Customer Reviews

Re-Works

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I wrote a previous review of this item but was told my description of how lousy this 3-cd set was just plain vulgar. And also incomprehensible (which it probably was--I was mostly drunk and completely angry at the time). So, I am trying again to help any potential buyers. Be warned: this cd is NOT an ELP cd in any sense of the word. Sure, it features recognizable snippets (mostly the same ones over and over and over again) and the occasional sampled Greg Lake vocal and some talking by Aaron Copland (I think), but in truth it's nothing more than a bunch of sampled clubtrippy mixes that lead nowhere and sent this listener to flinging the item in question out my car window as I crossed the Rio Grande River Gorge. The remixes are not overly annoying, but unless you like hipsterclub weirdness, don't bother with this. This cd sounds nothing like anything ELP has ever done and like nothing I ever want to hear again. Avoid this.

ELP was my 1st musical love, I still love ther stuff, but now would be more liable to listen to anything from the William Orbit to Miles davis. I bought this thinking that it would be mostly [bad] but was more than presently surprised! More deconstruction/ambient/wierd than the expected full on dance mix.CD 1 is the best, Fanfare mix great and other stuff v well done, CD2 not quite as good , fanfare remix better than the one on cd1 but not much better or longer, others more clubby than 1st Cd but don't work quite as well . Vocals sampled not from ELP for some strange reason. CD3 is all fanfare remixes, not bad , but none seem to use the potentially brilliantly remixable 2nd half of the album version of fanfare.

Will not appeal to ELP fans unless they like modern music with dance beats. ELP fans who do like this sort of stuff will hopefully be as pleasantly surprised as I was. Non ELP fans should find the sound palate interesting, and the remixing well done. Only 4 stars as usual ELP spin-the-music-over-too-many-cds nonsense, lack of better use of Greg's vocals in the mix and slightly repetative and tame fanfare remixes.

While I quite understand the opinions of those regarding the Re-Works as the bottom line of ELP, I can only say that I liked it much better when I had a few more go's at it - particularly if you apply different listening technique - similar to the one you use when listen to raga or psychedelic music rather than prog-rock.

Yet I was not particularly happy with the remixes not because they're jumbled pieces of the ELP material, but probably because there were not jumbled and twisted well enough and there's some monotomous similarity between them.

Given the opportunities electronica gives I would have expected something more innnovative in terms of sounds and arrangements. Ultimatley I think they shouldn't have used the original records but rather make something altogether new based on the ELP material.

Anyway, 'cause I bought the 2CD pirate set in Tashkent for $8, I have no regrets.

WHY?.......Dear Mother Of God.....WHY?...........................

Just as the title implies, these CDs are a "re-workings" of ELP material, and the year being 2002, that means Sampling and Electronica. The remixers took samples of ELP's Works and built new compositions out of it. The music certainly isn't ELP, but the _sounds_ are. It's very good mind you, from the concept side of things, but if you're coming at it from a techno persepective, it's very middle of the road. Ultimately, it comes across as nothing more than Jean Michel Jarre ...

If you really want extreme, look out for KNOTS compilation, which tackles Gentle Giant samples into something truly bizarre.

ELP's Re-Works is a lesson in studio production of remixed music. Anyone with a CPU or turntable calls himself a musician today. Now come pioneers of talent-driven, progressive rock to whip their collective souls.

In the context of ELP's early groundbreaking music, Re-Works would rate 3-4 stars. In the context of electronica/techno, which Emerson invented by being the first musician to extensively and popularly use the Moog synthesizer, this Waring Blender of an album rates top honors.

There's a huge diff between mixes made on the backs of the 60s and 70s and mixes brought by originators of virtuoso rock. ELP created their riffs. Programmed their sound. Every lick on Re-Works comes from a virtuoso's heart and hand, not from a memory bank or a flick of a switch.

Would that this work could shut the door on imitators who push buttons to achieve what ELP originated.

When impersonators in teens and 20s mix imitations, flattery is embarrassing and tiresome for the matured. Boones Farm will never taste like mellowed champagne. Antiquity will remember ELP alongside Yes and jTull as virtuosos who made their own music and shared it with love, not greed.

If you thought ELP hit bottom with "Love Beach", think again. This putrid release makes "LB" look like "Sgt. Pepper". Had this been a "techno" re-working of ELP's music, I probably could have enjoyed it. But THIS???? Barely recognizable "samples" thrown together into this mess -- I can't believe that Greg Lake or Carl Palmer would have anything to do with this. In fact, I can't believe that Keith Emerson would put his name on this disaster as a producer. If this is ELP's attempt to find an audience with the club scene, it's a miserable failure. I think I'll go listen to "Tarkus", "Works" or even "Love Beach" and remember when ELP stood for something worth listening to. Do NOT waste your money.

I don't understand what would prompt Keith Emerson to think this was a fantastic idea nor do I understand why the other two thought this is good for the group as a whole. Whatever! This is the answer to the question which ELP CD is the absolute worse. DO NOT think this will sound like any of the past ELP CDs we've known for so long. This is god awful and should have a warning label to stay away!!! DON'T SPEND YOUR MONEY ON THIS!

The musical content of this recent offering is questionable, even in the hip hop/techno dance circles it may be marketed to. Take three of the finest musicians on this planet, whose talents are well documented and rewarded, toss examples of recording history into a sequencer made by a late-night TV pitchman and this is what you get....except that all musical brilliance has been lost in the mix. "Re-Mix'es" is an assortment of lengthy, sequenced samples of prior ELP work with really no common or individual sense of order. One would have hoped that Works Vol. 1&2 had been reprised using some of the great, new keyboards, sounds and instruments available today providing fans with a new wonderful listening experience for the next decade. NOT! If you appreciate ELP and all their prior work (even "Love Beach") avoid this as you would the Black Plague.

Offered as a three disc collection, I was hard pressed to enjoy even one of the 18 tracks. The audio quality is high, but that's the extent of positive remarks I can make about this collection ends. If you are new to ELP, buy "Return of the Manticore" (boxed set) and any of the studio cd's. The dvd "Live at the Royal Albert Hall" will give you a better impression of this incredible group.

Maybe I just don't get it.... but if I had to base my retirement on the proceeds from sales of this collection, I wouldn't quit my day job.

God knows the editorial review at Amazon.com is very very misleading. This is not new work by ELP. if it was, I wouldn't have bought it!!! Thankfully, my local music store has a listening room, and I was able to verify that this really is something new. A tribute to their work in a new style. It's very very funny to me that fans of the band who review this release below sound like classical snobs must have on discovering the original ELP desecrations of "Pictures," "Fanfare," "Rodeo," etc, or like poor old Aaron's befuddled quote included here on the "Pilgrim Mix" of "Fanfare."

I think ELP made precisely 4 great albums (the first 4) and a few great songs thereafter on painfully unfocused later albums. Unlike their peers Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, even the Moody Blues for chrissake, there was no flame to keep alive in later years. and their attempts to regroup were an embarrassment in light of their early genius.

I thank them for blowing my mind early on, and helping me develop eclectic enough musical tastes to enjoy this release.

These are Remixes in the contemporary sense of the word. Entirely new, beat-driven pieces that use remnants of work from the original albums in ways that pay sometimes irreverent tribute to the originals. These are not Reissues or remixes in the sense of 'Boy, I never heard that hi hat so clearly before!'

Looking for something new? Try this out. Want the boys to give the poor, smelly, long-dead ELP horse one last kick? Get a life and spare them the embarassment!