Pictures at an Exhibition (album)
Occupation
- Keith Emerson: organ, piano, Moog synthesizer
- Greg Lake: Vocals, Bass, Acoustic Guitar
- Carl Palmer: Drums
Pictures at an Exhibition is the third album by the British progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It was recorded live at Newcastle City Hall on March 26, 1971.
The album
Pictures at an Exhibition contains the titular piece, a free adaptation of Modest Mussorgsky's piano cycle Pictures at an Exhibition, and the addition Nutrocker. The work consists of the promenade, the transition from image to image, and the images themselves The promenade was played by Keith Emerson on the organ of City Hall. Of the ten images in Mussorgsky use Emerson, Lake & Palmer Four: The Gnome, The Old Castle, The Hut of Baba Yaga and The Great Gate of Kiev. From the group itself originate its own "pictures" The Sage, Blues Variation and The Curse of Baba Yaga.
Pictures at an Exhibition is located in a shorter version on the LP In Concert from 1979.
The album is completed with Nutrocker, a recording of Kim Fowleys rocking variation ( 1962), the march of the toy soldiers from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker.
The hinged cover of the LP as someone has already designed by the Tarkus by William Neal. It shows on the outside empty, but provided with the item picture frame. Inside the frames filled to the name promenade with corresponding images, which were created for the cover and have nothing to do with the original image templates Viktor Hartmann.
In December 1971, the album was number 3 in the UK album charts.
Review
Wrote Bruce Eder of Allmusic, the album " brought millions to Classic Rock near, including the classical listeners who mostly as something considered that such an armed attack. " He criticized the sound of the live recording from the early 1970s, however, praised the play of musicians, especially the Carl Palmer. He gave the album three and a half out of five stars.
Title list
Page 1
Page 2
CD Bonus Track
* This version from 1993 is included as a bonus track on the remastered edition from 2001. Previously, she was published in the box set The Return of the Manticore and some editions of the album in the Hot Seat in 1994.
Video
The work was presented live already on 9 December 1970 at the Lyceum Theatre - just two months before the debut studio album Emerson, Lake & Palmer had appeared. A video recording of the concert (without Nutrocker ) was first published in 1973 and later became known as VHS and DVD available.
Passages of the videos are animations ( " Marvel Animation" ) by Dick Preston and colorings by Laurie Atkin marked. These contributions correspond to the then prevailing taste, but are occasionally reviewed by critics negative.