Customer Reviews

Works 2

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

OKAY! we all know that 'Works Volume Two' is basically comprised of out-takes from 'Brain Salad Surgery' and the various solo projects that eventually became 'Works Volume One' but by God this album is fantastic. What a showcase of the diverse talent and musicianship of three incredible individuals!! Greg's song for his daughter 'Watching over You' is one that I will sing to my daughter if God's will grant it. How can you deny any tune from either Joplin (as in Scott, not Janis) or the way under-heard Meade Lux Lewis? 'Close But Not Touching' is the epitome of rock fused jazz.'Bullfrog' shows the range of Carl's talent. 'Father Christmas' might have made classical music fans cringe, but it is a perennial favourite at Christmas time. 'Barrelhouse Shakedown' puts Keith in a league of his own. He is the owner of the Moog. he is the master of the hammond. Here he completes his musical journey from the classics to the honky-tonk to the rock and roll fantasy that we all share. This album is not a formula album, but it may very well be the first album comprised of out-takes and solo efforts in the same vain as 'Beatles Anthology'.... ....which, as with most ELP albums, makes it well ahead of it's time....

Although often trashed as a completely inconsequential effort that had little to do with their usual epic-length conceptual prog works, "Works Vol.2" is actually an appealing odds-n-ends album that showcases several different sides to the group. For those who prefer it when the band cuts back on the ten-minute solos, it's actually a favorite, and features a highly diverse array of sounds and styles ranging from electronic pop/rock, folky ballads, humor, honky-tonk, jazz, jazz-fusion, and synth instrumentals. It is also an album that grows on the listener, with many hidden delights making themselves known only after several listens. Some of these include the ahead-of-its-time synth instrumental "When The Apple Blossoms Bloom" (which was the original b-side to "Jerusalem" in 1973), the intriguing Palmer instrumentals "Bullfrog" and "Close But Not Touching" (recorded with another band and in a Zappa-ish jazz fusion style with wah-wah guitar and wild sax work) and two more low-key but enjoyably humorous song outtakes from "Brain Salad Surgery", "Tiger In A Spotlight" and the missing title track. However, some of Emerson's honky-tonk and ragtime instrumentals, while very authentic and not unlistenable, are probably the most throwaway. The two finest tracks by far are Lake's two acoustic ballads "I Believe In Father Christmas" and "Watching Over You", neither of which are low-key or filler. The former is a perennial classic with some superb bell-like synth work supporting the acidic social comment of the lyric, while the latter is a beautiful, soothing lullaby with a touching harmonica solo; both would be two of his last great compositions. On the strength of these alone I would recommend "Works Vol.2", but the b-sides and outtakes which comprise the rest of it are clearly also worth hearing. Although you won't find any "Karn Evil 9"'s or "Take A Pebble"'s here, the album should be taken for what it is, an album akin to Led Zeppelin's "Coda" or The Who's "Odds'N'Sods", which fills in missing gaps in an artist's output. In ELP's case, these missing links were modest but still mostly enjoyable, with two bona fide classics as well. I believe this album was recieved the way it was because it was not packaged and promoted properly; with a pretentious title like "Works Vol.2" (which really had little to do with "Vol.1", although some of the tracks were outtakes from those sesssions) and fans expecting the typically ambitious trio to outdo themselves yet again, I don't think any were expecting an album like this. If it had simply been marketed as an odds-n-ends work like "Coda" or "Odds'n'Sods", I'll bet it would have been far more genially received.

The various tracks on this release don't flow into each other at all. That's the bad news. The good news is that each track stands up quite well on its own --- this is an extremely eclectic mix of contributions from the three band members.

ELP's "Works Vol. II" is the last roaring flame of their monumental Prog Rock craze of the 1970's. It would be a plain insult to say their all-time flop "Love Beach" (1978) was the 70's Big Finale. I'm surprised that no one has reviewed this continuation to the celestially sonorous "Works Vol. I" (1977), which I think is the slightly better half of this two-volume set of ELP tunes. The reason I say that is because Vol. I has more sentimental feeling in its music for me, especially in Keith Emerson's solo piano conciertos. It's a perfect collection to play while romancing a loved-one alongside an open fire.

Vol. II delivers more of the progressive funk, blues, and ballads that ELP came to be known for ever since their debut album in 1970. Some of the best material is included in "Tiger in a Spotlight", "Watching Over You", "So Close So Far", "Show Me the Way to Go Home", and the holiday classic "I Believe in Father Christmas" (though I like "The Atlantic Years" (1992) version of that song better with its remastered symphony ending). Emerson's quirky keyboards and Lake's resilient vocals bring their 1970's reign to a most venerable conclusion. Especially after producing "Love Beach" and "In the Hot Seat" (1994), I wish that this album would have been their last ever (even though "Black Moon" (1992) was a respectable comeback, I think it was motivated solely by financial reasons).

Like "Works 1," the Shout! Factory reissues sound way better than the Atlantic, Rhino, Victory or Sanctuary versions. But, the Sanctuary imports had extensive liner notes and these have the bare minimum.

This is an incredibly uneven album. It has some great tracks on it (Tiger in a Spotlight, a stripped down version of I Believe in Father Christmas without the orchestration, the instrumental When the Apple Bloom in the Windmills of your Mind, I'll Be Your Valentine), some good (Honky Tonk Train Blues, Brain Salad Surgery, Close but Not Touching), and some awful (So Far to Fall, Bullfrog, a useless cover of Show Me the Way to Go Home). This wasn't really a sequel to the original Works album, but a hodgepodge of outtakes from various sessions dating back to 1973. There is no real coherence to the album as a whole, like they just threw the tracks together anonymously. Why in God's name would you put the song Brain Salad Surgery on this album and not the one it's named after? And they should have destroyed So Far to Fall, with some of the worse lyrics I have ever heard. At least Love Beach had more of a flow to it. On their later box set, The Return of the Manticore, there are hardly any unreleased tracks, as they all showed up here, or got dumped here, depending on your point of view. It's kind of like The Who's Odds and Sods, except that album was more cohesive. So, if you really dig ELP, pick this up. You don't, leave it.

This is a charmer of an album. The compositions are complimentary to themselves. This album does grow on a person. Initial recording is "wow, that is different, yet subtle" Romantic ballads and futuristic jams. Different than the previous works, vol. 1. Having both for your collection is a given.

After having released some of the strongest progrockalbums ever and showing that they were able to do the same on stage the band went for something completely else, after a retirement of a couple of years. They released Works vol. 1, original four vinyl sides, with Emersons lengthy piano-etude, 5 wellcrafted songs by balladeer Lake, 6 varying tracks by Palmer, showcasing his percussionists skills, among them a rework of "Tank" from the the first album and finally 2 band played songs. All in all different from earlier albums but consistent as it had been meant. Alas that cannot be said about the following up Works vol.2, despite the albumtitles they don't have much in common and certainly cannot be viewed as a combined effort, which it isn't. To begin with it contains two outtakes of the Brain Salad Surgery album, among them its titletrack (!), which was issued on single before, and "When the Apple Blossoms ......." (these days to be find a bonustracks on that peticular album), which date back to 1973 and therefore were not recorded with Vol 2 in mind. The same goes for several other tracks. For instance Emersons adaption of Lewis' piano-boogie "Honky Tonk Train Blues" was already available on single, with its b-side "Barrelhouse Shakedown", likewise the Lake song "I Believe in Father Christmas", albeit in other format, with sleighbells, orchestra and the like (as can be found on "The Atlantic Years" 2 CD compilation or on the 4 track CD single, a completely new rendition is on the 4 CD boxset "Return of the Manticore"). It annoyes me that the linernotes offer almost nothing on who's playing with who, if all the bandmembers played on all the tracks, which seems not to be the case. Except the mentioned outtakes and "So Far to Fall" there are no real bandcompositions but individual songs, maybe outtakes from the Vol. 1 sessions? "Watchin over You" fits easyly in that set. Only on "Show Me the Way to Go Home" Lake sings and Emerson playes the piano. Furthermore the whole album is diverse and it has anything from jazz or big band to boogie, rock and ballads. That is nothing strange for ELP, they always had a broad musical view but brought together here it doesn't make much sense. Even the added 3 bonustracks, live recordings, suffer from bad soundquality and it puzzles me why exactly they were included in this set, I could have done without them. At the end of the seventies ELP released "Love Beach"(a horrible title and albumcover) and although disliked by fans and critics alike that at least is a true bandalbum and a fine one. In between they recorderd "In Concert" a single album, later extended as a 2 CD "Works Live" which I would recommend above this Vol 2.

"Works, Volume 2" is essentially a collection of eclectic leftovers by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, especially when compared to "Works, Volume 1." You are not going to find anything as grand as "Pirates" on this disc, but then if you are not an ELP fan and interested in having all of their albums from the glory days there is only one legitimate reason for picking up this CD. That would be to have a copy of "I Believe in Father Christmas," the perennial ELP Yule-time progesive rock classic. Otherwise you will probably find that Keith Emerson's overdubbed keyboard work on "Maple Leaf Rag" is a treat, although his interest on this album is more Honky-Tonk and Ragtime than Classical in origin. Carl Palmer's percussion driven "Bullfrog" is one of his better showcase pieces, although "Close But Not Touching" is in the same ballpark.

If you are looking for something "new" then the best track is clearly Greg Lake's "Watching Over You." co-written with his long time and frequent collaborator Peter Sinfield, which is a nice acoustic song with harmonica accompaniment instead of synthesizer. The album concludes with "Show Me The Way To Go Home," which is an ironic if not apt choice given this collection of odds and ends. Still, you really do have to have a copy of "I Believe in Father Christmas," which is one of those songs, like Jethro Tull's "Christmas Song" and that Bing Crosby duet with David Bowie of "The Little Drummer Boy," that you just need to hear in December each year. Besides, "I Believe in Father Christmas" offers a little touch of Prokofiev, which is usually good for the soul. However, you do not need to go out of your way to get the Japanese import version in the cute little album sleeve.

Isn,t "When the apple blossoms bloom in the windmills of your mind I'll be your valentine" one of the all-time great instrumentals? What a very underrated song. "Brain salad surgery" is a pretty heavy song for ELP back in 1978. Great bass lines. "Close but not touching",another great instrumental with Carl Palmer building the song to a frantic climax with his drumming.Fantastic piano work on the opening track"Tiger in a spotlight".Keith Emerson. Need I say more? The only thing the album is lacking is lyrics. I have looked everywhere for lyrics to Works volume two. ...