Pictures At An Exhibition

3/10 Bands in the 70's had way too much time on their hands. plus this is a live album for no reason. 6-15-2025

Meh.....sounded like a live experimental funkadelic miss

It absolutely does sound like video game boss music (track 6) I appreciate the creativity but bleeeeeeh. Please generator gods just give me an album from the 90s

I mean, I like Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, so maybe I would get a small kick out of a band performing amped-up versions of them at a gig. Trouble is, this kind of technically proficient noodling almost always serves to make the original compositions sound worse, especially when they’re performed using the most budget sci-fi keyboard sounds imaginable.

It’s rare that I find myself agreeing with rock critics, but in this case the ones quoted in the Wikipedia article are spot on. So much unnecessary and unjustified self-importance.

Des trucs affreux avec quelques trucs franchement intéressants au milieu. Je réécouterai jamais ça, mais j'ai pas complètement détesté non plus.

Didn't care for it.

Never heard of this. Like the fact that it's a live album. Some research (google lol) says it's an adaptation of a piano suite. Ok. Let's go. Oh ok The beginning of The Gnome was weird (derogatory) but I might be starting to like it. Yeah no that was a false alarm. The Sage is pretty I guess. I'm sorry but the synths here just... what? I like some parts of these songs, right now the second half of The Old Castle is cool but man... Ok I'm vibing with Blues Variation, that's fun. Wish this and the second half of the last track were one full song but oh well. I Liked The Hut of Baba Yaga! The next two tracks, while sometimes interesting, just did not leave much of a note on me. This 6 minutes song towards the end, while epic in scale and instrumentation, just does nothing for me. And yeah, that last song left the same taste of meh in my mouth. Well, I'm glad that the people at the concert seemed to be enjoying the music! I sure wasn't, but hey, who am I to dim other people's light. If you like this, good for you! It just did absolutely nothing for me, besides a few interesting spots here and there. I still can't get over those synths... yeah, not for me. Bye

The original "Pictures At An Exhibition" is approximately 34 minutes long, which is about the same length as ELP's. I feel like ELP could have done this song in about half the time, and kept about as much of the punch. Maybe it's because the live versions I have heard (or seen) are about that, maybe 20 minutes. Parts of the performance that I had not heard live include "The Sage," which I always felt worked. I wish they had done that more live when I had seen them, although there is a studio version that includes it. The boldness of doing this piece live as a three piece as opposed to with an orchestra back in 1971 is something to applauded, but quite frankly I never liked this version. It drags for me, and really the only part I come back to is "Nutrocker." The point is, the piece cut down to 15-20 minutes is effective, but this is really not for me. It's not an album I come back to at all. "Death is liiiiiife" indeed. Top tracks: "Nutrocker," "The Sage"

First, ELP didn't need two albums on the 1001. Tarkus was enough. Second, this album demonstrates all the excesses of ELP (usually held up to represent the excesses of prog - which is a shame because I'm a prog fan and even I think ELP is too over the top). It may have been groundbreaking (and popular) at the time, but it hasn't aged well. In general, I wasn't a big fan of Side 1. Mostly Emerson showing off (as per usual). Lake's original The Sage wasn't bad, even if he lifted part of the acoustic guitar line from King Crimson's Epitaph (which he co-wrote, so I guess there's that). I liked the first section of Side 2 a lot - the full band Promenade followed by the three Baba Yaga tracks. Those tracks rocked and show that Mussorgsky was metal 100 years before metal (at least his composition style was). This sent me down the rabbit hole, learning about the original Mussorgsky composition (originally composed for piano) and Ravel's famous orchestral arrangement. I then spent time listening to recordings of both versions. Definitely had a preference for the orchestral version. The Apple Classical app recommended an amazing version by the Berlin Philharmonic (conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in 2007). Absolutely amazing - go listen to it, especially The Gnome, The Catacombs (you want metal? The second part of the Catacombs is titled in latin, "Cum mortuis in lingua mortua" - "With the dead in a dead language" - raise your metal horns!), The Hut of Baba Yaga, and the Great Gates of Kiev. Why am I talking about all this in my review of ELP's album? Because you're wasting your time listening to ELP's version. It pales next to the original. As an example, I got chills listening to the symphony version of The Great Gates of Kiev but was underwhelmed listening to the ELP version (yes, despite all the explosions). It probably didn't help that Lake's singing was particularly weak on this track and the lyrics were cheesy ("Death is Life"? Whoa, deep, dude). I can appreciate the skill it took for ELP to play this, and the audience sounds like they went wild for it, but this is one case where I can see why people crap on prog rock.

Meh.

Not a fan of live albums

I'm sure it must have been fun to be there.

Uh.. whatever! I even have this on CD, but cannot find the appeal, sorry. The audience seems to really enjoy it, though... better live than as background music while I work, I guess.

I tried to like this, but I just couldn't. 2/5

Standout Songs: The Sage Blues Variation The Great Gates of Kiev

I like ELP when they're more rock than classical, so his one is meh to me. ⭐⭐1/2

What people who don't like prog rock see prog rock as.

This album had a decent number of moments that I liked, but overall there weren’t any songs that I enjoyed. I did appreciate the keyboards and the tight drums, but for the most part, I either found it unpleasant or of little substance and I wanted more.

It was cool, some interesting tracks, but i dont see myself returning to it

I could feel my enjoyment for Prog Rock being tested for a good majority of this albums runtime. Every time I could feel myself coming around to enjoying something on this album it would start to overindulge in some way that left me scampering, only for it to lull me back into enjoyment later down the line. The potential ratings I was tossing around in my mind initially were very mixed, but I was considering being a bit generous with my score until around the middle/later portions of Blues Variation where it started to just feel a little too gratuitous, The Baba Yaga stretch towards the end did win me back a bit but good god those synthesizers really are a fucking blight on a lot of this album. Promenade and The Sage was my favourite stretch of the whole thing overall though. Still probably never listening to this again, I'm also really starting to fucking loathe any album I see on here that is credited to a super group

This album made me think that maybe I don't actually like prog rock that much, that I just like some songs from certain artists. Either way, as novel as this was (classical music as interpreted by prog rockers), this album was pretty boring. Don't get me wrong, the instrumental work here is great and all members of ELP are superbly talented (I like these guys a lot) but there isn't much here that grabs me to say "you NEED to listen to this before you die". As far as albums go, it's mid and as far as live albums go that I've seen on this list, it's not anything to write home about (despite the length of this review). Fun, but never listening to this again. Highlights: The Sage, Nutrocker

I invoked Emerson's name in my review yesterday and am Wondering if I summoned him as a Prog-Rock Spirit... Also wondering if ELP were drawn to this piece on account of the Proggy titles..The Gnome, The Old Castle, The Hut of Baba Yoga, The Great Gates of Kiev. Part of the middle rocked but overall as an interpretation of Mussorgsky I think I prefer SNFs Night on Disco Mountain.

I'm a prog rock sucker, so there were many elements in this "album" that were cool to me. They definitely have insane talent, and I'm interested to listen to more of their work. That being said, I think this listening experience should be on an "interesting music things to check out maybe before you die but maybe not idk" list instead of the 1001 albums you should listen to before you die. With this being a live cover album, I'm dropping it to a strong 2.

Good musicians, bad choices 2/5

This was very jarring to the senses and seemed to ramble on with no purpose or direction. On the plus side it was short and picked up towards the end.

A live progressive rock adaptation of a Mussorgsky piano suite is certainly NOT what I anticipated today. Having zero familiarity with the source material probably affected my overall enjoyment of this record. But as a counterpoint, I'm not convinced that progressive rock makes anything better. The encore "Nut Rocker" was unexpected and interesting at least.

Some interesting/cool songs. Some really weird stuff.

I've never specifically listened to ELP and I can say I have missed nothing by doing so. Prog rock is extremely hit or miss and this one was a big miss for me. I had it one in the background at work and I was able to completely ignore it. Nothing caught my ear AT ALL.

I have room for ELP amd enjoy prog rock proper. This record however is what gives the elitist snobby prog rock album trope life

That was certainly an experience

1. What the hell is this? 2. This is great! 3. Make it stop!

Thiis is exactly the sort of prog-rock nonsense responsible for the punk rock backlash. It's barely listenable.

This is too geeky for me. Crosses the line. I don’t actually find it objectionable enough to give it 1⭐️, but this is a HARD round up.

I did not enjoy this.

Well this is why people hate jam music. It’s just way way way too much. I liked the jamming on “The Old Castle” and some of “Blues Variation” and the real highlight for me was “The Curse Of Baba Yaga”, but it doesn’t all work but for people who don’t like jam music this like having a stroke. My biggest critique outside of it just being too jammy is that if you are just gunna jam for 38 straight minutes, you have to put in severe tonal shifts. This album is just way too much of the same crap over and over and over again. By promenade pt3 I was vomiting into my lap and asking the ride operator if I could get off please?!? The only reason bands like Ween and KGLW get away with so much jamming is that have such a vast wheelhouse of sounds. They both have really heavy songs both emotionally and in the metal sense, but then they also have country songs and other wild genres so that they can mix it up. Honestly I didn’t go into this album with any kind of prejudice towards EL&P, honestly this is the first and only album that I have heard of theirs and I wouldn’t be opposed to hearing more, but I know I won’t be listing to this album anytime soon.

Look ma I discovered the synthesizer. Stand-out: Nutrocker

5/10 I guess I could recognize there being some sort of greatness to it that would’ve been impressive in the 70s, but it really just isn’t shit now lol get me away from British prog for now please

It’s an interesting idea, but I can’t say I really liked this. I like progressive rock. I’ve given 5’s to Yes, King Crimson, and Genesis, yet something about ELP just doesn’t really appeal to me in the same way. Favorite song was Blues Variation.

Después de Tarkus, que me gustó, intenté escuchar este y entre que era en directo y que era muy experimental no me gustó. Vamos por otro intento. Vuelto a oír y me ha parecido aún peor. No le voy a dar una estrella porque la reservo para los grandes bluff.

Ei tälle tosissaan voi kahta tähteä enempää antaa, vaikka huvittava olikin. 70-luvun kiipparit… tekee (varmaan tahattoman) koomiseksi, Nintendo-peliksi. Siitä vain plussaa.

I just do not have the space for this in my life

A bit to prog for me, some of the stuff if there’s that shuffled after this album were much more my taste.

I expected.... More,I guess.

First thing in the morning, pre-coffee, this was about the worst thing I'd ever heard. Listened to it again later in the day and it improved slightly.

Prog rock can be many, many things. One thing I never really considered it could be until now was being relatively straightforward and a bit boring?

2.5

2.5

Started off kind of slow but got pretty interesting. Still nothing I was very drawn towards except the nutcracker song. The applause at the end of Great Gates of Kiev was way too long and a little unrealistic. High 2.

Didn't rlly care for this. I also had to turn up my volume ALOT to even hear this which was a bit unfortunate.

4/10 - Prog rock and also just all over the place. A lot of the pieces sounded not the most musical, especially at the beginning. But Nutrocker kind of went hard

I liked the organ thats about it. Rating: 1.6

Not only is it English, live.... but it also sounds like the Main Street Electrical Parade

i'm normally all for just noodling around on a synthesizer but i found this to be a chore to get through. yet another live album that did not need including

I really did not get this one. It's peak prog rock, in that you get the sense that these guys think they're the greatest musicians to ever walk the face of the earth because they can jam away on their goddamn pipe organ and synthesizer for 38 minutes. Like I'm sure they're talented and all, but it feels like they're doing this to get some '70s art school student to write something nice about them in their school newspaper, not create something actually enjoyable to listen to. Just do classical music if that's what you want to do, it's really fine. One extra star because the singer's voice is decent and it shines on "The Sage" once the synth nonsense dies down. That and "The Great Gates" give you some sense of what they could be at their best, but the rest falls flat. It ends with a Nutcracker "cover" (?) called "Nutrocker". I have no clue whose idea that was. Totally unnecessary. Favorite song: The Sage Other: The Great Gates 2/24/25

Never cared for this band, and that impression hasn't improved with age. They're just plain boring.

Not sure what this was.

There were some good bits but they were heavily outweighed by the bad bits.

Nunca me han gustado ELP, virtuosismo instrumental, largos temas, largos desarrollos... no so para mí. Como anécdota siempre se ha dicho que se iba a incorporar Jimi hendrix a la guitarra (tocaron juntos en algún festival) pero su desgraciada y prematura muerte frustró la inclusión de la H en ELP. Este disco es especialmente difícil, reinterpretación de Modest Mussorgsky en clave de Rock Progresivo. Muy buen trabajo de los componentes pero prefiero otros como su debut, Tarkus o Trilogy. A mediados de los 70 se hicieron demasiado indigestos y sus últimos discos fueron detestados hasta por sus más fervientes seguidores. A destacar la cristalina The Sage.

I'll cop to the genius of ELP. However, not having listened to this back in the day I don't have a built-in love for this album like I do for say, Brain Salad Surgery. This did not stand up to the test of time, just sounds too dated to me to burrow into my "likes".

Particolare ma mi sto stordendo i timpani.

Look this kind of prog stuff is never going to satisfy me. It's just hard work and a bit nerdy, but not a way I like. Just tiresome! It sounded like the crowd were loving it though

The prog bois just fuckin around. Don't know how I feel about it being keyboard driven. Interesting concept but flawed, boring execution. Feel like it should be harder to make prog rock boring. 3.5/10 Favorite Song: Blues Variation

Great musicians... but ridiculously self indulgent and naff

What!? Another ELP album!?

Wibble. Simultaneously joyous and also the sound of a hippo sitting on the organ keys at the Royal Albert Hall

Someone had to do it

A little too heavy on the keys for me.

2

A lot of instrumental High fantasy rock. Could picture older animation happening during most of the album. Nutrocker was kind of cool, but I can't picture ever being in the mood to listen to the album again

This one might be a bit of acquired taste. I didn't love it, though it did have some parts I enjoyed some.

This kind of psychedelic noodling is not for me, but an extra point for the sheer weirdness of it all.

I get these guys might have been at the forefront of progressive something something, but this was painful to get through. And they didn't even sing welcome back my friends in the show that never ends step inside step inside. Some of it was just clumsy and shrieking noise. Giving this a 1.6 due to name recognition only and their contribution to something at some point.

Sounds like they hijacked a church organ and played a concert as fast as possible while the clergy worked to bust down the doors.

Holy Organ

Not the first prog-synth cover I’ve heard of this music, but definitely not the best. Not bad, would maybe listen again, but not amazing either. There’s some noodle-y wanky bits that I’m not a big fan of. Overall, prefer the Isao Tomita of this piano suite if you’re gonna do weird synth stuff.

I liked the classical stuff on side A but where they departed from that, not so much. Side B seemed even more self indulgent and less likeable. 1.6/5 rounded up to a very generous 2.

An interesting idea, just carried out poorly "The Old Castle" should have a seizure warning at the beginning

Nice musicianship but it was just some weird self-indulgent crap. I guess it was worth listening to once, but it's not worth listening to a second time.

give it a 4-5/10 interesting instrumentals and some thought provoking verses repetitive, and dragged out jams that dont reach a satisfying climax

Überwiegend instrumental, nett zu hören aber dann ist es auch gut. 2/5

meh

An alright album, I liked The Gnome.

Sounds quite experimental, not really for me

Why include this? It’s not their work or representative of their work at all. It’s not even good.

I'm going to steal a description because it's perfect. This was 40 minutes of an alien invasion to a church.

That is a fried nutter butter of a music listen. Brain trippin', nutty keys and crunchy sounds. But also gave rise to some shitty christmas music like Manheim Steamroller.

Decent

Interesting ...

Live albums are cheating. This is the 2nd album in a row that’s live from within 2 years of the 70s. Thankfully not a double.

Prog rock interpretation of a classical piece. Yeah, nah.

Not my thing.

Gear: Abyss DIANA MR Artwork: 🖼️⬜❔ Production: 🤯🙂👌 Music: 🎹🖼️🎶🏰👹🚪🌉✨🧐 Rating: 🎹🎹(🎹)/5

I mean it's alright? Very quirky and very experimental. I think sometimes the instrumentation tries to do too much. I also wish it were a little more refined because it definitely sounds like a jam session. Fav Songs: The Curse of Baba Yaga

An psychedelia interpretation of one of my favorite 'classical' pieces? 50/50 shot I'd love it or hate it. Disliked most of it but I give the credit to ELP for doing this. It is a piece that fits well with the genre.

For God so loved the World, that he sent the Ramones. Mind-blowing technical prowess and a clear mastery of traditional western harmony. I also love the early synths. But music is, at its core, emotional. Any "understanding" should work in service of creating/communicating/manipulating feelings. This music makes me feel the way I used to feel doing Calculus problem sets. It isn't just that it's Prog Rock. Yes manages to take similar complexity and prowess and use it in service of emotional communication. This doesn't make me feel anything; it just sounds supremely calculated.

first track gave me a headache.

I don't need this, I'm not sure anyone does. I can get down with Prog-rock from time to time, but live recordings are just too heavy on the wankery. This is completely inessential.

That was a hard listen. It wasn't without some musical merit, but it was so far up itself it was generally unpleasant. I did listen to the whole album, mostly in a "driving past an accident on the motorway and you have to look over" way, so it's 2 stars.

I was all excited to like this live album because I’ve enjoyed ELP songs in the past. But they sound messy live.

As someone who digs esoteric topics, I let myself get excited about this album when I looked at the song titles -- things like "The Sage", "The Old Castle", and especially "The Hut of Baba Yaga", followed by "The Curse of Baba Yaga". Unfortunately, the music didn't quite deliver for me. Progressive rock is already something that comes out a little too much like jam sessions for my liking, but make it live and mostly instrumental as well and it's really not a winning combination for me.

Not really my jam, but better than I expected.

Faaaaaaaaarrk. That was a lot. Exciting 'new' sounds and instruments for people who grew up listening to classical music on the wireless or gathered round their parents old LP record player while Mum and Dad had a few glasses of Sherry on a Saturday night. Needless to say we've moved on. I've listened to this, now I didn't have to do it again. Still, it was better than David Gray. The Old Castle really got going. Two overindulgent, misguided stars.

Not bad but also not really interesting as far as prog goes imo, it's kinda lacking something more to make it really exciting but idk what it could be

Some talent there for sure but maybe a bit too wacky for me. Didn't responate too much with me.

W sumie to nudy. Nie wiem czemu ten album trafił na tę listę.

I don't think this is *bad*, necessarily, it's just really not for me, and I struggle to think who it is for.

Other than it being massively presumptuous, pretentious and ponderous, it's just about as perfect as a complete and utter bludgeoning of several of the classical world's most memorable motifs can be.

I didn't hate it but came close. Some of the messing around stuff is too much for me

Chönt no nice sii, aber da hets mi glaubs uf em falsche experimentelle fuess verwütscht

I have two opinions on this album depending on whether or not I’m listening to an instrumental or not. Instrumentals: I wonder if they practiced being this terrible before they got up on stage or did they just wing it? They’re somehow pretentious. I don’t enjoy these ones. I will say the production, although good on both types, was fucking impeccable on the instrumentals. Especially when you take into consideration that this is a live album. Non-Instrumentals: For the few of these that there were, they were fine. Good lyrics, singing, writing. Nothing too epic, though. Overall not at all thrilled by the whole thing. 2/5

Parece ser um clássico, mas para mim não funcionou. Não curti muito. 2/5

Well that was… dull. I know this style of rock has its fans, and I appreciate the musicians' skill, but I just can't find anything to enjoy in it.

This was uniquely stupid. But it was short. And half of it was wasted time. My dad has some Emerson, Lake & Palmer on vinyl. They have cool jackets. But the music is crap.

Not my bag.

"There are simply too many notes." It might be progressive but this isn't rock.

I had 2 goes at this, one yesterday when I was half listening in the car and I found it agitating. Had another go this morning sitting at the airport. It's weird but funky and dramatic. Not sure how I feel about it

meh, I can' twith this .2 stars

Pocos directos me agradan

Boring. Why is a live album on here anyway?

I liked nutcracker tbf

2 - Honestly don't get it. Kinda feels like really wanky music. The fact people started clapping when they were trying to make my ears bleed, really made me think I was missing something

This seemed like a nice idea in concept, but just another scruffy live recording. I don't get why these are on the list. Fave Tracks: Promenade (Pt 3), Nutrocker 2.4./5

Got very repetitive very fast

Meh

Recorded their cats walking on a synth

This was pretty boring but to their credit it still made me want to put on Karn Evil 9 afterwards. Nutrocker was cool too.

Thought it was church music at first. Later on felt like they were just button mashing the keyboard. Interesting collection of sounds that I can't say I'd seek out again. It is a good example, however, of my struggle to rate some of these albums. I am pretty tolerant of a "jammy" album even if I don't love the actual music because it provides good background music.

The first half sounded like a weird, but unique progrock album, but as soon as they started trying to add their twists to some known classics it started to sound incredibly cheesy.

Nah, I'm good.

I admit it. I like prog. But I don't like this and I've never been an ELP fan. The recording sounds like it was taped in a warehouse and I don't care for classical pieces done up rock style. The playing is good as these are talented musicians but this was a mess otherwise. Pass.

Meh album. This is total prog excess in the form of a live recording of classical music. It's not that it's bad, but it's definitely not good and is completely unnecessary. **

I get that it's technically good, but I just don't like it.

What

This is a deeply silly album but I had fun listening to it on a Saturday afternoon.

This album had no chance for me, unfortunately. Cons: it's a live album, the song titles were hard to read, there was too much focus on kind of tacky-sounding keyboard for me, the songs were mostly just a bunch of noise jamming interspersed with low-volume vocals that were telling a story I couldn't quite hear and wasn't that interested in. Leave this one on the shelf for me. They seem like skilled musicians so +1 star for that.

This is apparently a seminal “classical rock” piece that was huge in developing the prog rock movement in the early 70s. OK, I just didn’t get it despite liking a lot of prog… 🤷🏽

2/5

It's not mine style of music

Not my kinda vibe.

Het is maandagochtend, mijn eerste werkdag als ik dit album beluister. Bad timing zou ik zeggen. Iets te experimenteel naar mijn goesting. Klinkt als een soundtrack van een retro videogame ofzo. 1.7*

A cool concept but pretty unlistenable, like their other album.

A virtuosic prog reimagining of an iconic orchestral piece. It’s incredibly impressive and I’m sure it would have been astounding to see live but it just doesn’t carry over too well to the recording and I’d honestly rather just hear an orchestral version of it

Ok

Not as good as I expected it to be

Never heard this before. Wow. I guess this is fine for those who enjoy it? I guess it's interesting because they rip off, I mean, are inpired by, classical music? Maybe because they paved the way for Trans-Siberian Orchestra?

Hmm, interesting, but I didn't need to hear that before I die, and won't need to hear it again. Nutrocker was interesting.

Certainly a high energy, large enterprise recording. The crowd sounds huge and enthusiastic. Many of the sounds are unpleasant and experimental for their time.

This was a different kind of bad. I really thought this was like country jam band music from the south, but surprisigly it's not! Instead, it's whisper quiet prog rock stuff from England. Which it's now apparent that I enjoy even less than country jam band music from the south.

Mostly boring frankly. The prog organ/synth/clavinet sound kind of cool at first but ultimately feel like a gimmicky crutch.

I like prog but this is pretentious rubbish. Brain Salad Surgery would have been a better submission.

Not for me.

Bit too much at times

a live album of a classical piece - two reasons not to be on the list in my view. for classical, performed by rock musicians, it's pretty accomplished - but messier than if they had taken the time to record it properly, and the crowd noise tramples the start and end of a few tracks. three geniuses combining to be far less than the sum of their parts.

Oh no. No no no. I don't like it. It seems pretentious, and it is.

pretty good but not something i’d listen to again

Listened to the original score by Mussorgsky and I will say that ELP did make a more fun version; however, I'm not overly impressed by the band. Old Castle had the most groove and uniquness. Some early prog rock that prob got some music nerds going at the time. Wouldn't be terrible at an art show opening...2.45.

Old-school progressive rock. Lots of synthesizers. Gets annoying quickly

How are live albums on this list? Why would I want to listen to this version rather than the original Mussorgsky? Who did this influence or inspire? This really should be a 1, but the guys can play…

Cannot handle the organ on this wanking album

Jazzy Jammy

Not the best example of ELP’s work, but still much better than many of the 1001

I enjoy classical music interspersed with modern music as much as the next person but this was a little too surreal for me.

Too cerebral.

Why??? Give me the original Mussorgsky, thanks. Not horrendous but pointless.

fucking prog rock

"Pictures at an Exhibition" is a live album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The album is an adaptation of the classical piano suite "Pictures of an Exhibition" by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky performed at the Newcastle City Hall. The band is composed of Keith Emerson (organs and synths), Greg Lake (guitar, bass, vocals) and Carl Palmer (drums, percussion). Commercially, it hit #3 in the UK and #10 in the US. The album was reviewed favorably in the UK while the US critics were harsh citing prog overload. The album opens with "Promenade" and Emerson on the pipe organ. Jeez, I feel like I'm at church. Drums rolls end the song which then goes into "The Gnome." A start/stop pace with a deep bass. Very dramatic and very prog. The band creates a blues, prog fusion in "The Old Castle and "Blues Variation." These songs woke me up. Definitely prog overload here but I didn't mind it too much. The second side features three songs with Baba Yaga in the title and they are all pretty much prog jams with the drums, bass, organs and synths all flying at a pretty fast pace. No doubt, impressive musicianship here. The album ends with "Nut Rocker." I'm assuming this is based on Tchaikovsky's "Nut Cracker." Hey, the band is playful and seems like they're having fun. A Christmas-esque song on speed and one of the better songs on the album. I didn't know what to expect when this album popped up as next. I'm still not not sure what I heard. The only classical areas I heard were when Emerson was solo on the organ. Otherwise, this was a prog music exercise class. Some parts reminded my of Rush's "2112." Overall, I'm kind of neutral on this album since I'm pretty neutral on prog rock itself. But, if you're a prog rock fan, this is for you.

Ughh yeah... this absolutely did not need to be here. I don't even think it's that impressive listening to it. Just live prog-rock wankery.

Very strange, but not horrible.

I’m sure at another time I would have enjoyed this a lot more but tonight was not it so I’ll give it 2* although I’m sure it would have usually scored higher with me. 2*

Soooo pretentious.

fine ig

I wasn't a fan of this album. It was hard to get through.

Just didn’t get it. Saved a 1 star by the last song and how hilariously mental some of it was.

I love ELP. I hate this album. I’m a huge fan. They were always one of my favorite bands growing up. I saw them live in thx 70’s. But this album is horrible.

I’m sure prog rock versions of classical compositions are for someone…but not me. To their credit, it’s unique and the audience seems to be having a good time.

I didn’t get it, just not my cup of tea

C'est weird comme album. On se croirait dans un jeu vidéo. Belle symphonie éclatée, mais peu mon style.

Not in the mood for this today

I'd give it a 2.5 but I can't. I'm in a bad mood today so I'm going to round down.

Such a prog-rock album; songs are long, musicianship quality is high and some patience is needed. If you're in the mood it's great but some people are never in this mood. I mean, I like it occasionally but I know many that do not.

Ah yes, live prog rock. What could be better? I will admit, Nutrocker was pretty sick.

This is easily forgetable and won’t be listened to again

I like a live prog album as much as the next ex-punk rocker who shifted metal, but I have never liked the keyboard driven noodling. Give me the heavy prog of 21st Century Schizoid Man and the driving intention of something like Roundabout (shout out to Chris Squire's bass tone) over the best ELP track any time. Sorry if this feels like a diss on Keith Emerson, I recognize this is just a difference in taste. They can play. But it's not to my liking.

Hmmm… that was… interesting?

Weird, kept doing some little skit thing. Didnt interest me that much, sounded waxy and obtuse.

Not a bad a album but overall a failure to really do something new.

Just not really my thing.

Levyn ensimmäinen puolisko oli hidasta ja tuskallista kännistymistä, mutta toinen puolikas olikin hauskaa tykitystä. Toinen puolisko vaatinee ensimmäisen hillityn osuuden noustakseen näihin korkeuksiin, joten siinä mielessä kokonaisuus on toimiva, mutta ei hyvä.

Paikoin melkosta sekoilua, mut sai siitä just ja just kii

A prog version of The Nutcracker? Give me a a break.

Too far out for me, man

I did not enjoy this. Way too proggy and then they finish with a weird Nutcracker cover? I don't know...

Not my thing

I went in with such dreams of enjoying this and I swear this is Ross Gellar's "sound." This was so unpleasant. Then there would be a really brief moment of great vocals and bam! back to community center laser show music for 19 mimutes.

I was really excited about the concept of this album and appreciated the idea. At first I found I struggled because I had in my mind what I thought the pictures should look like so I went back and tried to visualize them in my mind. It was better, but still some just didn't make sense in my mind. Overall I appreciated the idea behind the album (and would love to see the pictures they created in their minds) but overall not a winner for me.

Interesting. I guess I thought I would be semi-familiar with Emerson, Lake & Palmer but apparently not. Maybe you had to be there. The Great Gates of Kiev wasn’t too bad, but overall this was sort of a yikes for me.

Órgano de feria.

What the hell

Got bored, turned it off

wouw.. what a trip. Getting too weird for my taste

Well, this was *not* what I was expecting when I saw that the selection was ELP (which I confusedly thought was yet another Yes album, since Bruford/Wakeman/Howe is more less the same words as Emerson/Lake/Palmer in my mind). I'm guessing there will be more ELP in our future, as this sort of gimmicky album can't possibly be their only album to make the list, right? I'm sure this is a very creative take on Modest Mussorgsky's composition, but it's fallen on deaf ears, sadly. Kudos to them, though, for adding a few new "pictures" all of their own to the exhibition ("The Sage," "Blues Variation" and "The Curse of Baba Yaga," I think, plus of course the excruciating "Nutrocker" encore), and for Emerson dragging a Hammond organ across the stage to get feedback. The whole thing reminded me a bit of the more noodly aspects of Jethro Tull's music, plus (oddly) some sort of bastardized prog-rock version of Sting's truly impossible-to-enjoy "Songs of the Labyrinth" (which came out much much later, I know). I wish I could say I enjoyed this, or even appreciated it beyond a very abstract respect for a full album-length adaptation of a classical suite, but this didn't really resonate with me (beyond the Promenade theme becoming an annoying ear-worm). A rare 2-ranking for me. :(

appreciate that they were pushing boundaries. But didn't sound great to me.

I mean, at least it seems like they had fun performing this, right?

Silly, silly, silly. I can hear the early precursors of industrial rock in some parts, guitar hero style games in others. It's in good fun I suppose. The encore calls after only 36 minutes were not expected. 2 midi keyboards out of 5 🎹🎹

Wildly unentertaining

Very bold to put a live album by an experimental rock band on here as the the first time I'm hearing them. Maybe just unlucky on my part. Funnily enough I'm hearing a bit of squarepusher and other IDM stuff in here. For the most part though it's just skippable. Think I would have loved it at the time but not now.

Blues variation kind of ripped and the hut of baba yaga. other than that i wasn’t really interested at all

Sorry, I don't get it. Musicality, off the charts. Taste...?

This is the kind of album that's a must have for hardcore fans but will bore most everyone else. The concept of a prog rock take on classical music is novel enough but the general silliness distracts from the impressive performances and high quality recording. It's an alright album but hardly deserves to be on this list in my opinion.

Boring

I keep trying to imagine paying hard-earned money to see this concert and walking out of it thinking it was money well spent, and I just can't do it. My favorite thing about this album was the fact that it's only thirty-eight minutes long. Sure, it felt like eternity, but it could have been longer.

I am not the biggest fan of progressive rock, so I did not enjoy this album as much as everyone seems to. There were some nice parts but the whole thing was pretty forgettable. I would only recommend a listen to avid fans of prog rock or those curious. Favorite Song(s): N/A

hoop gedoe om veel ingewikkeld gedoe. Soms gefreak op de vierkante millimeter. Al was het niet allemaal beroerd. En eerlijk gezegd ging het uurtje sneller voorbij dan verwacht. Van het aangedragen U.K. werd ik halverwege al doodmoe en zou ik een lager review gegeven hebben.

Haven’t heard of this, a “Prog-rock/art rock” album from 1971. Not sure what to expect… I don’t hate it but also not really my thing either, just a bit messy and over the place. 2.

Just giving this 2 stars for how weird and strange it is. Not something that anyone is used to listen. Also, the cover it's interesting and out of the things we are used to see, like just a picture of the artist, with a filter and the title of the album. Even tho, it's a bad album.

Meh

I enjoyed Gustav Holt's work, and this is a quirky take on the classic.

Interesting. Did not know them before - after listening to this album I think I know why. It just isn’t my kind of music. The beginning was quite interesting (oh, live; oh, do I hear an organ?) but it then turned out to be just too experimental and „noisy“ for me. I found it in party extremely exhausting to listen to. This might be unfair, it might have been groundbreaking at the time, but I don’t really like it. I read a bit about the band and am always happy to listen to things I usually would not listen to, so I do not regret it, but this album was the hardest to fully listen to so far for me.

Don't care for this one

No

Not my thing

Everyone has an ELP limit, mine is definitely before this

For those of you who are unaware (I doubt most of you aren't, but just in case) this is ELP's own take on a series of iconic orchestral pieces that are relatively out there compared to their contemporaries of the time, and in turn are not difficult to play, per se, but take some amount of effort to get right. Something that would be a definitive challenge for a high school orchestra, y'know? So, this album being mostly made up of ideas from that collection is really cool, but it also leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Certainly the instrumentation here is good, but comparing a single organ/synthesizer to the feats, leaps, and bounds that a group of musicians with classical training go through is nearly non-comparable, and in turn, leaves a lot of these songs sounding messy, and not in an artistic way, but rather in a way that is just altering art for the Hell of it. Sure, its neat to add some lyrics and more modern ideologies to these century old tracks, but they were good as were, and when you take a step back you realize this crowd is going wild for near butcherings of some amazing pieces. I know, I sound like a music snob, but it really does come off that way. There are parts here that I really must congratulate as a neat addition, but often I found myself just wishing I was listening to an orchestra performing these pieces, or at the very least, that these alters were studio recorded so that they could be cleaned up a bit and really brought to life. As is, its just something that's more novelty than anything. The nutcracker cover really hammers that point in, I find, and honestly, really doesn't even fit.

2 - There were bits here and there that I kind of liked, but a lot of it was just boring. I usually like prog, but this? Meh.

Emerson Lake & Palmer? Don't even Emerson Lake & know 'er. The musicianship is good, but the music for the most part isn't all that interesting. I did like that time it sounded like they were playing Lazy by Deep Purple, though.

“Burst out laughing…” bruh Not even as comedy this is worth anything

This is pretty much why punk had to happen. Like some of the California jazz jam nonsense, this is massively proficient but shows barely an ounce of soul or emotion. There are moments of beauty but just doesn't float my boat. Put the organ away lads.

I haven't listened to a lot of ELP, but I have always respected them. I have a fair amount of respect and personal liking of the progressive rock genre. However, I felt this Live album was not a great display of that genre, this many years on...especially compared with early works of Genesis, Yes, Rush, and others. I didn't dislike this live album, but I can't imagine wanting to listen to it, again, as it just didn't feel like it had a lot of substance and just passed without me noticing much change throughout at least 30 minutes of it.

I read another review that said this album sounds like video game boss music. That's extremely accurate.

No

Creo que el álbum no acaba de envejecer del todo bien, por muy innovador que fuera el uso de teclados y sintes en aquella época. Se me hace un poco cargante.

this too long, kinda prefer the other elp albums

Órgano de feria.

All I can say is Meh! i guess this is some kinda milestone album in rock, and I even enjoy a lot of ELP but tis is mostly boring and rediculous, why not just listen to some classical music if that's what you want. 2 stars

it did not stick to my mind. so I guess it was medium

Rather too progressive for my taste

I’m usually a prog rock supporter, but this just seemed super masturbatory. These dudes are obviously extremely talented but it was just corny to me.

Meh. Not my thing. Virtuosic playing and nice incorporation of classical motifs. But to jagged and not enough melody or harmony or swing or groove for my taste. Feedback and other noise lands as more annoying than sublime. Talent to burn, and maybe their other stuff is great. But this isn’t for me. Took three attempts to listen thru and the effort was hardly worth it.

Album #41 Progressive rock music is so odd. It always seems so hit-or-miss with me. This album is a great example of it. I was ready to rate this a 1 based on tracks 1-4. But I really enjoyed tracks 5-9. 10-12 were fine , but nothing that grabbed me. There’s too much long Moog sounds. The songs that really clicked for me had me feeling like I was playing an old Final Fantasy game’s final battle on my Super Nintendo. The rest had me wishing for Super Nintendo music (not that it’s a bad thing). The good was great, the bad was awful, and the rest was pretty forgetful, if not bad. 2.5*s rounded to 2. 2*

Haven't heard this for decades!! It's "of it's time" of course but some of it hasn't aged as badly as I thought it would. Doubt I'll be in hurry to schedule the next listen but there's plenty worse on here.

Did I ever think I needed to hear a prog rock cover of a classical album, performed live? No. Am I glad I did? Kind of... Am totally up for more of this sort of stuff being included in the list vs. Steely Dan's fourth most popular album - it's weird, experimental, funky, and quite a cool sound. That said, I'm pretty sure I won't ever listen to this again, it's just too much weird synth noise dragged out over too long for me. 2/5 in terms of it being a good listen, but it definitely belongs on the list. 

Alright? This is a really weird album. ELP doing live covers of a Russian composer. It's extremely kitschy and spends too much time fiddling around, but still has its moments. I can definitely hear the influence this had on Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of Final Fantasy, who was a huge fan of ELP. Several parts of this album sounded like they were taken right from the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack (compare the fourth movement of "Dancing Mad" to the Baba Yaga suite). So basically what I'm saying is that this album is ass, but we can thank ELP and Modest Mussorgsky for directly causing the phenomenon of final boss battles in RPGs having insane orchestrated classical pieces as their theme song. Check out Dancing Mad if you haven't (and read up on SNES audio chips). Also the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack is unironically a 5/5 masterpiece that would absolutely deserve a place on this list if video game soundtracks were allowed.

Did not like, switched album

Yes, it should be on such a list if only to explain punk. Modest moussorsgky is a minor composer whose pictures at an exhibition is slightly interesting. If you have pretensions to bring a classical musician this is relatively obscure and technical so you can bask in your own glory. As this noodles away wrapped up in its own importance and pretensions, I felt the urge to form a punk band. Queen did the classical thing better. As does Chris Thile, bela fleck, Edgar Meyer. Iron maiden. Yngwie malmsteen. Frank Zappa. ELP don’t quite get it. And listening to this, neither do I. Come back Sid vicious. All is forgiven.

Guess they had their reasons for doing this. It’s okay. After I listened to it, I played a traditional piano only version. It was so stark that I could see why an orchestral version would be popular. But as for ELP’s version - well, I’m not sure what it was offering. I had to laugh every time Emerson went crazy with the moog (you have to remember how new on the scene they were in the early 70’s) and the crowd went into rapturous applause. And as for the version of Nutrocker tacked on at the end, give me B.Bumble & The Stingers’ version anyday.

And this is why we needed punk. I am not fan of prog. It is often just too clever-clogs for my taste. And this album is absolutely in love with its own cleverness. Some passable moments, rarely repeated, so it assiduously avoids groove or rock (except on 'Blues Variation', which has a groove I can appreciate, but not a lot else to recommend it). Wikipedia notes that "the album continues to evoke a highly divided reaction among critics, with some hailing it as a peak of the progressive rock genre while others continue to bewail it as its nadir." Lester Bangs "brutally mocked" this album in his Rolling Stone review, and (on a separate occasion) wrote: "Everybody knows Classical-Rock (alternating with -Jazz) Fusions never really work. Perhaps what really paved the astroturf for ELP was 2001, that dopey cozzed collegiate smoker flick: not only did it star a computer that could kick ass on Keith E.'s in a microsputum, but crafty Kubrick saw sure the soundtrack was fattened with all the glorioski Classicorn any rube could swallow. 'Also Sprach Zarathustra'; and Keith Emerson heard the word just like he was Joseph Smith shoveling off the tablets. By the time Kubrick got to Clockwork Orange, thereby installing Beethoven in the prostate projection chamber of next-up fad of trendy androhoodlum, the insidious befoulment of all that was gutter pure in rock had been accomplished. It's worse than eclecticism, it's eugenic entropy by design, and Emerson and cohorts are more than mere fellow travelers." Preach, Brother Bangs, hallelujah. Lester and I are clearly both in the 'nadir' camp. At least ELP had the good graces to originally release this as a budget priced release between studio albums. I still wouldn't pay more than the original one quid fifty UK release price.

Two thoughts on this. First, it was definitely quite new and innovative when released and likely mad others rethink what rock music could be. Second, I didn’t find it particularly great listening. Bonus fun. I did a bunch of reading on all of the arrangements. I’d been familiar with Ravel’s and the original piano setting but didn’t realize how many different ones were out there.

It was okay

Tedious in the extreme, this is the musical equivalent of bad polyester clothing and holds up no better. “Nut Rocker” is just embarrassing. 2.2 > 2

A mixture of some decent tunes and some absolutely self indulgent nonsense.

This is such an interesting idea and had some interesting moments but it felt mostly incoherent

I got bored

Not really my style of instrumental music.

It just doesn't fit into any genre that i'm interested in listening to more. Organ noodling. Pass.

Seemingly endless noodling on a Hammond organ, live. The ELP we know and love from album radio is about 1% of their catalog, which otherwise sounds like improvisational jazz for prog rock.

This is the album I always see in charity shops. Not for me.

Some of the organ and drumming got pretty funk-jazzy in one or two bits, but most was 70s space-age synth noodling and then Greg Lake’s boring folk. I read that ELP concerts were spectacular, but based on this I would stay at home and read.

Oh my god you have an organ. So what! Did not like

Okay, so ELP have obvious musical chops. Also, for a live production, they did an excellent job here. I wish more artists explored classical music through the lens of other genres, because there's so much creative potential to be found there. And yet... a couple of decent songs + a creative concept, but this album mostly left me cold. High 2. Fave Songs: The Sage; Blues Variation; Promenade, pt. 2

It's live prog, and the encore is "Nut Rocker." That's the totality of what you need to know.

Hmm. What to make of this? Innovative, progressive, sure, but frequently unlistenable and self indulgent.

Honestly I had a feeling that this would suck as soon as I clicked rate on my last album and lo and behold I was right. Sometimes judging by the cover works out pretty well. I’m sure this was a competent album but it was not my type of prog rock at all; just boring most of the way. All the people there sounded hype about it though so I hope there was a cool light show or a pile of lsd on the floor or something to go along with the set.

I guess it was pretty fun but I thought I would like it more. It had some mood shifts but was mostly following the classical tone. Would have liked it to be either more experimental or more technical, but it ended up a weird mix of the two.

meh

All a bit 'much' for me. I can just about take some prog but this just felt indulgent.

You know, I like most of ELP's studio albums. I never got around to this one as I don't usually like live albums much. I reallyvwasnt missing much. This is in my opinion, when prog goes wrong. Sure, they can play but it's not particularly interesting to listen to. You can really feel the pretension and heads shoved firmly up their own asses, enamored by the smell of shit that don't stink. Well this does stink. It's not 1 level bad, this isn't Love Beach (if you know you know) but I'd never listen to this over say, Tarkus or Brain Salad Surgery. Yeesh.

Not at all all bad. 3 Though prog rock like this never really interested me. 2 Ok I don't think I wanted to've listened to this album.

This is the dividing line between me enjoying something and appreciating something. I can say that this clearly takes a lot of talent to do, especially in a live setting, and that the usage of synthesizers and organs was very innovative, but I can’t help but feel that this is just some nerds doing nerd shit. For some people that’s appealing, but I felt very disconnected from it when listening. I think I could enjoy it more if I was seeing it performed myself, but I’m not, so the recording is what I’m going off of. I’m not much of a progressive rock fan in general, so my opinion probably doesn’t matter much with this one, but there are moments where this sounds like nothing more some guy playing around on a keyboard.

Well, I got through most of it but it really wasn't for me. I think I can see why some people would like this though. 2/5.

If I listened to this, and then died, I'd be really disappointed. There are actually some fantastic parts of this, just for the really over blown, over the top silliness of it all, you just can't help but get into it. I'm really not sure if I love or hate this. This is like one of those really cheaply made B-movie zombie films that are so bad they are good. Just keep flinging more and more gore on and no one will notice absolutely nothing else is happening. Didn't ELP have a record with some H.R. Giger artwork, the title of which I can never remember? Always makes me think of Dead Kennedys for some reason. Brain Salad Surgery -> Plastic Surgery Disasters I'm edging close to a three. 2 / 5 stars.

There was one song that was a banger , the rest was ok

Nice way of popularization classical music, but too cheesy for me

I tried, I really tried. I am a huge fan of prog rock but ELP has always left me a little cold. And while this is obviously a technically strong performance it leaves me cold. Guess you had to be there . . .

There were some weird electronic effects that I was not a big fan of. There were a lot of electronic instruments, like someone went overboard with keyboards. The first song was Promenade, and I was pretty excited. I've been looking for a funk version of Promenade, which I thought could have come from ELP. This was not it. Overall, not bad, but not something that I want to listen to again.

Listened Before? N I have nothing but respect for this album and these guys as I know they're considered prog-rock staples. I think this deserves to be on the list and the concept is great but tooooo much organ for me. I need more guitars. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: The Sage

Confused by it. It's certainly different. Maybe 2 out of 5.

so many keys

Sorry. I should love ELP but I struggle

Meh

Not my kind of weird

Not really my cup of tea, mostly pretentious prog drivel. Appreciate the musicianship so it got a 2

Its just Pictures at an Exhibition but less interesting and fun to listen to

I get the "look mama, i can make some funny noises from this machine" feeling. Sometimes there is a good groove though (only knew them from Peter Gunn´s theme).

I guess you had to be there to enjoy this. You can hear these guys had played music before, but this never really got going for me. Prog rock doing its worst.

Órgano de feria

kinda mid, synth was not good but frank zappa core elsewise

The influence of this is not lost on me, its just not my thing.

Känns igen från skivbacken på Skogslundsvägen 14. Inte helt så illa som jag hade väntat mig.

Nä fy! Varför?

The thing is, this is clearly chock-full of exceptional musicianship. The problem is that it's nearly unlistenable. There's no point in the entire album where I was like, "oh, that's not bad." I kept EXPECTING there to be goodness and joy but there was only frustration and disappointment. What a waste of talent.

Not bad, but not an album that I feel I needed to hear in my lifetime. Maybe had I listened to the Mussorgsky orchestral piece prior to "get this." More like a 2.5 rating from me.

lol no

Ehhhh lite som soft machine men tråkigt

Rock psicodélico con mezcla de sintetizadores principalmente. Pocas voces, muy instrumental

I don't know how I feel about this album. Some of the songs are good and enjoyable, but they're sandwiched between these weird experimental songs that I have a hard time describing as music. I really like the singing in the album, but most of the songs are instrumental. So overall, I think this album is just ok. Favorite song: The Sage Worst song: The Old Castle

Too jazzy

Interesting but not for me

Interesting, but likely would never listen on my own. I like Prog rock...but this is WAY out there. 2/5

I had heard ELP's version of the Nutcraker before but otherwise don't know this album. I appreciate the initiative but prefer to have a little Brain Salad Surgery.