Works Live [Original recording reissued, Live]

Emerson Lake & Palmer | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 21, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording reissued, Live
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0000033P7
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #455,902 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Introductory Fanfare

2. Peter Gunn

3. Tiger in a Spotlight

4. C'Est la Vie

5. Watching over You

6. Maple Leaf Rag

7. The Enemy God Dances with the Black Spirits

8. Fanfare for the Common Man

9. Knife Edge

10. Show Me the Way to Go Home

Disc: 2

1. Abaddon's Bolero

2. Pictures at an Exhibition

3. Closer to Believing

4. Piano Concerto No. 1, Third Movement: Toccata con Fuoco

5. Tank

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If Only the 24-Track Hadn't Broken Down..., December 12, 2003

By 

JESSE R. MC Glown "derosierjr" (Enterprise, AL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Works Live (Audio CD)

That's the reason for the 'flat' sound on the majority of this recording...most of the Montreal Works '77 show was recorded on a two-track machine out at the board ( due to the multitrack recorder having failed on location, according to Keith Emerson ). Listen to the difference in sound quality between "Knife-Edge", "Fanfare", "Pictures"...and "Peter Gunn", "Tiger in a Spotlight", etc ( the latter ones from multitrack mixes done at a different venue, regardless of what this CDs liner notes claim ). They did the best they could to salvage this show for posterity, which was the PA mix feed going into the 2-track ( hence the predominantly mono sound on those cuts ).
What baffles me, after all these years, is that they obviously went to the trouble to have professionally recorded at least one other concert, sans orchestra ( Wheeling, West Virginia, according to the King Biscuit CD liner notes ). I'm convinced that multitrack versions of Tarkus, Hoedown, Pictures, Nutrocker exist from 1977...why they didn't go back to these tapes for the "fleshing out" of this album is simply beyond me. While I'm indulging in speculation, for that matter, why didn't they opt for recording with the orchestra during the three nights at Madison Square Garden instead? Might have been able to get another 24-track out to the venue, at least to have recorded the remaining one or two shows...ah, what could have been!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ELP's proper farewell to the 1970s, July 7, 2005

By 

Eddie Konczal - See all my reviews

This review is from: Works Live (Audio CD)

An air of melancholy and finality always haunted "In Concert" (1979), the last of three live albums that progressive rock supergroup Emerson Lake & Palmer released during the 1970s. It lacked most of ELP's signature songs from the early 1970s, suffered from lackluster production values, and always paled next to 1974's "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends...", a triple live LP now available as a 2 CD set. Progressive rock's critics seized upon the relative briefness of "In Concert" - and the truncated tour it documented - as emblematic of ELP's decline. But the CD era brought new life to this formerly moribund collection. "Works Live" expands "In Concert" to a double CD, giving ELP's late-70s period a live record worthy of its output.

All the tracks from "In Concert" are here: a spirited rendition of the "Peter Gunn" theme; a surprisingly energetic "Tiger in a Spotlight;" the exquisite Greg Lake ballad "C'est La Vie;" a boisterous adaptation of Prokofiev's "The Enemy God Dances with the Black Spirits;" and a magnificent, 15-minute condensation of ELP's adaptation of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." I actually (and somewhat heretically) prefer this focused version of "Pictures" to the longer, sloppier version on the earlier album of the same name (1972). Unfortunately, the remastering job didn't help "Knife-Edge" and "Piano Concerto No. 1," two tracks that still suffer from lo-fi mixes.

To the original "In Concert" set, "Works Live" adds seven tracks, most of them from ELP's two "Works" albums that this tour (which featured a full orchestra) supported. Of the added tracks, "Abaddon's Bolero" and "Fanfare for the Common Man" benefit the most from orchestral accompaniment (the latter sounding particularly majestic with live trumpets). "Watching Over You" and "Closer to Believing" further demonstrate Lake's considerable talent for balladry. "Maple Leaf Rag" and "Show Me the Way to Go Home," admittedly minor entries in the ELP oeuvre, add diversity to the proceedings. A twelve-minute "Tank," complete with Carl Palmer drum solo, provides a grand finale.

"Works Live" represents ELP's proper farewell to the 1970s in a way the abbreviated "In Concert" failed to do. It effectively captures the ambition of ELP's "Works" albums and tour, warts and all.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Remastered, version of 'In Concert' is a big improvement, November 5, 1999

By 

Francis King "Frank King" (Calgary, AB, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Works Live (Audio CD)

Originally released as a terrible-sounding one-disc recording, this expanded version is a major improvement. It's still not on the level of 1973's epic 'Welcome Back My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends', but it's definitely worth owning, just for Pictures At An Exhibition (complete with orchestra) and Tiger In A Spotlight (light years better than the studio version on Works II).