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thanks to my friends :)
| TRACKLIST |
| 1. Tiger in a Spotlight 2. When the Apple Blossoms Bloom in the Windmills of Your Mind I'll Be Y 3. Bullfrog 4. Brain Salad Surgery 5. Barrelhouse Shake-Down 6. Watching Over You 7. So Far to Fall 8. Maple Leaf Rag 9. I Believe in Father Christmas 10. Close But Not Touching 11. Honky Tonk Train Blues 12. Show Me the Way to Go Home |
Ecclectic leftovers from the ELP musical vault, December 22, 2005
By Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
"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.