Make 'Works Vol. 1' a masterpiece!

[Rufus]

The current Greg Lake thread has caused some debate about the 'Works' album ! Whilst it isn't without its faults I still regard it as the last great ELP album & glad they stayed around to make it despite frictions in the band !
The album certainly had the potential to be considered a masterpiece with some tinkering & different approaches to the songs!
The challenge is to condense it to a single vinyl album to make it perfect. Songs recorded during the sessions can be included & possible different
arrangements !

Piano Concerto - this could have been condensed to a full band arrangement, as proved by the Kieth Emerson band version ! I think they reworked it to about 8 mins .

Lend your love to me tonight-A Greg Lake ballad is essential & this is the best on Works .4.01 mins .

Tank - Really a band effort anyway , written by Palmer & Emerson. 5.08

Brain Salad Surgery - I can understand why this was left off but not because it's a bad song. It has an edge to it & reminds me of the 'agressive ' parts of 'Tarkus '! 3.07

Fanfare - Great choice of a classical piece. I do think it meanders a bit in the middle & the single release would have fitted perfectly. 5.0

Tiger in a Spotlight- Should have made the original cut. 4.32

Pirates - A classic that works just as well without the orchestra. 13.08

Thats roughly around 40 mins of material, enough for a single album that would have elevated it to `masterpiece' status IMO !

[willyswing]

Add in "When The Apple Blossoms Bloom..." & you got it!

[Scott Bails]

Get rid of the Palmer side.

Voila! Perfect album.

[ItalProgRules]

No "Taste of my Love," no masterpiece

[Rufus]

No "Taste of my Love," no masterpiece

?????

[Sputnik]

I'd pick C'est La Vie over Lend Your Love..., The Enemy God over Tiger in a Spotlight, and I'd definitely include When The Apple Blossoms Bloom.... Odd as it may seem, I'd also take So Far to Fall over Tank. I know this song is a bit of a mess, and the lyrics are rubbish, but with a little attention, I think this could have been a really good song. So if we're dreaming (like we are with a re-worked band rendition of 8 minutes of the Piano Concerto, an idea which I love, by the way), then a nicely re-worked version of So Far to Fall doesn't seem out of the question. So my album would look like this:

Fanfare
C'est La Vie
When The Apple Blossoms Bloom...
Brain Salad Surgery
The Enemy God
Piano Concerto (Reworked band version ~8-10 minutes)
So Far to Fall
Pirates

Bill

[GuitarGeek]

Well, the first thing you'd have to do is get rid of that goddamn Yamaha GX-1! I don't know what Emerson was thinking with that thing, but he sure made it sound terrible. It was like he suddenly wanted to be a fairground or skating rink organist! I kinda wonder what this album would have sounded like if he had gotten an Oberheim 8 Voice (or if Keith had simply shown some restraint with the patches he chose on the GX-1).

The other thing I would have done is perhaps advise them to save the solo material for...a solo album! They took, what? FOUR YEARS between Brain Salad Surgery and Works and none of them could get it together to do a proper solo record?

I might keep one or two of the solo pieces, maybe C'est La Vie, perhaps LA Nights, and I'd tell Keith to edit the piano concerto and give it a less pretentious title. You're not a classical music composer, Keith, so stop pretending to be one.

I'd also have ditched the solo on Fanfare For The Common Man. Since Keith plays a couple bars of Hideaway (and Freddie King's version of that instrumental had a few bars of Peter Gunn in the coda), I'd have suggested to Keith that they do a medley of Fanfare/Hideaway/Peter Gunn. I wonder what Aaron Copland would have thought of that.

I'd have definitely made room for Tiger In A Spotlight, Watching Over You (assuming that it existed at the time), maybe the Apple Blossoms song.

[JAMOOL]

Can't forget Bullfrog! (seriously, I think it's impossible to really make a masterpiece out of Works, though you can make a quite entertaining 40 minutes or so, which would be quite similar to what Works 2 already is)

[JeffCarney]

Get rid of the Palmer side.

Voila! Perfect album.

Palmer's is the best of the solo sides, IMO.

[Dave (in MA)]

Get rid of the Palmer side.

Voila! Perfect album.

That's the side I listen to the most.

Get rid of the Neil Diamond side.

[A. Scherze]

Well, the first thing you'd have to do is get rid of that goddamn Yamaha GX-1!

...

They took, what? FOUR YEARS between Brain Salad Surgery and Works and none of them could get it together to do a proper solo record?

...

I'd tell Keith to edit the piano concerto and give it a less pretentious title.

...

I'd also have ditched the solo on Fanfare For The Common Man. ...

They toured until the end of '74 and reconvened in '76 to record W1, so it was only a two year hiatus (meaning they took a break).

It's a piano concerto. It's classical. Get over it.
Besides, if he HAD named it something else, somebody would be complaining about that.

It's not a solo in Fanfare - Fanfare is the bookends around a jam. When ELP first set up in the studio, Lake and Palmer started doing the riff. Emerson joined in. He wanted to use the result so he wrapped Fanfare around it. He could have just as easily written something. Besides, Copland wouldn't approve it as a straight adaptation.

The GX sounds great.

[Scrotum Scissor]

That's the side I listen to the most. Get rid of the Neil Diamond side.

Shouldn't that be the fucking Johnny Mathis side? Absolutely beyond horrible attempts at "emotional" songwriting, IMHO. Laughable yet dreadful beyond words. And AFAIK it didn't bring any more of those desperately needed women to ELP concerts either.

Parts of the piano concerto are quite good, and I agree with Jeff and Dave that the Palmer side is the overall best of the solo pieces; at least the guy displayed artistic integrity by pulling off something almost no one would've expected!

As much as I still love the "musical play"-approach of "Pirates", I'm no longer too convinced that the Copland cover ("adaptation", yeah right) has stood its time all that well. Its campy appearance has taken on a valeur on its very own though, so I wouldn't have removed it either. But one might want to add this wonderfully intelligent adaptation and essentially proggy-prog manifesto:

[arabicadabra]

Ditch the Lake AND Palmer sides - then FORCE Lake to get the hell OFF that friggin' root note during Fanfare - and you're there.

[Progbear]

Throw the discs away and put the first album in the sleeve instead. BAM! It’s a classic!

-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

"That's my purse! I don't know you!" --Bobby Hill

N.P.:“All in a Mouse’s Night”-Genesis/Wind & Wuthering

[gregory]

Can't forget Bullfrog! (seriously, I think it's impossible to really make a masterpiece out of Works, though you can make a quite entertaining 40 minutes or so, which would be quite similar to what Works 2 already is)

Yes, it's funny. The theme is borrowed, however, from Copland's 'Billy The Kid' ballet.
From 5'25 and further on

[gregory]

Ditch the Lake AND Palmer sides - then FORCE Lake to get the hell OFF that friggin' root note during Fanfare - and you're there.

Palmer's side should be replaced by his Concerto For Percussion + new version of Tank maybe. Lake's side should definitely include Father Christmas and Watching Over You.

[Rufus]

They toured until the end of '74 and reconvened in '76 to record W1, so it was only a two year hiatus (meaning they took a break).

It's a piano concerto. It's classical. Get over it.
Besides, if he HAD named it something else, somebody would be complaining about that.

It's not a solo in Fanfare - Fanfare is the bookends around a jam. When ELP first set up in the studio, Lake and Palmer started doing the riff. Emerson joined in. He wanted to use the result so he wrapped Fanfare around it. He could have just as easily written something. Besides, Copland wouldn't approve it as a straight adaptation.

The GX sounds great.

Love the GX sound also! One of the few rock keyboardists to experiment with new 'technology' ! thats why many other others sound dated !!!

[Oreb]

For me there's nothing salvageable from the solo sides except "Closer to Believing", which IMO is Greg's best ballad. I thoroyghly enoy all of side 4 - a bit surprised that "Fanfare for the Common Man" is getting such little love.

[Corbie]

The current Greg Lake thread has caused some debate about the 'Works' album ! Whilst it isn't without its faults I still regard it as the last great ELP album & glad they stayed around to make it despite frictions in the band !
The album certainly had the potential to be considered a masterpiece with some tinkering & different approaches to the songs!
The challenge is to condense it to a single vinyl album to make it perfect. Songs recorded during the sessions can be included & possible different
arrangements !

Piano Concerto - this could have been condensed to a full band arrangement, as proved by the Kieth Emerson band version ! I think they reworked it to about 8 mins .

Lend your love to me tonight-A Greg Lake ballad is essential & this is the best on Works .4.01 mins .

Tank - Really a band effort anyway , written by Palmer & Emerson. 5.08

Brain Salad Surgery - I can understand why this was left off but not because it's a bad song. It has an aggressive edge to it & reminds me of the 'agressive ' parts of 'Tarkus '! 3.07

Fanfare - Great choice of a classical piece. I do think it meanders a bit in the middle & the single release would have fitted perfectly. 5.0

Tiger in a Spotlight- Should have made the original cut. 4.32

Pirates - A classic that works just as well without the orchestra. 13.08

Thats roughly around 40 mins of material, enough for a single album that would have elevated it to `masterpiece' status IMO !

The real problem with this is that, "Brain Salad Surgery", "Tiger in A Spotlight" and "When the Apple Blossoms bloom" are all out-takes from the Brain Salad Surgery sessions and would therefore diminish the impact of "Works" as an album of new stuff.

[PeterG]

Well, for starters ditch Prokofiev, Bach and Copland
Then get rid of the Neil Diamond, disco and funk sounding tracks
And apart from Tank ditch all the remaining Palmer tracks
Then lose movt 1 & 2 from the piano concerto

And here is my running order from the original:

Toccato con Fuoco (previously called Piano concerto - 3rd movement)
C'est la Vie
Closer to Believing
Tank
Pirates

Then add the following from Works Vol. 2:

Tiger in a Spotlight
When the Apple Blossoms.....
Watching Over You
So Far To Fall
I Believe in FC

Then that's one solid disc I'd listen to.

[PeterG]

Get rid of the Palmer side.

Voila! Perfect album.

Except for Tank, which is the only good Palmer track on Works 1 or 2.

[trurl]

I'll get on this right after I make Rosanne Barr a supermodel.

[Dodie]

Get rid of the Palmer side.

Nah, that's the only one of the solo sides that's bearable. I'd get rid of that monstrous Piano Concerto, almost all of Greg Lake's ballads, about half of Carl Palmer's stuff, and keep Side 4 exactly as it is. Then a few tracks from Works Vol. 2, and then I agree we've got a pretty good ELP album. :-)

[PeterG]

I'll get on this right after I make Rosanne Barr a supermodel.

Can you make one for me while you're at it

[Jubal]

IMO, the only worthwhile tracks are Pirates and Fanfare For The Common Man. That's barely an album side.
They've done much better on earlier albums.
I agree that they probably should have called it quits after BSS.

Oh, I did forget C'est La Vie. oh well...c'est la vie....