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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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?!

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

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.

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

Nice!

Fascinating album enjoyed every minute

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.

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.

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.

Fantastic

Epic

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

Funky, trippy, just plain fun!

Good

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

Nice one, really like the instrumentation

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.

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

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!

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

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

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”.)

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!

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.

sonzao tri, progressivo e tal, tocam muito

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.

Long loved this since I got on vinyl back whenever!

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.

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.

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.

Great

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did.

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.

I loved this album and everything Emerson, Lake & Palmer did with it. Repurposing a piano suite from the Romantic period to become progressive rock is SO cool. Pictures is full of creativity, due to ELP's work, and is often quite beautiful, owing to the source material. Unsurprisingly, because the suite was crafted to be one piece, each movement/song flows beautifully into one another. ELP still make this their own, sometimes with lyrics or electronic music. Live albums are hit or miss. Often I'm flummoxed as to why a live album is on this list, but the content of this album sets my mind at east. ELP never recorded a studio album with this material, at least. Does the live aspect add anything for me? Perhaps not, but perhaps their best bet for this music to be published was through a live album. Since piano suites are made to be performed live, I will allow this live album.

This album was wild. I liked the sounds and the musicianship. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have been there and seen this performed live.

nice.

The 3 Promenade songs I didn’t care about but the rest is good. This live is tolerable because it’s only 38 minutes long.

I enjoyed this a lot. Definitely the good side of prog. Totally pretentious, overblown and unnecessary, but still very enjoyable despite, or perhaps because of that. This album felt a bit like a rich dessert, too much would make you feel sick, but in smallish amounts (which is why I avoided the extended edition like the plague) it's very enjoyable. A high 4.

++: Promenade, The Gnome, Blues Variation, Promenade, The Hut of Baba Yaga, The Curse of Baba Yaga, The Hut of Baba Yaga, The Curse of Baba Yaga, The Great Gates of Kiev +: Promenade, The Sage, Nutrocker 9,4/10

Cool live performance. It was like medieval rock, jazz, and a little bit of electronic music mixed together. I can’t remember the lyrics, but the vibe was good. Standouts: The Gnome, The Sage, The Curse of Baba Yaga, and The Great Gates of Kiev.

I played this a second time, so I have to rate it at least a 4/5. There's some cheesy "futuristic" keyboard sounds and a bit of cringey singing, but there's also a lot of really cool stuff and really impressive technical playing. Yeah, I like this pretty well. Best track: The Old Castle

An amazing piece done with an interesting interpretation. I prefer the modern studio version that came out in 1994, but it is ELP doing what they know best.

Very good.

This is a wild thing to listen to but is so good to have on the list. You had three stellar musicians who decided they wanted to get really experimental on everything they did and one of their albums is just a classical work in a prog style. The encore is the nut cracker suite. This barely makes sense and it's great.

I have never listened to ELP, so this might be a kind of insane way to start. I can see why this would be polarizing in the mainstream. Cool concept. I do look forward to hearing more of them. I like what prog brings to the table, it activates my synapses. They play like they never stop playing. The recording is so good. The sound of the strings is perfect. I need more time with this in the future. Needs a trumpet or french horn.

one or two were nice.

First listen it didn't click. Second listen I was blown away. 4/5 only because I can't see myself listening all the time, but a great prog rock/classical fusion live album!

A weak four because even though I usually dislike masturbatory rock music like this, I'm a slut for old synths.

I was never a big fan of ELP. I tend to find them a bit too much showmanship and theatrics, and light on actual music. I did enjoy this album very much though. It is incredibly overblown and pretentious, but that's almost part of the charm.

Groupe connu, par contre album inconnu. J'adore les longues plages instrumentales, les impros, comme dans les autres albums, en particulier Trilogy qui m'a fait découvrir le groupe, et ... qui reste mon préféré. Dons pas la note max mais pas loin ! =>4.5/5

It’s commonly accepted that 1986’s Dragon Quest was the first role playing game to feature distinct boss music when fighting The Dragonlord, but most people don’t know the genre was accidentally invented 15 years earlier when ELP performed a prog interpretation of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition

Yes, I'm probably a weirdo, but I'm a big ELP fan. Not necessarily of Emerson's treatment of his instruments, and I laughed at the conditions placed on him for using the pipe organ at Newcastle, but I actually had this album (CD) in college.

I was ready to dislike this. Pictures At An Exhibition is one of my favorite classical suites and it’s a live album, so I figured it would just be odd and sound like shit. I was right about it sounding a bit like shit (though not anywhere near as bad as it could have) but the interpretation of the work is really quite good. Adding lyrics and singing is always a risk when you’re using someone else’s music but it’s kept to a minimum and the singing is good, which I should’ve expected. There is a bit of what I would consider an overuse of the piano/synth/organ but you can’t just do everything on a guitar as much as I would like that to be the case. That said, the organ in the various calls to the promenade theme get more powerful as the album goes on (as it does in the original piano composition) as they go on and by the last one in the beginning of “The Great Gate of Kiev” brings it all home beautifully. The three part interpretation of “The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga” is a highlight of this for me. All three of them shine technically throughout it and the timing of such a technical piece is constructed incredibly well without sounding robotic. The dissonance at the end of the middle section matches the original which is cool. I never knew this existed before today and I’m glad I got to hear it. What a turnaround from expectation to reality. Bit of a laugh at the last track which is not part of the suite but is another (goofier) interpretation of Russian classical music. I wouldn’t have put this on the album but otherwise it would’ve been really short so I get it.

Pretty unique piece of art, it does have a young adult white girl vibe, but I'd recommend everyone to give it a try. Favorite track: The Hut of Baba Yaga

Very cool live album. It is mostly instrumental, but the synth on it is super cool.

I like it It's not like songs It's very "look at us doing weird shit with instruments". But they're having fun. You can feel it. I disagree with the notion of it being pretentious. I don't think they're showing off for showing offs sake. It was the early 70s. There was a lot of drugs around man. Several tracks on this I could listen to over and over. It brings me joy in dark places. I'm glad I found this.

perfect huwelijk tussen klassiek en rock...

Enjoyed this. Wonderful concept executed flawlessly

This is badass. Carl Palmer is among the great drummers in rock, he's got chops for days but doesn't overdo it — he always plays in service of the music. And while the music here is ambitious, he's just so tasty. Greg Lake was also a force, and it was nice to hear some of the various timbres of his vocals in this live performance — not to mention his mean bass tone. And Keith Emerson ... one of a kind. Clearly, this material speaks to his classical inclinations, and he handles it all with mastery.

Very rock opera

A curious album, at times engaging and at times tedious. Thumbs up to The Sage, Blues Variation, and The Hut of Baba Yaga.