''Works Volume 2'' is the sixth studio album by

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitar, producer) and Carl Palmer (drums, percus ...

, released in 1977. Unlike ''

Works Volume 1 ''Works Volume 1'' is the fifth studio album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released as a double album in March 1977 on Atlantic Records. Following their world tour supporting ''Brain Salad Surgery'' (1973), the group ...

'' (which consisted of three solo sides and one ensemble side), ''Works Volume 2'' was a single album and it was seemingly a compilation of leftover tracks from other album sessions. While many derided the album for its apparent lack of focus, others praised it for showing a different side of the band than usual, with

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, bluegrass and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

being very prominent as musical genres in this recording. The remastered 2017 version of the album is expanded to a double-CD by the inclusion of the complete ''Works Live'', an extended version of '' Emerson, Lake & Palmer in Concert''.

Songs

"When the Apple Blossoms Bloom...", "

Tiger in a Spotlight "Tiger in a Spotlight" is a song by the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It was recorded in 1973, but not released until 1977, when it was released on the album ''Works Volume 2''. "Tiger in a Spotlight" was also released as a singl ...

" and "Brain Salad Surgery" had been recorded at the 1973 sessions for the album ''

Brain Salad Surgery ''Brain Salad Surgery'' is the fourth studio album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released on 19 November 1973 by their record label, Manticore Records, and distributed by Atlantic Records. Following the tour in suppo ...

'' but did not appear on it. Keith Emerson's cover of " Honky Tonk Train Blues" had been released as a single in 1976, reaching #21 in the UK singles chart. ''Volume 2'' also included a stripped-down version of Greg Lake's "

I Believe in Father Christmas "I Believe in Father Christmas" is a song by English musician Greg Lake with lyrics by Peter Sinfield. Although it is often categorised as a Christmas song, this was not Lake's intention. He said that he wrote the song in protest at the commercia ...

". An orchestral version of the song had previously been released as a solo Lake single in the UK in 1975 and became something of an annual

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

standard there. It can also be heard on

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sa ...

's seasonal Christmas channel

Holly ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

in the United States as well.

Reception

The album was not as commercially successful as the band's previous albums; it reached No. 20 in the UK and No. 37 in the US. Three tracks from the album were released as singles: "Tiger in a Spotlight", " Maple Leaf Rag", and "Watching Over You". In a contemporary review, Robert Christgau of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'' facetiously remarked that it is "news" when "the world's most overweening 'progressive' group" makes an album "less pretentious than its title", but questioned whether it is "rock and roll". In a retrospective review,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's David Ross Smith felt that it was "highly underrated" and wrote that the album's "brief pieces sustain interest; there really isn't a weak tune in the set." Paul Stump, in his 1997 ''History of Progressive Rock'', commented that "Even Progressive militants have trouble defending ''Vol. 2'', although 'When the Apple Blossoms Bloom in the Windmills of Your Mind' does have a perverse charm. 'Tiger in a Spotlight', however, a cheesy plod, shows just how low the band's collective inspiration had sunk." The two ''Works'' albums were supported by North American tours which lasted from May 1977 to February 1978, spanning over 120 dates. Some early concerts in 1977 were performed with a hand-picked orchestra and choir, but the idea was shelved after 18 shows with the band due to budget constraints. The final concert with the orchestra and choir took place on 26 August 1977 at the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

that was attended by an estimated 78,000 people, the highest attended Emerson, Lake & Palmer concert as a solo act. According to Lake on the ''Beyond the Beginning'' DVD documentary, the band lost around $3 million on the tour. Lake and Palmer blame Emerson for the loss as the use of an orchestra on tour was his idea.

Track listing

2001 bonus tracks

(Live, New Haven, 30 November 1977) 4:14 * Watching Over You (Live, New Haven, 30 November 1977) 4:30 *

Show Me the Way to Go Home "Show Me the Way to Go Home" is a popular song written in 1925 by the English songwriting team Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, using the pseudonym "Irving King". The song is said to have been written on a train journey from London by Campbell an ...

(Live, Indiana, 24 January 1978) 5:34

Singles

* "Watching Over You/Hallowed Be Thy Name" ''(UK release)'' * "Tiger in a Spotlight/So Far to Fall" ''(German release)''

Personnel

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

* Keith Emerson -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, organ, synthesizers,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

* Greg Lake -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Carl Palmer Carl Frederick Kendall Palmer (born 20 March 1950) is an English drummer best known as founding member and the last surviving member of the progressive rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He was also a founding member of progressive rock s ...

- drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Additional musicians

*Ron Aspery -

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

on "Bullfrog" ''(uncredited)'' *

Colin Hodgkinson Colin Hodgkinson (born 14 October 1945, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England) is a British rock, jazz and blues bassist, who has been active since the 1960s. Career Hodgkinson played in several bands, but was even more prolific as a sessi ...

- bass guitar on "Bullfrog" ''(uncredited)'' *Graham Smith - Harmonica on "Watching Over You"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Emerson, Lake & Palmer albums 1978 albums Albums produced by Keith Emerson Albums produced by Greg Lake Albums produced by Peter Sinfield Atlantic Records albums Shout! Factory albums