Editing Works Volume 1 (section)

==Background==
In August 1974, Emerson, Lake & Palmer finished their ten-month world tour in support of their fourth album, ''[[Brain Salad Surgery]]'' (1973). This was followed by the triple live album ''[[Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends ～ Ladies and Gentlemen]]'' (1974) which earned the group their highest charting position in the US with a peak of No. 4, and No. 6 in the UK. The trio took an extended break, having been on the recording and touring circuit each year since their formation in 1970. [[Keith Emerson]] said that at this point in their career, the group's musical direction had been "milked dry" and they wanted to spend time planning their next step.<ref name=MM107703>{{cite web|url=http://ladiesofthelake.com/cabinet/theworksonelp.html|title=The Works on ELP|author=Unknown|date=12 March 1977|work=Melody Maker|via=Ladies of the Lake|access-date=1 October 2019}}</ref>

In 1976, the three had decided to start on a new studio album and became [[tax exile]]s, meaning they had to record overseas. Lake recalled that this was an unpopular opinion as the members had family based in England. They settled in [[Montreux]], Switzerland where they recorded at [[Mountain Studios]].<ref name=AV/> Lake recalled his time there was difficult for creativity: "It's so grey. There's nothing there. You get sod-all inspiration!" Emerson supported his view and called it "the end of the earth", but he and Palmer praised the studio facilities and the quality of the equipment.<ref name=MM107703/>

Lyricist [[Pete Sinfield]] has claimed credit for the album's title, explaining, "I suppose if you're gonna be pretentious, you might as well do it big. They had all these bits floating around. But 'Bits' didn't really sound right."<ref name=Stump215>{{cite book|last=Stump|first=Paul|title=The Music's All that Matters: A History of Progressive Rock|date=1997|publisher=Quartet Books Limited|isbn=0-7043-8036-6|pages=215–8}}</ref>

For ''Works'', Lake wanted to take a more serious approach in writing and singing ballads, and felt singing with an orchestra added greater variety to his songs.<ref name=MM107703/> Both tracks on side four feature Emerson playing a [[Yamaha GX-1]] synthesizer.<ref>Aaron Copland, "Interview With Aaron Copland 1997". Emerson Lake & Palmer, From The Beginning (box set, 5 CDs, 1 DVD), 2007 Sanctuary Records Group, Ltd.</ref>

In March 1977, Lake said that the band had completed additional material that would be released on ''[[Works Volume 2]]''.<ref name=MM107703/>