums, xylophone and timpani, showing off all sides of his percussive skills. "L.A. Nights," "New Orleans" and "Food For Your Soul" are great rock pieces that Palmer wrote, with help from Emerson on "L.A. Nights" and Harry South on "Food For Your Soul." "Two Part Inversion in D Minor," written by J.S. Bach, has Palmer playing vibraphone and James Blades on marimba. The side ends with an orchestrial version of "Tank" from Emerson, Lake & Palmer ends the third side.
The final side rejoins the band with an adaption of Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man." All I can say is "awesome." And the orchestrial epic "Pirates" is also a great song. The Orchestra de l'Opera de Paris is used during the recording. Since most songs include an orchestra, for ELP's next tour, they auditioned and hired their own personal orchestra to tour with them. Despite the revolutionary idea, the payrole was too high to be practical for too long, and the orchestra was dropped after a few weeks. The results of this tour are on the album Works Live.
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