Pictures At An Exhibition

It's a live album of a keyboard-driven progressive rock band covering a 150 year old Russian romantic composer, and it sounds like video game boss music.

This fun rock opera makes up for all the crap I’ve sat through in this challenge. It has elements of classical music, metal, punk, blues and 60s funky keyboard jazz. Even if it is perhaps slightly pretentious and overambitious, it doesn't get boring for the duration, and what's wrong with being slightly pretentious and overambitious when you're obviously having a great time doing it? I literally burst out laughing at the start of Blues Variation because it was such a completely unexpected gear change. This is exactly the kind of stuff I started the challenge to hear.

2/17/22 “What do you think it would sound like if aliens invaded the Catholic Church?” This is how I picture the idea for this album came about. Not my vibe at all, could not take it seriously, but they get partial credit for playing the whole thing live and making it a continuous piece. Favorite song: Nut Rocker

I haven't heard this for over 40 years. It's still awful

I hated - and I really do mean HATED - so much of this. Yet it avoids a one star review because it was also really interesting, intriguing, impressive and even enjoyable in parts. A bizarre album

Incoherent, pretentious, noodling.... this really isn’t for me. Why play 1 note when you can play 27!

I'm a sucker for prog rock, I love this reimagining of classical songs. Will def revisit this one many times

From the first song, this album demanded my attention. Mussorgsky? Synths? Influential rock musicians? What is this? This is the first album on this list that I think was truly new to me; I have never heard anything like this before. I listen to most of these albums while working. Not this one, this is a spectacle in itself. The music is less so distracting from the work as the work is distracting from the music. My mind is blown.

Thats it, this is the BEST album i have ever listened to so far (I know i will change my mind someday) BUT SERIOUSLY!!!! Fuck y'all who hate this you just dont understand! This is a really great rock opera! I just wish this album was more popular and appreciated!

Fascinating album enjoyed every minute

Absolute garbage and I mean garbage - prog nonsense with piles of shitty organ, barely audible vocals, no songs worth a toss

Nice!

Now this is more like it! I will always have a soft spot for the "Promenade" theme thanks to The New Statesman (hilarious, if you don't know it), the Madeleine of my staying up late on a Sunday school-night. Shameless overblown and pretentious prog indulgence gets the approval of this old B'Stard. And "Nutrocker", perfect from conception to execution; as someone observes in the reviews, how did they make it out of Newcastle alive?!

Cet album démarrait sur les chapeaux de roue, une excellente musicalité se dégageait de ce dernier, mais un bruit désagréable se faisait de plus en présent au fil des pistes. En effet, tapis dans l'ombre du studio, je devinais une silhouette familière, se rapprochant pas à pas du micro d'enregistrement: cette silhouette, c'etait celle de Manzarek. De quelques sons etouffés sur les premières pistes, il finit peu à peu par devenir omniprésent, jusqu'à ejecter les pauvres Emerson Lake et Palmer du studio pour monopoliser les débats avec son immonde orgue. Un comportement absolument scandaleux qui je l'espère sera sanctionné par Robert Dimery au plus vite.

I like Prog Rock but this is pretty gratuitous. I groaned when I saw it was LIVE too and was amazed the Geordies let them out alive at the end! Only joking and there's some good musicianship in parts but other parts it's like they're making it up as they go along. I gave it another go and it does grow on you (like what I won't say!) I need to listen to the classical piece it's based on I guess.....

Good lord in heaven. This was… something. It reminded me of that scene in friends where Ross plays his “soundscapes” on the keyboard. Some of this was almost passable to listen to but a good portion was absolutely atrocious with heavy doses of sounds that could only be the band’s interpretation of what a UFO sounds like.

Fantastic

Epic

Funky, trippy, just plain fun!

Such a cool classic/rock blend! Nutcracker rock is such classic, great album.

Incredible live album, makes me miss live music for the sake of watching artists at the peak of performance, feels like it's becoming more of a marketing vehicle now. I had never heard this band but plan to listen much more!

Progressive rock, my beloved. Is it for everyone? So long as you leave your expectations of “modesty” and “relatability” at the door. ELP remains one of my favourite progressive rock acts, though in my opinion Pictures at an Exhibition may be one of their weaker records. But that’s not to say it’s bad. ELP takes the classical mainstay “Pictures at an Exhibition” and re-arranges it for a rock trio. Some purists may be appalled by this, but for those who have never heard a progressive rock record outside of Pink Floyd or 70s Genesis, this is a great record to start on. And after you finish, look to ELP’s album “Trilogy”, which is probably their most cohesive record, and not weakened by a side-long suite (Unlike the B-sides of Rush’s “2112” and ELP’s “Tarkus”.)

What an amazing recording of an amazing live performance! After listening to this the first time I put on Pictures at an Exhibition by the Vienna Philharmonic (itself a re-arrangement of the source piano version by Mussorgsky). I really loved both and it made this work all the more impressive. By the time I had done all this listening and reading about Pictures At An Exhibition I was completely enthralled. It takes a certain kind of hubris to do something like this. It’s impressive when it pays off. This is a wildly ambitious endeavor that created something really interesting and unique. I’m fairly certain I would never have known about this had it not appeared here. Bravo!

Amazing. It's a live record. It's as metal as you can be without distorted guitars. Favorite part: the gnome.

Hardest five I've given in ages!!!! Hell yeah dude!!! hell yeah!!!

This was absolutely bizarre, but I couldn't help but love it. It was just a lot of fun from beginning to end, and I found myself dancing along to some of the more energetic songs. It's absolutely amazing what ELP were doing with synthesizers over 50 years ago! I think this is a timeless album that I'll surely come back to at some point. I have to say though, that Promenade motif is going to bug me. Where the hell have I heard it before? Favourite: The Old Castle

Here we have another Prog Rock trio, this one much different than yesterday's (Rush). ELP, along with early Genesis and Yes, are my three favorite Prog Rock bands. Keith Emerson has been mentioned as one of the best, if not the most technically accomplished keyboard player in rock history. This live album, of course with no overdubs or retakes, is a great example of the talent, creativity, and imagination of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. The trio plays a tight adaptation of a classical piece by Mussorgski. The pipe organ, multiple synths, acoustic guitar, bass, and drums all contribute to this impressive work.

Solid 3. Interesting interpretation, damn they're virtuosos, I'm glad I listened, and I'd put this on a 1001 list... but for this piece, one of the best ever, I'd rather just listen to Mussorgsky by a true symphony orchestra.

Very Meta making music inspired by music inspired by art. But mostly it just made me want to listen to Mussorgsky. They really love those synthesis.

sounds like what me and my mates used to do in music in 6th form, piss about making noise on instruments. weirdly it's not truly awful and again the final fantasy factor gives it a minor improvement over the 1 it was destined for

Amazing discovery for me. Mixture between synth and classical.

Wild love album. Very cool take on some classical classics. There's not nearly enough organ in today's music.

Wonderful stuff.

I really like this! Hadn't heard it before.

ELP are probably my favourite progressive rock band. However, I don't generally like live albums, so I always overlooked this one. I mean, it epitomises everything bad people say about prog... it's overblown, pretentious, self-indulgent... I mean, it's a rock band playing adaptations of of Mussorgsky. C'mon. But in spite of all that, it's a fucking barrelling, irresistible rock show that is fun as hell. I particularly love the organ work, and the fast, choppy bits which sound like proto-math rock. On top of that, it's a live album that actually sounds good and offers something different from their studio records. My only complaint is that some of the slower/quieter parts don't work so well - but they do reflect the source material and they give the album balance. So it's 4.5*, but I'm happy rounding it to 5*.

This might be one of the easiest 5s to give. Narrative, unique sounds, and excellent performances, ALL ON A LIVE ALBUM. Concise Beast.

A wild album. Classical music flowing into rock, that suddenly opens up with extraterrestrial funk at times. But the construction of the album itself truly is solid.

Malgré les nombreuses réprimandes adressées à Robert au sujet de l'inclusion de l'album The Doors dans ce classement, album qui, dois-je le rappeler, fut souillé des doigts de l'organiste Manzarek, notre cher éditeur semble encore une fois n'en faire qu'à sa tête avec l'ajout de l'album qui nous intéresse aujourd'hui. Pictures At An Exhibition est en effet lui aussi gangrené par un orgue, celui de Keith Emerson. Vous l'aurez compris, la liste des personæ non gratæ de ce générateur accueille un nouveau membre en la personne dudit Emerson.

Pictures at an Exhibition? More like Pictures of me checking my watch every five minutes. Live albums already test my patience, but this one felt like a very loud museum tour I couldn't escape.

9.5/10. Fuck it. I'm a prog fan, and I will gladly listen to just about any prog album with my head up my ass. I bloody love this shit!!!!! :)

Emerson, Lake, Palmer (nods sympathetically), thanks for coming in. I'm afraid this is an intervention.

Good

Nice one, really like the instrumentation

мечтательно и вау

Ge Wel Dig!

orgaanista musiikkia. massive sound... mieletöntä instrumentointia genrehyppimistä ja kaikki kuulostaa niin hyvältä.. Incoherent, pretentious, noodling, kolmen adjektiivin quota täytetty, tarkennusta? ei saatana ole tulossa.. sanotaan vaan...jotain... järisyttävä yleisön tuomio taas britpop faneilta... lampaat (three different ones) vai oliko siat heh... attack of the clones... protestivitosta tähän väliin ei muuta mahdollisuutta MIKÄ VITTU ON TÄÄ PRETENTIOUS SANA JOTA KÄYTETÄÄN VITUN USEIN NOISSA ARVOSTELUISSA??? HÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄH NYT JÄI AIVOIHIN LUKKOON JOKU TERMI TAAS POIS SIELTÄ POIS HUS!! the gnome

Très solide, du prog de fou a l'état pur. Liven plus ayoye. 5

so, so proggy a flawless, phenomenal record 10/10

sonzao tri, progressivo e tal, tocam muito

Long loved this since I got on vinyl back whenever!

I liked this album, but there's prog out there I'd rather listen to. Possibly my favorite thing about prog is how much it makes people mad. My favorite review someone wrote of this album was just: "Not fun at all. Weird and boring." God, I love the simplicity of that. "This music is yucky to my ears, it made me feel bad :("

I was the sort of pretentious twat who listened to this and loved it when I was a student. 20 years on and it's still great. There's nothing else quite like it. Not perfect but definitely one worth hearing.

This made me wonder how tastes change, and whether such a super nerdy call to play air organ could ever be hip again. I had fun with this, though it felt like the volume knob had been possessed by malign spirits at times. Fried keyboard blasts particularly pleased me.

This just isn't my thing. There were a couple of moments that I didn't mind. "The Sage" was alright, and so was "The Great Gates of Kiev". 2 stars.

Ok but not what I wanted for 500 albums!

Sometimes this album reminds of what it sounds like inside a music store. Sometimes relatively quiet, sometimes a lot of sounds, in your face drums next to what sometimes sounds like someone testing each of the many settings on the synthesizer. Occasional strains of familiar melodies. When the musicians are playing together, abrupt stops and starts and stylistic changes on a dime. The only throughline here is that the every musician uses every moment to beseech you to appreciate their chops. In fairness to them, I can hear the desperate psychology behind this music because I have been more generous than most in dedicating my youth to a similar cause. Another take: the difference between ELP and the Allman Brothers explains the difference between UK and USA. Thirdly: Where is the ELO-ELP supergroup? Finally: I'm razzing them, but any band that has an album titled Brain Salad Surgery deserves some respect.

Jesus

Prog rock at its toughest; classical work reimagined w lots of virtuosity and bravura. You need some guts to keep it from the beginning to the end

🤷🏻‍♂️ Yeah, not for me. I know this was a event where they were essentially performing some one else’s music, but it really just seemed like like a lot of random electric twitching for extended portions. Started to focus a bit near the end, I liked the portion about the Baba Yaga, the nutcracker portion was interesting.

Well that was silly.

I'd rather listen to a classical piano suite than listen to someone wank off a keyboard to it

eugh that was nonense. Emerson, Lake & NONSENSE.

Overblown, bloated, overproduced rubbish

All instrumental prog rock. Just the worst part of the Pink Floyd records. Pass.

Not fun at all. Weird and boring.

Was not prepared for how much I would enjoy this absolute prog classical fuckery. Three incredibly talented musicians taking on classical music in the most prog rock fashion possible. Keith Emerson’s synths and organs are mind-blowing now, let alone when this got released in 1971. Greg Lake is keeping things moving in the background. And Carl Palmer is a fucking madman on the drums blasting away on the wild rhythmic changes, sounding both like a metronome AND Animal the Muppet at the same time. Maybe the only problem is the encore, “Nutrocker”, which doesn’t hold a candle to the majesty of the rest of the work, but it’s a nice fluffy dessert on top and doesn’t ruin a magical performance.

5 - mastapiece. Perfect prog performance

I loved it! It is one of the best live albums and one of the best art and progressive rock albums I ever heard. Masterpiece! Classics! Perfect sound, perfect themes, excellent vocal! Their adaptation is so much better than original Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. And this the best album by E.L.P., IMHO. However, "Mars, the Bringer of War" (adaptation of original suite from "The Palnets" by Gustav Holst) created by Emerson and Lake with Powell is a perfect hit too.

The skill with which many Prog Rock musicians played is incredible. Truly. ELP amongst the best if not THE best.

Glorious

One of my all time favorites

It's a live album of a keyboard-driven progressive rock band covering a 150 year old Russian romantic composer, and it sounds like video game boss music.

fuck yeah this album rocks. what a great find! modest mussorgsky (and tchaikovsky) reinvented in 70s prog rock? how does this have such low scores? pump promenade_ver_1, _2, and _3.mp3 directly into my veins favorites: literally every track. i liked them all on spotify. get rekt haters

This is a fantastic album and one of my all time favourites. Perhaps not my favourite ELP album but one which gives me some great memories particularly seeing ELP live. Those who complain about the sound quality of the album I do sympathise not because of the sound but because you were never fortunate enough to witness Pictures played live. I saw and heard it live 3 times. At Leeds Town Hall the static building organ was above stage level. When Keith Emerson said “I’m going to do some climbing “ everyone knew what was coming. He played the first few chords of Pictures, instantly recognisable and a beautiful tune, and everyone went wild. Keith was an amazing showman and just had to be seen live. As an explanation to those who think the sounds halfway through The Great Gates of Kiev are just random noise, Keith here was playing his Hammond either on top of him or with him sat on top rocking it around the stage. To see it was to believe it and I’m so glad that I did witness this as a testament to his superb musical ability. Shout out also to Greg Lake for his tender lyrics set to the original score. I know those words by heart and often sing them myself in any impromptu moment. I bought the album just prior to going on a 3 week outward bound course in the Yorkshire Dales where access to any news let alone music was forbidden. I was desperate to get home and to play this very disc. On the Friday night I arrived home I was exhausted due to exertions and lack of sleep. I went to bed early and listened to Pictures but did not get beyond Promenade before I was asleep and the needle was stuck on side one run off when I awoke 12 hours later. This is one abiding memory when I listen to this disc but it is the live performance which really does come to mind. One other important thing. Getting acquainted with this album encouraged me seek out the original Mussorgsky classical version of Pictures. As I had also done previously with other classic/rock crossover’s introduced to me by The Nice. Whilst I cannot be described as a classical music aficionado my knowledge and appreciation of that genre was gained entirely due to albums such as this and I think that was what ELP intended. 5/5 23/5/25

No tenía idea de la existencia de este álbum y me pareció una genialidad absoluta. Siempre me ha encantado la obra original de Mussorgsky, pero escucharla así, en versión rock psicodélico, me voló la mente. Por supuesto voy a escuchar mucho más de Emerson, Lake y Palmer. Aventarse a hacer algo como esto me parece de valientes, y que el resultado sea así de increíble, me parece casi milagroso. Una maravilla.

I really enjoy 70's prog rock. It was a great time for musicians making epic music. ELP were at the top of the heap. Fantastic band. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Thumbs up

Masterpiece! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great music, even if it's prog at its most excessive.

didn't know what to expect from a live prog album based on a classical music suite but it was fantastic! there were some sections that leaned a little too heavy into the art rock side things to the point where it was almost just incomprehensible noise but it was for such a short duration i'll overlook it. the more annoying aspect of the album was the gratuitous amount of clapping left in on the last two songs which easily add 2 minutes to the runtime. despite that, i thoroughly enjoyed this album

"We're gonna give you Pictures at an Exhibition" (insane cheering). ELP was prog rock's first supergroup. All of the members of the band had been in successful early prog rock bands in the late 60s; All had been disatisfied with those groups. ELP would go on to become one of the best known prog rock (and classic rock) groups of the 1970s. Pictures at an Exhibition was recorded live at a Newcastle City Hall between their first and second albums. The sound is, by modern standards, crude. Crowd noises can be heard during the performance. At times the sound can be a bit muddy. These were due to the limitations of live recording systems at the time. And yet.... Keith Emerson's arrangement is spectacular. It is packed with energy and depth. The decision to have Greg Lake add lyrics and vocals to some of the movements was inspired, especially for the Great Gates of Kiev. A lot of rock adapations of classical music do not do justice to the source material. This is not one of those cases. ELP not only adapts this piece for more modern tastes but elevates into something new and different. It is Mussorsky, but not only Mussorsky. They never recorded Pictures at an Exhibition in the studio nor did they include any of it on subsequent live albums. This is the only version of this complete piece, in all of it's messy glory, that can be found on vinyl, tape, or CD. Excerpts are found on some of their later box sets including from an earlier Isle of Wight concert, but not the entire suite. I suggest listening to it on original vinyl if you can so that you hear it's original incarnation and can view the fold out album sleeve.

Incredible concert footage from a band so beyond its time.

One of ELP’s great strengths was their ability to perform classical pieces with great respect, while at the same time giving them a distinctly modern twist. This might be the greatest example, with Keith Emerson in particular a master of his instrument.

The top review at time of listening reads: "It's a live album of a keyboard-driven progressive rock band covering a 150 year old Russian romantic composer, and it sounds like video game boss music." ...which, yes, accurate - but then inexplicably they scored it 2!? Must have been a slip of the finger. 😏 This was great fun, and prompted me to listen to a performance of the original Modest Mussorgsky version. (And in a stroke of good fortune, the version I have tacks another track on the end, “Night on Bald Mountain”, which is one of those classical pieces I recognize but don’t know who did it. It’s the badass-demon-on-a-mountain bit of Fantasia!) It's very proggy, but at a tight 38 minutes it positively flies by - a great listen! Fave tracks - "The Gnome", "The Curse of Baba Yaga"

Great

Haven't heard this in a long time. Bought the studio album when it released originally because I was really into this band at the time. For a live recording it wasn't bad. Some criticise it for being pretentious, to the modern ear maybe it is, but progressive rock was innovative and exploratory. ELP were very different, there was nothing around like them. Emerson's keyboards and moog synthesiser sounds were set apart. This is a band that you either got or didn't and I got them, or at least I had an appreciation for the music they produced.

Complete and utter wizardry, I cannot even begin to imagine what it would have been like in that crowd experiencing this live!

This is one of those albums I had already heard before it came up through this generator. I already had a lot of respect for this album, mainly from the perspective of it being an early innovative progressive rock piece with heavy use of early synthesizers. Now that I’m looking deeper into it and learning that it’s really a progressive rock adaptation of a well-known classical suite, I have even more respect for their attempt to bridge classical music and early experimental progressive rock. It was a highly innovative endeavor for its time.

Very cool sounds. I like the amount of instrumentals and the tone. Interested in more.

One of my favorite live albums

Come back to this

Incredible album! I really need to listen to more of their music!

NO ONE beats the skins like Carl Palmer ....

I don’t really know why but i loved listing to that Album it’s weird but somehow perfect. The sound is extremely off and that makes it even better

LOVED IT!💖💖💖

Complete insanity.

So prog that it should come with a warning. The only thing wrong with Pictures At An Exhibition is that Lake doesn’t sing more than he does. Speaking of which… I would like to start a petition for Greg Lake to sing on every album on this list from here on out. Cool? Great!

Psychedelic.Folk.Rock.

A rock adaptation of a classical piece? Fascinating. Would listen again.

ngl, this goes hard. ridiculous in all the best ways