Emerson, Lake & Palmer Album: “Pictures at an Exhibition [Cotillion]”

I can't disagree more with the reviewer below regarding the insertion of ELP's own pictures into this gallery. Wanna get rid of "Nutrocker" while we're at it? I've never heard a fan upbraid this band for not sticking with Mussorgsky to the exclusion of "The Sage," "The Curse of Baba Yaga," or the "Blues Variation." Greg's vocals here are what's really special (before he started losing his voice and giving out bombastic rocker yells). The lyrics at the end of "Kiev"? You might say they're classic art-rock from the 1970s; in any case they have never gotten in the way for me. In addition, the tastefully chosen words throughout the record heighten the crucial air of mystery for a modern audience. "Death is life" acknowledges the then-unknown immortalization of Victor Hartmann through his paintings: his name is still around today as a result of Mussorgsky's musical tribute (upon seeing a Hartmann exhibition in Russia). And Mussorgsky's name itself is now further known through the work of the band. Back to "The Sage": although it wasn't a part of the original suite...well, I'll be blasphemous and say it might as well have been. The point is it feels as if it belongs, and it seems that would be no easy feat for a young guy to accomplish. The misty mood, the plaintive delivery set up "The Old Castle" beautifully. Meanwhile, "Curse" totally rocks and flows seamlessly as the logical, evil extension of the witch's ride of "Hut." Okay, now I can thank you for allowing me to say this is one great album, already legendary and fabled on its own. Art is death is life and amen. And the remaster sounds warm and alive as well.

ELP would go onto have much more success playing Fanfare for the Common Man, but right at the start of their career they were already proving that 3 men could do what was supposed to be done by an 80-piece orchestra. And it's not just that they could do it well - they did it brilliantly. Somehow they rehearsed and put together this sprawling suite soon after forming - it was recorded (live) long before Tarkus, but the record company refused to release an album that was a classical music suite on a pop label. Only after the huge success to Tarkus did they agree to it, and to this day it is only the only album-length classical piece that has reached the heights of pop charts.

Equally disturbing to its sad release history is the fact that the artist put a picture on the cover called `Promenade' - but that's an entry hall, not a painting. What were they thinking? All this ridiculousness aside, Pictures is a mind blowing album that holds up flawlessly after all these years. Lake is at his best singing The Sage, a ballad equal to his later, brilliant, acoustic works (Still You Turn Me On, Cest La Vie, etc.) and his lyrics are just effusive and evocative (and, of course, strange - you know this is prog, right?). The way that the suite weaves through lingering acoustic work, the arresting fanfare of the promenade sections, and the insane, deranged electronica of Emerson is radically original and truly enthralling. It leaves this album as a peerless expression of what music can achieve when it stretches far beyond itself.

Three men are not supposed to be on a stage doing anything like this - it's insane. But the thing about insanity is that it works on a logic all of its own - and in this case at least, the result is beauty. Inspirational beauty.

This album is a total anomaly in music. Yes, it is by Mussorgsky, but it is also by ELP. It's not really a prog epic (or super-epic) because it is a classical music suite, but it is unthinkable that any classical music fan would claim ownership of it. I mean, come on - it has lyrics and overdriven synthesiser effects. Pictures stands on its own as an art rock masterpiece, and it came out a time when attempting such a thing was truly innovative, unthinkable and rebellious. Something happened between 69 and 72 - an effusive explosion of technology and talent that we look back at and call prog. It was, at that time, truly avant-garde - in the most sublime sense, in fact. And it could be that the raw virtuosity and evocation of those works (Schizoid Man, Close to the Edge, Tarkus, Supper's Ready etc.) will never be matched and can never be exceeded - rather music will just move through new vistas and to different loci of creativity.

But one thing is certain: The music lives on, and is still easily available for all to cherish. And that's great, because the closing movement of this suite - The Great Gates of Kiev - is just spellbinding. Here I am trying to write some review, but words can't describe it - and religion just can't do justice to the spiritual evocation of a song like that.

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.

This was actually one of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's early performances, and it was released because of the fans' demand for it (it debuted between Tarkus and Trilogy). Many purists were outraged by this reinterpretation of Mussorgsky's masterpiece, but having heard this version, a classical guitar version, and a traditional, orchestral version, I am not offended. I think this version is amazing, better than the take on the In Concert/Works Live album, and the studio version that appeared on The Return of the Manticore box set and In the Hot Seat (same version, just released on 2 seperate albums). And considering this was one of ELP's first performances, it's even more remarkable. Some of Emerson's distortion can get annoying (especially during The Great Gates of Kiev), but most of his playing is exemplary, Lake's voice is magnificent (a far cry from the shambles it became later), and Palmer's drumming is, well, f***ing amazing as usual. Some have complained about the audacity of some of the songwriting credits (for example, the passage The Old Castle is credited as Mussorgsky/Emerson), but it still doesn't detract from the music. I like Lake's solo contribution here, The Sage, even though I love the later studio version (with a beautiful classical guitar passage and a choir). The album ends with a fun number, a take on Nutrocker, which is actually a lot of fun. There's video of this performance, and all 3 of the boys seem to be really enjoying themselves. If you're a fan of prog rock and/or ELP, you really need to buy this one, but do yourself a favor. Buy an authentic orchestral version as well. I think it will enhance your enjoyment of this.

This Cotillion/Atlantic release (the original release in the USA) captures the sound of the album nicely without the shouty upper mid emphasis that slightly spoils the later remastering efforts (Victory/Rhino and the current Shout Factory). The best sound available on CD (for vinyl, go for the original Island UK vinyl). Pity about the booklet, which uses the inside of the gatefold as the outside and misses the original outside of the gatefold.