Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Works Live captures one of the most ambitious episodes in the history of progressive rock: three extraordinary musicians taking their music into a vast stadium with a full orchestra.
This newly presented standalone vinyl edition also represents something personal for me. I came to ELP much later than I should have done, largely because the guitar-obsessed teenager I once was could not see beyond the fact that the band did not have a featured guitarist.
What a mistake that was.
From In Concert to Works Live
Although this music was recorded during 1977, the original album did not appear that year.
The majority of the recording comes from Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s concert at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium on 26 August 1977, where Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer performed with a large orchestra conducted by Godfrey Salmon.
Three performances—“Peter Gunn,” “Tiger in a Spotlight” and “The Enemy God Dances with the Black Spirits”—were recorded later that year in Wheeling, West Virginia, after the costs of touring with an orchestra had forced the band to continue as a trio.
A shortened version of the project was released as the single LP In Concert in 1979, following the band’s break-up. Keith Emerson had wanted it to be a double album, but the more extensive presentation did not appear until 1993, when it was expanded and renamed Works Live.
The album subsequently appeared in several CD editions, formed part of the 2017 deluxe edition of Works Volume 2, and was included in the CD and vinyl versions of the 2021 Out of This World: Live (1970–1997) box set.
This new BMG edition returns Works Live to the shelves as a standalone double album, using the 2021 remaster and adding new liner notes by Michael Heatley.
A much more substantial physical edition
I have compared the new release with the version included in the vinyl edition of Out of This World.
The gatefold design is essentially the same, but the new standalone sleeve feels noticeably more substantial. Both records are housed in poly-lined inner sleeves, which is always good to see and something Now Spinning Magazine has been campaigning for over many years.
The new liner notes from Michael Heatley are another worthwhile addition. They explain the build-up to this remarkable concert and provide a track-by-track account of the performance, alongside the recording and production credits.
The album was originally mixed by Keith Emerson, with the 2021 remaster undertaken by Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham.
One of ELP’s most exciting live recordings
There are moments on the first two sides when I genuinely feel that I am listening to one of the finest Emerson, Lake & Palmer live recordings I have heard.
It has the character of a recording taken principally from the mixing desk. The three musicians are powerful, immediate and exceptionally clear, although the orchestra can sometimes feel further away than it might on a more modern rock-and-orchestra production.
That is particularly noticeable during “C’est la Vie,” one of my favourite Greg Lake songs and possibly my favourite ELP song of all. The studio version has an extraordinarily lush orchestral arrangement. On this recording, I occasionally want the orchestra to move closer and wrap itself more intimately around Greg’s voice.
It remains a beautiful performance, but it also demonstrates the difficulty of recording a rock band and a large orchestra inside an enormous stadium in 1977.
“Fanfare for the Common Man,” which occupies a substantial part of the second side, is tremendously exciting. It captures the scale of the occasion while still allowing us to hear the musical relationship between Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
That balance is important. There may be an orchestra behind them, but at numerous points you remain intensely aware that this is still a trio creating an astonishing amount of music.
Why it took me so long to understand ELP
My own journey into Emerson, Lake & Palmer came embarrassingly late.
During the 1970s, I was completely guitar-orientated. I played guitar myself and my musical heroes included Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page and many of the great guitarists of that period.
ELP did not have a featured guitarist, so I made the simplistic assumption that they were probably not for me.
Boy, did I miss out.
Once I finally started looking beneath the surface of this music, I discovered many of the qualities I already loved elsewhere. Keith Emerson’s Hammond organ playing has the same sense of danger, improvisation and adventure that drew me towards Jon Lord—especially those extraordinary passages in “Space Truckin’” on Deep Purple’s Made in Japan.
The instruments might have been different, but the spirit was not.
There are sections of Works Live where Emerson is stretching the music, responding to the musicians around him and taking the performance somewhere that could never be completely replicated. That was precisely what I loved about the great live rock bands of the 1970s.
I simply had not realised that ELP were doing it too.
Rediscovering the ambition of Works
One of my favourite ELP albums is now Works Volume 1, the studio album released in 1977.
Keith Emerson devoted an entire side of that double album to his “Piano Concerto No. 1.” Think about that for a moment: an original piano concerto occupying a complete side of a major rock release at the height of punk.
At the time, sections of the British music press treated ELP as the enemy. This was the era of The Damned, The Stranglers and the Sex Pistols, and a progressive rock band recording a piano concerto was easily dismissed as pretentious or hopelessly out of touch.
The classical establishment was hardly likely to peer over the fence and acknowledge what a rock keyboard player was attempting either.
Looking back, I deeply regret not appreciating the scale of Keith Emerson’s achievement at the time. I know from people who have contacted Now Spinning Magazine that his piano concerto inspired some listeners to study music and attend music college.
That is a significant legacy.
On Works Live, we only receive the third movement, “Toccata con Fuoco.” I wish the whole concerto had been included, but even this excerpt demonstrates Emerson’s extraordinary ability as a composer and performer.
The music has outlived the criticism. It has taken on a life of its own and, in many ways, now feels more important than ever.
Rock music looking over the fence
ELP helped many rock listeners to look beyond the boundaries of the genre.
“Maple Leaf Rag,” “The Enemy God Dances with the Black Spirits,” “Abaddon’s Bolero” and the band’s adaptation of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition create a bridge between rock, jazz and classical music.
You do not need to understand all the references before enjoying it. The excitement and musicianship come first. But this music can plant a seed. It can make a rock fan wonder what lies on the other side of that fence.
That was certainly true for me. I eventually found myself thinking: “I believe I am beginning to understand classical music now.”
That is part of ELP’s importance. They did not simply borrow recognisable classical melodies and attach a rock rhythm to them. They treated that music as something living—something that could be rearranged, improvised upon and placed alongside their own compositions.
Three very different musical personalities
Works Live also gives each member of the trio room to emerge as an individual.
Greg Lake brings warmth and humanity through “C’est la Vie,” “Watching Over You” and “Closer to Believing.” His voice provides the emotional centre amid all the scale and instrumental complexity.
Keith Emerson appears capable of playing almost anything, from Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” to the monumental architecture of Pictures at an Exhibition and his own piano concerto.
Then there is Carl Palmer.
“Tank” gives Palmer his major spotlight and reminds us what a powerful, precise and remarkably visual drummer he was—and remains. I was fortunate enough to interview Carl when he released his own career-spanning box set, and it was fascinating to hear him discuss the history of ELP and his approach to performance.
A recording can capture the sound of Carl Palmer attacking and almost devouring his drum kit, but it cannot entirely communicate the physical spectacle of watching him perform. His drum solos were designed to be seen as well as heard.
Nevertheless, “Tank” brings this album to a suitably explosive conclusion.
A moment in progressive rock history
Taking a full orchestra on tour was enormously expensive and placed the band under immense financial pressure. Yet the ambition behind it remains breathtaking.
If Emerson, Lake & Palmer were still together today, I suspect orchestras would be queuing up to work with them. Modern recording technology would also allow the orchestral arrangements to be captured with a depth and immediacy that was extraordinarily difficult to achieve inside a stadium in 1977.
There are places on Works Live where the production reveals the limitations of the source recording. The orchestra can sound distant and the overall presentation does not always possess the polish we might associate with a contemporary live production.
However, that is part of its historical character.
This is a moment in time: Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer taking the music of Works into Montreal’s Olympic Stadium and attempting something on a scale few bands would ever contemplate.
It is creative, bombastic, progressive and larger than life—but it is also filled with beautiful melodies, musical sensitivity and world-class musicianship.
If you already own the Out of This World vinyl box, you will have this remastered recording, although the standalone edition offers more substantial packaging and Michael Heatley’s new liner notes.
If you missed the box set, this is a welcome opportunity to obtain Works Live without having to invest in the complete collection. It is also available separately on CD.
For listeners who have never quite understood Emerson, Lake & Palmer, this could provide a fascinating way into their world. I was once one of those people. I thought the absence of a featured guitarist meant there would be nothing here for me.
Instead, I discovered improvisation, Hammond organ, beautiful songs, classical ambition and three musicians pushing themselves—and each other—to extraordinary heights.
I was late getting to Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but I am very glad I eventually arrived.
Works Live by Emerson, Lake & Palmer is available HERE
Phil Aston | Now Spinning Magazine
