Works Live- 1993
Rating: 13
Look! The title is short!
Best Song: Fanfare For The Common Man or Peter Gunn
Worst Song: Tank
Right after ELP broke up, the record company released In Concert, which contained some songs from their Works tour. The band had brought an orchestra along, but it nearly bankrupted the group, so they later dismissed them. Anyway, Emerson wanted In Concert to be a double album, but the record company disagreed. Finally, in 1993, that very same record company released this album that you are reading a review.
If I am feeling incredibly generous, I sometimes consider this to be as good as Welcome Back... (not just because it has a shorter name), mainly because of two reasons: For one, I love ELP a really huge amount (and I probably overrate all their albums). However, the second reason is that they were an incredible live band. They played their songs pretty normally, but sometimes they made they combined songs together or just put a bunch of songs together that really "clicked" ("Take a Pebble/Still... You Turn Me On/Lucky Man" from Welcome Back...).
Anyway, after a small and slightly boring "Introductory Fanfare", they go into a fantastic rendition of a song titled "Peter Gunn". Emerson plays an excellent keyboard line on his synths and other organs, while Lake's riveting bass line drives the piece quite well. Palmer's drumming is as steady as always. Following that comes "Tiger In A Spotlight", which was one of my favorite tracks back on Works Vol. 2. It's as fun and catchy as always, but Emerson's keyboards manage to add a bit of variation later during the song so it isn't exactly the same. Greg's singing is as strong as it had been during that period. After that is pretty normal version of "C'est La Vie", which has only been improved with a bit of added orchestra, but otherwise, it's still the same, good ballad that it had been on Works Vol. 1.
Things start to change when the next song starts to play, "Watching Over You". The combination of Greg Lake's singing and guitar works as usual, but there is now a keyboard solo to replace the original's harmonica solo. I actually kind of prefer the solo on this version better, but I don't think the piece is as well done as it was on Works Vol. 2. However, it still is a fantastic inclusion to the album. Suddenly, right after that, Emerson launches into an incredibly impressive and short rendition of "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin. Without his little 2nd outro at the end, he does the song in 1 minute and 7 seconds (add 2 seconds for the 2nd outro), which is incredibly impressive and definitely pretty stunning to hear exactly after something calm like "Watching Over You". After that is one of those ill-fated Carl Palmer Works Vol. 1 tracks, but on the plus side, he picked "The Enemy God (Dances With The Black Spirits)". To improve matters more, Emerson took the role of the brass from the original, which, believe it or not, improves the original by quite a bit. It does go a bit overlong even for being pretty short, but still manages to maintain interest for most of the time.
Directly in line after that is perhaps one of the best tracks they ever recorded, "Fanfare For The Common Man". However, do not confuse this version with the one on Works Vol. 1, as on this one, everything is vastly superior then that on the actual album. Palmer's drumming is slightly better and Emerson jams a bit with much better keyboard sounds than on the original (honestly, the keyboard sound in the last 4 minutes of the original were mildly unpleasant). Greg doesn't really change anything, but his bass still drives the song as much as usual. This goes on for about 6 minutes, remaining incredibly interesting, until a couple seconds before the 6 minute and 30 second mark, there is a sudden change in the song. Palmer drums at what seems like random, Greg seems to be playing a bit of electric guitar, and Emerson is using his synths to make a bunch of peculiar noises. After a few seconds of this, Emerson starts playing something on his Hammond organ while Palmer starts a fast drumbeat. Suddenly, Emerson starts playing this incredible keyboard line while Greg follows him up with the bass. What the band managed to was fit their own version of "Blue Rondo Ala Turk" by Dave Brubeck, which had originally been called "Rondo" and played when Emerson was in a band called The Nice. Anyway, Emerson plays some great synths and keyboards for a couple minutes before the song just shifts back in "Fanfare For The Common Man" and ends with a fantastic ending aided greatly by the orchestra they had with them on the tour.
Once that song is over, "Knife Edge" follows. It sounds pretty much the exact same as the original except for the added orchestra parts, making it sound slightly more bombastic. This might have been just as good as the original except for the fact that the production on this track is kind of poor. Otherwise, all remains the same as it ever was on this track. Around the same thing happened to "Show Me The Way To Go Home". On this version, the orchestra is less impressive than it was on the original, and the female backing vocals seem to have disappeared. Of course, Emerson's piano is still quite amazing and Greg's vocals are still great, but it doesn't really try to improve on the original (although that is not a bad thing). Following that is "Abaddon's Bolero", which is almost exactly the same except for heavier orchestra, but is still splendid, and probably would have been an amazing track to hear live. I might actually prefer the keyboard Emerson uses on this version, but both keyboards on both the original and the live version sound so good it would take me a while to actually pick one over the other. After a dramatic outro from "Abaddon's Bolero", Greg introduces "Pictures At An Exhibition" to the crowd ("We're gonna give you 'Pictures At An Exhibition'").
"Pictures At An Exhibition" opens up with a little piece known as "Promenade 1". This one is played pretty similarly to the original, and still has that catchy but plain and simple melody. Of course, the only change is the heavy orchestration. "Promenade 1" goes directly into "The Gnome", which, other than a weird synth sound Emerson makes pretty much every time before the small breaks in the song and some different keyboard uses, is almost exactly the same. "Promenade 2" then comes in to interrupt the load and bombastic "The Gnome" with some pretty Greg Lake singing backed by the orchestra, which actually makes the song slightly more enjoyable. Unfortunately, this version skips "The Sage", "The Old Castle", "Blues Variations", and "Promenade 3", in favor of going straight into "The Hut Of Baba Yaga 1".This version, with some more orchestra, is pretty dang similar to the original. This is followed by the "The Curse Of Baba Yaga", which for some reason adds drums into the beginning song that was strictly keyboard to make some weird jam. I do miss the cool bass line that happens near the beginning as well, but the main song part is pretty similar and as chaotic as the original was. Anyway, Emerson still pounds his keyboard, Palmer still freaks out on his drums, and Greg still screams a couple of the lines. Anyway, after that, an orchestrated "The Hut Of Baba Yaga 2" is performed (and the fast keyboards are as good as ever) before going into "The Great Gates Of Kiev". Although this was my least favorite track on Pictures From An Exhibition, the orchestra attempts to make it feel much more dramatic on this album. It kind of helps, but the pauses are still kind of annoying, and this time there is no weird guitar to make the pauses slightly more interesting than they were originally (the second pause is much better than the first though). Anyway, the orchestra leads the band into the conclusion of the entire piece, making it sound incredibly epic and bombastic.
After the end of "Picture From An Exhibition", "Close To Believing" follows it with another amazing Greg Lake performance. The song actually sounds almost exactly as it did on Works Vol. 1, but the song was quite spectacular to begin with. Greg sings with as much passion as he seemed to have had on the original, and the orchestra plays as well as ever. Following that is "Piano Concerto Third Movement: Tocatta Con Fuoco", which is the third movement in Emerson's long "Piano Concerto No. 1" from Works Vol. 1. This happened to be my favorite movement, and it is portrayed just as accurate as it was on the album. Emerson and the orchestra play incredibly great, and the fast paced part sounds very exciting and loud, while the huge slow downs near the middle and end are rather beautiful. Just as the album was about to improve on the greatness of Welcome Back..., the album closes out with the version of "Tank" from Works Vol. 1. Honestly, the beginning of the song is kind of a mess, and would have probably sounded better with Emerson's keyboards playing the melody. However, this is all good, but then we get to the drum solo. I thought the drum solo on Welcome Back... was tolerable, but this one eventually starts to bore me. This one mainly starts to bore me not only because it is about two minutes longer than the already long drum solo on Welcome Back..., but also because after a while, Palmer just seems to run out of ideas. For the last minute or so, he kind of just repeats ideas he already used from the beginning of the solo, which wouldn't be bad if they were really good ideas, but they just sound like they were building up to some huge drum solo spectacular, but they just end up leading back into the song. It keeps me interested for the first 3 to 4 minutes, but past that point I lose interest. However, once the song returns to normal, I really enjoy the melody and orchestra for the second part of the song, even though it is quite repetitive.
Works Live is not only a very fitting companion to both Works Vol. 1 and Works Vol. 2, but also another fantastic release in the band's long going career. However, this tour left the band almost broke (mainly because they were touring with an entire orchestra), but it still managed to result in a quality album definitely worthy to be in any music lover's collection.
Anyway, after a small and slightly boring "Introductory Fanfare", they go into a fantastic rendition of a song titled "Peter Gunn". Emerson plays an excellent keyboard line on his synths and other organs, while Lake's riveting bass line drives the piece quite well. Palmer's drumming is as steady as always. Following that comes "Tiger In A Spotlight", which was one of my favorite tracks back on Works Vol. 2. It's as fun and catchy as always, but Emerson's keyboards manage to add a bit of variation later during the song so it isn't exactly the same. Greg's singing is as strong as it had been during that period. After that is pretty normal version of "C'est La Vie", which has only been improved with a bit of added orchestra, but otherwise, it's still the same, good ballad that it had been on Works Vol. 1.
Things start to change when the next song starts to play, "Watching Over You". The combination of Greg Lake's singing and guitar works as usual, but there is now a keyboard solo to replace the original's harmonica solo. I actually kind of prefer the solo on this version better, but I don't think the piece is as well done as it was on Works Vol. 2. However, it still is a fantastic inclusion to the album. Suddenly, right after that, Emerson launches into an incredibly impressive and short rendition of "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin. Without his little 2nd outro at the end, he does the song in 1 minute and 7 seconds (add 2 seconds for the 2nd outro), which is incredibly impressive and definitely pretty stunning to hear exactly after something calm like "Watching Over You". After that is one of those ill-fated Carl Palmer Works Vol. 1 tracks, but on the plus side, he picked "The Enemy God (Dances With The Black Spirits)". To improve matters more, Emerson took the role of the brass from the original, which, believe it or not, improves the original by quite a bit. It does go a bit overlong even for being pretty short, but still manages to maintain interest for most of the time.
Directly in line after that is perhaps one of the best tracks they ever recorded, "Fanfare For The Common Man". However, do not confuse this version with the one on Works Vol. 1, as on this one, everything is vastly superior then that on the actual album. Palmer's drumming is slightly better and Emerson jams a bit with much better keyboard sounds than on the original (honestly, the keyboard sound in the last 4 minutes of the original were mildly unpleasant). Greg doesn't really change anything, but his bass still drives the song as much as usual. This goes on for about 6 minutes, remaining incredibly interesting, until a couple seconds before the 6 minute and 30 second mark, there is a sudden change in the song. Palmer drums at what seems like random, Greg seems to be playing a bit of electric guitar, and Emerson is using his synths to make a bunch of peculiar noises. After a few seconds of this, Emerson starts playing something on his Hammond organ while Palmer starts a fast drumbeat. Suddenly, Emerson starts playing this incredible keyboard line while Greg follows him up with the bass. What the band managed to was fit their own version of "Blue Rondo Ala Turk" by Dave Brubeck, which had originally been called "Rondo" and played when Emerson was in a band called The Nice. Anyway, Emerson plays some great synths and keyboards for a couple minutes before the song just shifts back in "Fanfare For The Common Man" and ends with a fantastic ending aided greatly by the orchestra they had with them on the tour.
Once that song is over, "Knife Edge" follows. It sounds pretty much the exact same as the original except for the added orchestra parts, making it sound slightly more bombastic. This might have been just as good as the original except for the fact that the production on this track is kind of poor. Otherwise, all remains the same as it ever was on this track. Around the same thing happened to "Show Me The Way To Go Home". On this version, the orchestra is less impressive than it was on the original, and the female backing vocals seem to have disappeared. Of course, Emerson's piano is still quite amazing and Greg's vocals are still great, but it doesn't really try to improve on the original (although that is not a bad thing). Following that is "Abaddon's Bolero", which is almost exactly the same except for heavier orchestra, but is still splendid, and probably would have been an amazing track to hear live. I might actually prefer the keyboard Emerson uses on this version, but both keyboards on both the original and the live version sound so good it would take me a while to actually pick one over the other. After a dramatic outro from "Abaddon's Bolero", Greg introduces "Pictures At An Exhibition" to the crowd ("We're gonna give you 'Pictures At An Exhibition'").
"Pictures At An Exhibition" opens up with a little piece known as "Promenade 1". This one is played pretty similarly to the original, and still has that catchy but plain and simple melody. Of course, the only change is the heavy orchestration. "Promenade 1" goes directly into "The Gnome", which, other than a weird synth sound Emerson makes pretty much every time before the small breaks in the song and some different keyboard uses, is almost exactly the same. "Promenade 2" then comes in to interrupt the load and bombastic "The Gnome" with some pretty Greg Lake singing backed by the orchestra, which actually makes the song slightly more enjoyable. Unfortunately, this version skips "The Sage", "The Old Castle", "Blues Variations", and "Promenade 3", in favor of going straight into "The Hut Of Baba Yaga 1".This version, with some more orchestra, is pretty dang similar to the original. This is followed by the "The Curse Of Baba Yaga", which for some reason adds drums into the beginning song that was strictly keyboard to make some weird jam. I do miss the cool bass line that happens near the beginning as well, but the main song part is pretty similar and as chaotic as the original was. Anyway, Emerson still pounds his keyboard, Palmer still freaks out on his drums, and Greg still screams a couple of the lines. Anyway, after that, an orchestrated "The Hut Of Baba Yaga 2" is performed (and the fast keyboards are as good as ever) before going into "The Great Gates Of Kiev". Although this was my least favorite track on Pictures From An Exhibition, the orchestra attempts to make it feel much more dramatic on this album. It kind of helps, but the pauses are still kind of annoying, and this time there is no weird guitar to make the pauses slightly more interesting than they were originally (the second pause is much better than the first though). Anyway, the orchestra leads the band into the conclusion of the entire piece, making it sound incredibly epic and bombastic.
After the end of "Picture From An Exhibition", "Close To Believing" follows it with another amazing Greg Lake performance. The song actually sounds almost exactly as it did on Works Vol. 1, but the song was quite spectacular to begin with. Greg sings with as much passion as he seemed to have had on the original, and the orchestra plays as well as ever. Following that is "Piano Concerto Third Movement: Tocatta Con Fuoco", which is the third movement in Emerson's long "Piano Concerto No. 1" from Works Vol. 1. This happened to be my favorite movement, and it is portrayed just as accurate as it was on the album. Emerson and the orchestra play incredibly great, and the fast paced part sounds very exciting and loud, while the huge slow downs near the middle and end are rather beautiful. Just as the album was about to improve on the greatness of Welcome Back..., the album closes out with the version of "Tank" from Works Vol. 1. Honestly, the beginning of the song is kind of a mess, and would have probably sounded better with Emerson's keyboards playing the melody. However, this is all good, but then we get to the drum solo. I thought the drum solo on Welcome Back... was tolerable, but this one eventually starts to bore me. This one mainly starts to bore me not only because it is about two minutes longer than the already long drum solo on Welcome Back..., but also because after a while, Palmer just seems to run out of ideas. For the last minute or so, he kind of just repeats ideas he already used from the beginning of the solo, which wouldn't be bad if they were really good ideas, but they just sound like they were building up to some huge drum solo spectacular, but they just end up leading back into the song. It keeps me interested for the first 3 to 4 minutes, but past that point I lose interest. However, once the song returns to normal, I really enjoy the melody and orchestra for the second part of the song, even though it is quite repetitive.
Works Live is not only a very fitting companion to both Works Vol. 1 and Works Vol. 2, but also another fantastic release in the band's long going career. However, this tour left the band almost broke (mainly because they were touring with an entire orchestra), but it still managed to result in a quality album definitely worthy to be in any music lover's collection.
