Pictures at an Exhibition

Pictures at an Exhibition Artist: Lake & Palmer Emerson
Label: Phantom Sound & Visi
Category: Music


Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Format: Original recording remastered
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 766486989924
EAN: 0766486989924
ASIN: B00005AFLW


Release Date: 2001-12-04

Pictures at an Exhibition


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Tracks:

  1. Promenade
  2. Gnome
  3. Promenade
  4. Sage
  5. Old Castle
  6. Blues Variation
  7. Promenade
  8. Hut of Baba Yaga
  9. Curse of Baba Yaga
  10. Hut of Baba Yaga
  11. Great Gates of Kiev
  12. Nut Rocker
  13. Pictures at an Exhibition: Promenade/The Gnome/Promenade/The Sage/The O

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Album Description

Remastered reissue of the progressive rock supergroup's 1972 live album.

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars Erratic execution mars ambitious concept.......2005-05-18

With virtuoso keyboardist Keith Emerson at the helm, progressive rock supergroup Emerson Lake & Palmer specialized in adapting classical music to the rock form. Their 1971 debut featured adaptations of works like Bartok's "The Barbarian" and Janacek's "Sinfonietta" (re-titled "Knife-Edge"). "Pictures at an Exhibition" (1972), the first of three live albums ELP released during the 1970s, represented an ambitious leap from these shorter attempts. Most of the album's running time is devoted to ELP's interpretation of Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky's work of the same name. The encore "Nutrocker," a takeoff on Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" theme, brings the album to full LP running time.

To some extent, all ELP live albums suffer from the same limitation: they fail to convey the spectacle of the band in concert. ELP shows featured pyrotechnics, fireworks, knife-throwing, and a variety of other visual treats that don't translate to record. While these stage antics enhanced the experience for those present, they occasionally hampered the band's ability to deliver the solid performances required for great recordings. Later live albums like "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends..." circumvented this problem by cherry-picking the best tracks from various shows. However, the long-form nature of "Pictures at an Exhibition" made it difficult to gloss over the dodgy bits.

There are unquestionably moments of greatness, but not enough to prevent all but the most diehard ELP fans from resorting to the Fast Forward button. The intro and its reprise ("Promenade") and finale ("The Great Gates of Kiev") are appropriately majestic, and Greg Lake delivers a lovely vocal performance on "The Sage." "The Hut of Baba Yaga" brilliantly showcases ELP's kinetic fury. Beyond that, there's way too much bluff: unfocused synthesizer noodling (on "The Gnome," "The Old Castle," and "The Curse of Baba Yaga"), meandering blues jams ("Blues Variations"), and Emerson's obligatory wrestling match with his organ, which delighted the audience but disrupts the grandeur of the finale.

Rock purists and classical aficionados alike excoriated "Pictures" for daring to merge the two genres. Such criticism represents the height of snobbery. The real problem is that with a work of this ambition, there's little margin for error. Unfortunately, ELP's desire to please the crowd left them with a highly erratic recording, unworthy of the lofty goals they sought to achieve.

ELP would go on to fine-tune and arguably improve their interpretation of Mussorgsky's work. Check out the underrated "Works Live" for a condensed, more focused version of "Pictures," or the highly polished, stately version from the 4-CD boxed set, "Return of the Manticore." While this record is a must-own for diehard fans, newcomers to the world of ELP should approach the original "Pictures" with caution.

5 out of 5 stars SUPERB CONCERT ALBUM.......2003-06-03

This is simply one of the best records ever. Why only one review -- Amazon starting over?? I love this weird-sounding version of the great Russian piece. Keith Emerson's love affair with the Hammond organ and esp. the Moog synthesizer. Palmer rocks fast and Lake's gorgeous original "The Sage", followed by "The Old Castle", by the group, steals the show.

4 out of 5 stars

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