Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Works, Volume 1

I wanted to post a review on ELP (what can I say, everyone has their perversions...). I had in mind one of my three favorite albums (Tarkus, Trilogy & Brain Salad Surgery). Then I read the ones that were already there, all excellent, darn it! I thought: it's useless to add a duplicate, right? So what to do? Hey, a review of the double album Works vol. 1 is missing, and I wonder: why is it not there? Maybe because it's an album of decline and moreover, it's objectively difficult to review, being a patchwork of different things where the three let out their solo ambitions by carving out a side each and leaving the B side of the second record to new group compositions.

Emerson takes the opportunity to satisfy every prog pianist's secret ambition: to create an absolutely "respectable" classical composition. Hence the "Piano Concerto No. 1," recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Mayer. The first movement (Allegro Gioioso), after an atonal introduction, presents two main themes (the first pastoral to the strings, the second solemn to the winds) that are subject to a series of variations by the piano and the orchestra and a long cadenza at the piano, first free then on a vaguely ragtime ostinato. The brief second movement (Andante molto Cantabile) reprises the pastoral theme (with violins, oboe, and clarinet) followed by a Mozartian cadenza at the piano and the final recapitulation with the orchestra. In the third movement (Toccata con fuoco), we find the disciple of Bartok and Prokofiev. The initial bass ostinato and those dissonant piano chords, overlaid by the orchestra's sudden flares, are pure Emerson. The tolling of bells introduces the most pyrotechnic pianistic moment which surprisingly flows into another melancholic cadenza. But it's a brief respite because the initial percussive theme returns immediately, this time supported by the entire orchestra with a crescendo that culminates in the majestic final hymn with the piano accompanying with a series of final arpeggios and glissandi.

If Emerson plays at being the "serious" composer, Lake cultivates, together with Sinfield, his intimate vein in the manner of a James Taylor "with strings," recording a solid side even if a bit monotonous. Some tracks are exercises in refined mannerism. 'C'est La Vie' is, ça va sans dire, a successful homage to the chanson française with an accordion (not played by Emerson though), pipe organ, and a choir in the final chorus. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" has an even more sophisticated arrangement with those Bernard Hermann-like violin glissandos, those menacing basses, and a dissonant blues piano sealing it all. "Lead me into temptation!" shouts Lake, ready to go to the dark side, at the end of one of ELP's most bizarre tracks. Other pieces are more spontaneous but perhaps less memorable. "Lend Your Love to Me Tonight" has a beautiful a cappella attack and the usual lush orchestral accompaniment, but the brilliance of "From the Beginning" is far away. "Nobody Loves You Like I Do" (which initially echoes a bit of Hendrix's "Castle Made of Sand") is a baroque country rock not particularly original but, nonetheless, the arrangement is perfect with Hammond, harmonica, and honky-tonk piano (this time played by Emerson).

However, the best of the lot is the spiritual "Closer To Believing" which presents a refined yet sincere lyric ("And I need to be here with you, For without you what am I, Just another fool out searching, For some heaven in the sky, Take me closer to believing, Take me forward lead me on, Through collision and confusion, While there's life beneath the sun, You are the reason I continue, So near for so long") and