Works Volume 1

Emerson, Lake & Palmer's long absence from the rock arena broke during the heyday of "punk." While the band's surfeit had always been an easy target for pundits, Works Volume 1 was perhaps their most unfashionable offering to date. Styled to resemble an album of classical music, even the black-and-white album cover cries pretension. Three sides of the vinyl are each credited to a band member, while the fourth is claimed by the band as a unit. Keith Emerson's contribution is "Piano Concerto No. 1." Influenced by the usual suspects (Copeland, Ravel), it was a side of classical music, featuring the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with John Mayer conducting. Greg Lake's songs are both overtly earnest and unmemorable, although he did provide the album's single, the languorous "C'est La Vie" b/w "Brain Salad Surgery." Pete Sinfield's lyrics and Godfrey Salmon's syrupy orchestrations are well-matched companions to the singer's overwrought croon—that is, if you like that kind of pap. The diversity of Palmer's side fares better; and on a positive note, he did manage to get two-thirds of the way through without a drum solo. The fourth side provides one track of redemption: ELP's cover of Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man." Broad, bold and, of course, somewhat pretentious, it just works; it also provided the band with a No. 2 single in the UK. "Pirates" follows, however look to live versions by the trio for a more definitive version. But whatever was written or said about the album (it was universally panned), it was a success, reaching upwards to the Top 10 spot on both sides of the Atlantic. Works Volume 2, a compilation of shorter tracks recorded over the preceding years (including the non-album track "Brain Salad Surgery" and Greg Lake's 1975 hit "I Believe In Father Christmas"), saw release six months later. ELP would then embark with a full orchestra in tow (though quickly jettisoned), for a well-attended though financially disastrous tour of North America in 1977, recordings of which were eventually released as In Concert in 1979.