| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Introductory Fanfare | | | | ||
| 2. Peter Gunn | | | | ||
| 3. Tiger In A Spotlight | | | | | |
| 4. C'est La Vie | | | | | |
| 5. Watching Over You | | | | ||
| 6. Maple Leaf Rag | | | | | |
| 7. The Enemy God | | | | | |
| 8. Fanfare For The Common Man | | | | | |
| 9. Knife Edge | | | | | |
| 10. Show Me The Way To Go Home | | | | ||
| 11. Abaddon's Bolero | | | | | |
| 12. Picture At An Exhibition | | | | | |
| 13. Closer To Believing | | | | ||
| 14. Piano Concerto No. 1 (iii) | | | | | |
| 15. Tank | | | | | |
with orchestral accompaniment, conducted by Godfrey Salmon
Credits as per original album releases.
Works Live is the expanded version of ELP In Concert, which was originally released in 1979. The 1993 reissue adds "Watching Over You", "Maple Leaf Rag", "Fanfare For The Common Man", "Show Me The Way To Go Home", "Abaddon's Bolero", "Closer To Believing" and "Tank".
The intention of this work was to capture ELP live in their final concert appearance of the 1970s, performing mostly works from the Works albums in Montreal, 1977. This, naturally, leads to a few problems as regards the quality of the material. Although the critical backlash against the Works series may have a bit extreme, some of the criticism was indeed valid; by focusing primarily on these songs, the album cannot help but seem a bit substandard (even if the performances are sometimes better than those on the original albums). Furthermore, the union of an orchestra with a rock band in a live setting is frequently a formula for disaster, and while nothing earth-shatteringly bad comes about from this particular mingling, the problems in coordination tend to bring a few of the songs down by a few notches.
This does not mean, though, that Works Live is a bad album. Despite the fact that it has generally been dismissed by mainstream critics, it actually serves as a reasonably proficient portrait of ELP towards the end of their 1970s career; even if the material wasn't always top-notch, they still managed to do a decent job in terms of performance. For that reason, at least, this album is recommended to progressive fans, despite its occasional flaws.
Beginning the albums with "Introductory Fanfare" only serves to date the project somewhat, in retrospect; this silly, pseudo-regal introduction (complete with spoken word intro) would serve to confirm the worst Spinal Tap-ian fears associated with the progressive movement. Mercifully, it's short.
The band then proceeds with a version of "Peter Gunn" which ... well ... is a version of "Peter Gunn". Emerson uses the effects pedal to its maximum effect, and Lake & Palmer fulfill their roles fairly well, but there really isn't anything terribly distinctive about this number (special effects aside). In retrospect, one wonders why they found it necessary to begin the concert in this manner. The song isn't bad, but it's a bit underwhelming under the circumstances.
Following this, however, comes a bit of a surprise: this live performance of "Tiger In A Spotlight" is actually a noticeable improvement on the studio version. Without the nightmarish production and the hackneyed guitar intro, the track rests on much sounder foundations; moreover, Lake's voice is much better, and the bass tone is far removed from the foolish warblings of the WV2 incarnation of the song. Also, in a complete reversal of normal trends, Emerson's solo doesn't ramble as such for this live recording. If nothing else, this version suggests that a half-decent track was simply mishandled in its previous version.
One might expect that the shift to two Greg Lake solo Works tracks would take the musical quality down somewhat, but this performance of "C'est La Vie" is actually fairly good; it was far from the most foolish track on the Lake-Side of Works 1, and the arrangement actually works fairly well here. Emerson plays the part that the Musician's Union refused to let him play on the studio version, and does a credible job as well. Unfortunately, this then leads to "Watching Over You", which, aside from a different tone, different vocal inflections, and a less tight arrangement, is essentially as banal and forgettable as the studio version.
After this, Emerson plays "Maple Leaf Rag" without the orchestral accompaniment -- somewhat odd, given that the means to recreate the album version were there in spades. It lacks a bit of the "tone colouring" of the studio version as such, but it is capable of standing on its own as a decent "alternate take". As with the studio version, it isn't anything essential either.
The album then yields its first truly impressive moment, in the form of Carl Palmer's adaptation of "The Enemy God (Dances With Black Spirits)" from Prokofiev's "Scythian Suite". This version, without the intrusive horns, is perhaps better than the studio version; the bass and keys fulfill their roles fairly well, and the Emerson/Palmer duet is an easy highlight of the track.
Continuing the "classical adaptations" motif, the band then proceeds to a version of "Fanfare For The Common Man". The performance of "Fanfare" itself is actually fairly good, approximately equaling the album version. Unfortunately, Emerson's improvisations in the middle of the piece aren't quite worth as much; they were obviously meant as part of the visual spectacle, and their role here isn't terribly essential. As against that, the performance of "Rondo" towards the end of the track is handled rather well, particularly as regards the high-pitched tones that dominate Emerson's interpretation of the work. Obviously, the group returns to "Fanfare" at the end (with the orchestra taking a brief "solo" in the closing section). The improvisations hinder it a bit, but it still isn't too bad.
The Works Live version of "Knife Edge" has received a fair degree of bad press from several ELP fans; although it's a few steps below the album version, however, this judgement is not entirely appropriate. There are certainly a number of flaws with this performance: Lake doesn't really seem into it, the tempo seems to get lost in the orchestral section that links parts 1 and 2, and the concluding section with full integration doesn't really work. As against that, Emerson and Palmer generally handle their roles well, and the song generally manages to reach its conclusion in one piece. It's not the best version of this piece, but it isn't the worst either (qv. Live At The Royal Albert Hall).
For some curious reason, "Show Me The Way To Go Home" appears next. This version is slightly better than the WV2 recording, but not by enough to save it entirely. The absence of a big band allows the more "hokey" aspects of the track to generally depart, and Emerson's piano intro seems a bit better as well; still, though, this is not exactly "miracle work", and the track still comes of as rather superfluous.
At this juncture, the band enters into a brief period of inactivity as the orchestra performs a version of "Abaddon's Bolero". This is, to be sure, an interesting alteration of the piece, and is worth hearing if only for the sonic differences allowed as such. Unfortunately, not all of the players seem to be "into" the work, and the main horn player ends up making a major mistake towards the middle of the track; these aren't catastrophic errors, but they do take the track down a few notches. Emerson enters the track towards the end, to further tone colouring possibilities.
Next comes a version of "Pictures At An Exhibition" which is probably the more proficient of all of the officially released versions. Unlikely the unduly messy full-length version, or the fifteen-years-too-late studio track, the band actually presents a proficient and enjoyable version of their adaptation in this version. The "Promenade" section which begins the piece is the full-band one, and is generally well done; the orchestral tie-in doesn't sound quite as successful, though this probably wasn't the fault of the band. The "Gnomus" section is perhaps most notable for a rather odd keyboard noise; Palmer also provides his expected solo function in this track. The "vocal" Promenade appears next; Emerson's choice of a sound sample is actually fairly good, and Lake sings rather well. Emerson is in peak condition for the "Baba Yaga" section which follows, particularly as regards his soloing in the faster moments. "The Great Gates At Kiev", however, is perhaps the most notable section of this work, in terms of redeeming their previously released performance -- the vocal cracks in Lake's voice are entirely gone here, and the pure bathos of the "lotsa new life" line is thankfully removed. Whatever the flaws of the lyrics, the performance is extremely solid in this instance.
For some bizarre reason, the attention then shifts to the marked inferior "Closer To Believing", another one of the better (but still quite average, in an objective sense) tracks from the Lake-Side on Works 1. This rendition seems a bit messy, with Lake's voice being overwhelmed fairly easily by the orchestra. A few dissonant orchestral tones towards the end actually help the piece; otherwise, it's an average performance of an average number, and only serves as a bit of a "speed bump" between "Pictures" and "Piano Concerto".
The third movement of Emerson's "Piano Concerto No. 1" is, in fact, handled rather well. This performance of the such suggests that Emerson may have learned something from Copland after all; although slightly kitschy, this is still a fairly good composition. If the link between Emerson and the orchestra is still a bit "rough", it's at least rather better than it was before; moreover, some of the horn intrusions actually work fairly well. A good performance to a good track.
Sadly, the version of "Tank" which concludes the album is based more on the WV1 than the ELP format. The wind instrument spotlight was actually handled fairly well; other than this, however, the entire performance seems a bit too "rushed" to really work. The drum solo is fairly good at first, but goes on too long; moreover, despite a decent gong section, it really doesn't reveal terribly much about the possibilities for improvisation within the track. The concluding section is better than the beginning section, but is still a bit muddled. This is, in other words, a slightly flawed means of ending the album.
Those who already appreciate ELP will probably find enough of value in this release to justify acquiring it. Newcomers might be advised to begin somewhere else, however.
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 19 September 1997)