Works Volume 1

Works Volume 1
File:ELP Works Volume 1.jpg
Studio album by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Released	17 March 1977
Recorded	1976 at Mountain Recording Studios, Montreux, Switzerland and EMI Studios, Paris, France
Genre	Rock, progressive rock, classical, symphonic rock
Length	87:23
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, Carl Palmer & Peter Sinfield
Emerson, Lake & Palmer chronology
Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends... Ladies and Gentlemen (1974)Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends... Ladies and Gentlemen1974 Works, Volume I (1977) Works, Volume II (1977)Works, Volume II1977

Works Volume 1 is the fifth studio album by progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in 1977. It is a double album (2 LPs, later on 2 CDs) divided into four major sections: three highlighting each band member and one for combined works.

Overview

The album was highly anticipated, as it had been almost three-and-a-half years since the release of ELP's last studio album, Brain Salad Surgery. However, it was different from the synthesizer-driven music that most fans had expected and received a mixed reaction from fans and press.

Side 1 is the Keith Emerson side, a concerto for piano and orchestra. On the documentary DVD Beyond the Beginning, Greg Lake says that Leonard Bernstein walked into the studio in Paris where this piece was being mixed because Keith wanted Bernstein to listen to it. Bernstein´s reaction was: "It reminds me of Grandma Moses".

Side 2 is the Greg Lake side, and consists of acoustic ballads, all of which were written by Lake and Peter Sinfield.

Side 3, the Carl Palmer side, includes a remake of "Tank" (from ELP's eponymous first album), with orchestral accompaniment and without the drum solo. Another track on Palmer's side is the rocker "L.A. Nights", featuring Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh on lead and slide guitar and scat vocal. Also, two arrangements of outside composers' pieces figure on the Palmer side: one of Johann Sebastian Bach's baroque D Minor Invention No. 4, BWV 775, and a piece titled 'The Enemy God Dances With the Black Spirits', an excerpt of the 2nd movement of "The Scythian Suite" by Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953), written in 1915.

Side 4 features the entire band, and consists of a modern piece re-arranged for rock band, Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man", and the long-form song "Pirates", which features lyrics added to music Emerson had written, based on the opening minutes of the Samuel Kaylin and R.H. Bassett soundtrack for the Think Fast, Mr. Moto soundtrack, for his soundtrack for a cancelled film version of Frederick Forsyth's book The Dogs of War. Aaron Copland found ELP's version of his piece appealing although he was puzzled at the inclusion of a modal solo between two fairly straight renditions of his piece. Both "Fanfare For The Common Man" and "Pirates" feature Keith Emerson's extensive use of the Yamaha GX-1 synthesizer.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Classic Rock
Rolling Stone	(favorable)

Allmusic's retrospective review was mixed. They particularly criticised the solo sides of Keith Emerson ("on the level of a good music-student piece, without much original language") and Greg Lake ("'C'est la Vie', the featured single, says little that 'Still...You Turn Me On', from their previous album, didn't say better and shorter"). They offered some praise for the Carl Palmer and group sides, but concluded that the group songs "cover a lot of old ground, albeit in ornate and stylish fashion."

Track listing

Side one: Keith Emerson
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Piano Concerto No. 1" (Keith Emerson I. First Movement: Allegro giojoso II. Second Movement: Andante molto cantabile III. Third Movement: Toccata con fuoco)	18:18

Side two: Greg Lake
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Lend Your Love to Me Tonight" (Greg Lake, Peter Sinfield)	4:01
2.	"C'est la Vie" (Lake, Sinfield)	4:16
3.	"Hallowed Be Thy Name" (Lake, Sinfield)	4:35
4.	"Nobody Loves You Like I Do" (Lake, Sinfield)	3:56
5.	"Closer to Believing" (Lake, Sinfield)	5:33

Side three: Carl Palmer
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Enemy God Dances with the Black Spirits" (Sergei Prokofiev, arr. Emerson, Lake, Carl Palmer)	3:20
2.	"L.A. Nights" (Palmer; features Joe Walsh on guitars and scat vocal and Keith Emerson on keyboards)	5:42
3.	"New Orleans" (Palmer)	2:45
4.	"Two Part Invention in D Minor" (J. S. Bach, arr. Palmer)	1:54
5.	"Food for Your Soul" (Palmer)	3:57
6.	"Tank" (Emerson, Palmer)	5:08

Side four: Emerson, Lake and Palmer
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Fanfare for the Common Man" (Aaron Copland, arr. Emerson, Lake, Palmer)	9:40
2.	"Pirates" (Emerson, Lake, Sinfield)	13:18

Bonus Tracks (2004, Sanctuary release)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Tank (Live in Indiana, 24 January 1978)"	9:49
2.	"The Enemy God Dances with the Black Spirits (Live in Indiana, 24 January 1978)"	3:13
3.	"Nutrocker (Live in Indiana, 24 January 1978)" (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Kim Fowley)	4:18

Singles

• Fanfare for the Common Man (edit) / Brain Salad Surgery
• C'est la vie / Hallowed Be Thy Name (France)
• C'est la vie / Jeremy Bender (UK and USA)

Cover versions

"C'est la Vie" was covered in 1978 in French language by French rock singer Johnny Hallyday, with lyrics "Tant pis... C'est la Vie", and it is possibly the inspiration for a song released in 1995 in Serbian language by pop-folk group Divlji kesten with lyrics "Svrati ponekad". "C'est La Vie" was also covered by Judy Dyble on her 2009 album "Talking with Strangers" with backing vocals by Tim Bowness, Julianne Regan (All About Eve) and Celia Humphris (Trees)