Pictures At An Exhibition

Prog rock is bad enough, but a live album of prog rock? Come on bro

Shit sounded like a villains orchestra

This is #day659 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… throwing a record at me whose music was written by russian composers while russia is preparing another large-scale missile and drone strike on Ukrainian cities, including my hometown? For those on the side of "culture outside politics" or "putin's war," or whatever, read about the first thing russians did after they bombed the Mariupol Drama Theater in 2022. The fuckers fenced off the ruins with displays of "great russian authors." First thing they did when they occupied Mariupol? Changed the city's welcome sign from Ukrainian to fucking russian. The terrorist country has used its language and culture as a means of dominance (particularly over Ukraine) for centuries. As a Ukrainian based in Ukraine, I'm not playing along with that shit. Instead of unwinding for the weekend after the work week, I'm fucking anxious because I know tonight or tomorrow night they're striking again. Should I hear this record before I die? This is a 1 out of 5. Looking forward to #day660.

Dear god, this is awful. It should be piled on the pyre of Prog Rock and all copies of this monstrosity should be destroyed as a gift to humanity. It's 38 minutes long and I'm half way through as I write this. Have mercy on my soul to finish.

Husband made me turn this off and I didn’t think it was too bad but as I listened to the rest of this I started to think ELP were playing an elaborate prank on me. Just really awful

The Sage was ok, but the rest was pretty dreadful. Marginally better than Tarkus, but not much.

What

Unexpected Wtf

Dnf

Promenade: solo instrumental, nada que opinar la verdad The Gnome: otra instrumnetal, peor que la anterior Promenade pt2: caca The Sage: BASTA DE INSTRUMENTALES The Old Castle: otra instrumentral pedorrisima Blues Variation; misma garompa Promenade pt3:mala The Hut of Baba Yaga: malarda The Curse of Baba Yaga: malardopolis The Hut of Baba Yaga: BASTA The Great Gates of Kiev: esta es la unica buena, las demas son infumables Nut Rocker: meh en conclusion, malarfa, no entiendo que personas escuchan instruentales solamente,dale dolobu canta algo porfa.

What the fuck?

Another solution in search of a problem from the know-it-alls at Prog UK LTD. Shout out to Apple Music for at least trying to keep this from me.

It's been important to me for a very long time to maintain the consistent practice of being open minded in all facets of life. It tends to make one more adaptable, more compassionate, and a better thinker. It's like gathering raw materials to build a more complex world-view. Well all that hippie-horseshit went CLEAN out the window when Pictures at an Exhibition hit my speakers. What a bunch of bee-bopping, meandering wankery. LISTEN... clearly there's skill and talent here. I'm not making a personal attack against an accredited law firm, but this just ain't it. “It is not things that trouble us, but our judgements about things.”

Immediately no. From the makers of "Cats on a Piano", please subject your ears and attention span to the musical stylings of "Cats on Guitar... and Drums".

A live album of goofy nonsense… no thank you

sure, go off i guess?? I love the organ, and I'm impressed this was a live performance.

Normally I'm a big fan of prog rock but I found this really awful. Some novelty around the huge organ sounds, and the bass and drums were played well. But the songs were terrible... boring classical or boring folk or overblown originals, all amplified through that organ to try to make them interesting. In glad they had a huge crowd and I'm glad i wasn't one of them

Second album in 5 days by these self indulgent muppets, isn’t gonna help. It’s s live, wtf, it’s something like their arrangement of Mussorgsky. Look if you want to arrange something for rock instrumentation and have the musical chops to do it, and people want to pay to come hear it, fine - if said people want to then buy an album of it fine. But What levels of overblown, bloated excess is this, there can’t be many more self indulgent acts in the history of popular music, can there? The best bits are the original music when it shines through, unfortunately it’s hidden under all the noodling, which is obviously the worst part. I don’t need to hear this pretentious ( add long list of expletives) You could give them credit for attempting something but compared to orchestral adaptations it just doesn’t work for me. After hearing it, I really did not need to have heard this, I wish I hadn’t heard this. Prog excess at it’s, well most excessive - fully blown pretentious rock- 1 star because, and I don’t use the term often, I hated it and it won’t let me give any less.

Mostly instrumental, not really all that interesting. The Sage had nice vocals. And Nutrocker? A rock imagining of a bunch of Nutcracker songs? Hell yeah. Best song: Nutrocker

Really not my thing, weird album to be honest

Dreadful. The worst of prog and it sounded like a few people having breakdowns on a keyboard.

That was pretty darn … awful. Sorry, ELP.

Experimental 70s rock/classical/blues

- Ugh, not another Emerson, Lake, and Palmer album. I'm expecting another pretentious album full of trying to show off on the piano. (update: yes, but organ) - There are people on here who don't think pretension is bad, but here is the definition: "expressive of false, unjustified, or exaggerated importance, worth, or stature". So, bad. - Wow, I wasn't prepared for that opener being an awful organ version of the theme of Pictures at an Exhibition -- it's really out of time and imprecise. The only thing I like about it is the tune, and that's not theirs. - The album descends into more disjointed organ pomp. I'd definitely rather just listen to Mussorgsky. - I hate the pinched horn synth sound so much. The sounds on this album really feel dated - super compressed and filtered. - The only thing I like on this album is the guitar work (when you can hear it). Even Lake's voice is rough... - It's a 1.5 rounding down because it's annoying (and live, at that).

That was a weird album. I don't think they could agree on what type of music they wanted to play so they just all played something different. It reminded me of Ross' "sound" from Friends 🤣

This was one of the most pretentious and annoying albums I have endured on this quest. Total wankfest!

Urgh - was this worse then Tarkus, how is that possible? Oh yes, because its a live album. No thank you.

I have no words for this one. People paid to go listen to this?

An early 1970s live synth pop version of a composition from the Russian classical forefather of Modest Mouse, written a hundred years earlier, while he was literally drinking himself to death. There are so many reasons to dislike this that I can’t commit to just one. Let’s just call it a lesson in pretentiousness and move on.

I'm all for experimentation but that doesn't mean it needs to be recorded, nor me having to listen to it.

Nope, I really don't like Prog Rock

I have no idea what I listened to

Not a massive fan of live albums.

stressful

If these were the ideas that Greg Lake brought to the table, I can see why Robert Fripp fired him from King Crimson so early on. This was nonsensical technical noodling. The album starts out all whimsical and wimpy, before the organ starts and things get noisy and chaotic. The horrendous sounds Keith Emerson gets out of the organ will make you want to time travel back to Newcastle in 1971 with a baseball bat so you can go to town on his instrument to stop this being released into the world. 'The Great Gates Of Kiev' is a take on the song that is used as the theme song of Jerry 'The King' Lawler. This got a pop out of me, but this version is tarnished by Lake's irritating vocals and the indulgent middle section that was harsh on the ears. Even as someone who does enjoy a bit of progressive rock, this was hard to listen to.

To give credit where it's due, I like that this album is a normal length. Time and time again I've had to listen to pointless and boring 2+ hour long live albums that are a complete waste of time, but this one being just 38 minutes is really refreshing. However, my praise for this album begins and ends at its length, which isn't even inherently a good thing, it's just a relief compared to most other live albums from this era. It's still just pure instrumental wankery that I don't care about, trying way too hard to be experimental, but in a way that feels so forced, like they went out of their way to try to be innovative and purposefully used unconventional sounds just because it's something different. Experimentation like that pisses me off so much because it's so forced, it's not out of love of making music or wanting to push the boundaries of their sound, it's just trying to be different for the sake of it, and while they definitely succeeded at that, they forgot about the part where the music actually needs to be good.

Not for me

Type of shit I’d listen to if I was a molecule of bacteria or fungus and I was created by some leftover moisture on a computer motherboard. This was a bad listen but weirdly sort of fun, I would never listen to this again intentionally. I know at the time it was probably better and new or whatever but how were people actually cheering to this in a crowd and asking for more at the end hahaha. ‘The sage’ was actually quite good but don’t know if the bar was so low that it made me like it either way that’s my top pick from this album. I’m curious as to who finds these albums and thinks YES, this needs to be on the list, overall a bad listen but a fun experience and a 1 star from me.

If you want to feel anxious, listen to this album. These musicians have chops, but nothing about this album was enjoyable to me.

This is a creative reimagination but I don't really like it a lot. Two stars.

Original review: "I liked “The Sage”, the rest was just psychedelic nonsense and improvised keys. “Nutrocker” was complete junk!! Not for me at all." No change, sorry.

These were just sounds... Not music

No va

A prog too far for me. The whole rock interpretations of classical pieces thing is so gimmicky. It's like James Last if you also like patchouli and joss sticks.

There's such thing as too much prog..

Let's play classical really fast, people will think we're sophisticated.

This album succeeded in convincing me I hate not only this band, but the entire prog genre. The Old Castle is the only redeeming feature, but also makes you wonder what would have happened if Emerson was content to tone down all the keyboard noodling. The fact one day I will have to listen to Tarkus will haunt me

Nah

Some instrumentalist and oragns

good grief.

An unpleasant listen

A proggy live album. Fuck me with a rusty razor.

Best I can say for this is Saint Etienne *maybe* sampled the intro “We’re gonna give you...” for their own intro to Sound of Water, one of my favourites. Beyond that, WTF England???? This blows!

I’d never heard this album before today, and once I finally tracked it down I realised it’s a live, almost entirely keyboard-driven record which straight away wasn’t what I was expecting. The concept is also pretty bizarre: largely instrumental interpretations of a 150-year-old Russian classical piece. Fair play for the ambition, but it all feels very niche. There are moments where it’s catchy and interesting, and I can appreciate what they’re trying to do, but overall this really wasn’t my thing. I enjoyed Blues Variation and Promenade (Part 2), but beyond that it’s a tough, often dull listen. Too much of it blurs into one long stretch of noise where you’re not quite sure what’s happening or when it’s going to end. I get why people rate it as bold and different, but for me there are far better live albums that somehow haven’t made the 1001 list. Favourite track: Blues Variation Least favourite tracks: Most of the album. It all merges into one confusing sprawl Album artwork: Cool album cover, easily one of the highlights

nope didn't get this at all.

2/10 This album has a lot going against it. First of all, I do not think live albums should be on this list. Second, this is a progressive rock (opera) adaptation of the titular opera by Mussorgsky, and it's... kind of boring? The prog rock aspects are simultaneously barely there and also painful to listen to. The singing (what little there is) is... fine. It just sounds like a midi version of classical music. Not great.

Is this meant to be fun? Enjoyable? Sophisticated? Clever? Impressive? An exhillerating display of virtuosity? A great lesson is just because you can doesn't mean you should? It's not even THAT technical is it? I truly never understood who this kind of stuff is meant to be for. There's a crowd going wild, who are you people?! Just listen to classical music, avant-garde experimental music, hard rock, OR do some math homework. But don't try to do them all at once - it just ends up as this tepid psuedo-smart dross.

This is awful

Horrible. I didn't find anything to enjoy in this album at all. Too clever by half and lacking in any kind of musicality, structure and joy. Awful

This is horrible.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is what Spinal Tap was directly making fun of. This is basically devoid of all meaning. I like how the audience never claps or makes any noise for thr first 1/2 of the album. And after all, why shouldn't we end our album with a cover of the nutcracker. No one needs to listen to this, especially before they die. High 1.

Not for me. 1/5

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is a beautiful melodious and harmonious journey. Sadly none of these words can be applied to this evisceration of a performance. ELP could have done so much better than this unlistenable nonsense.

Meandering prog

Exhibitionist nonsense

Self indulgent prog nonsense. Honestly relieved when we got to the end. Mussorgsky must be turning in his grave. 1*

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve been too generous with my 2’s. If a band had talented musicians, as ELP seems to, or I could see how others could really appreciate them, they got two stars. Ones were reserved for truly obnoxious records I couldn’t get through or I couldn’t see redeeming qualities. You know what? No more. I call bullshit. I don’t care if others love or even like this record. It’s nails-on-chalkboard time for me. Endless indulgent noodling with no lyrics, but when a song started that featured singing, the male lead can’t hold a fucking tune. On top of that, they go for the stupid medieval imagery of the period with tracks called things like “The Gnome.” Gnome thank you. It’s a one.

I tried, I really did. This was a little much. Do you think there was one woman in that audience?

Wtaf?

I have a lot of issues with ELP. There's something false about their sound to me. The keyboard sounds like a cheap casino. The drums never seem to work. The bass sound is odd. The guitar is expressionless. This album is a pretty clear example of all these things. It doesn't hang together either. I'd certainly give it a miss as I didn't enjoy it at all

Progressive crap.

Another live album. JFC people saw this live? And liked it? Fave track: Nutrocker. Helps that it was the last on the album and had a memorable lick.

Thanks. But yeah, no thanks

Fuck this man.

Not a fan

3 legends of their instruments come together and make an album I would never want to listen to again.

Did these lads just discover synthesisers that day, or...? Obviously very talented musicians, but the incessant noodling felt like a bit of an assault on my brain. Definitely worse than their Tarkus album that I had already. Hopefully that's all I have to endure from ELP now.

This is terrible. I hate giving 1s, but no one should be subjected to this.

I usually wouldn't dive immediately into an artist's discography with a live project, but because I am being told to by the 1001 albums to hear before I die challenge, I guess I can bend my own rules a little bit. I am very vaguely familiar with Emerson, Lake, and Palmer as I have heard the band name before but none of their music to my knowledge. In true Prog Rock fashion, this shit gets real weird, maybe I just need to take more acid in my freetime because I don't quite get what makes this so remarkable? It seems like both critics and audiences don't like this album, so why is it seen as "essential listening before you die?" If anything it sounded like a 38 minute warm-up and I honestly wasn't a fan. This is a hard pass in my eyes and I really wish I would have gotten something more meaningful from Emerson, Lake, and Palmer than this wack ass bullshit.

What a load of bollocks.

In my late teens and early twenties I became a passionate record collector. Over a decade I had collected more than 1500 records, mostly from obscure flea markets and the cellars of record stores where the 5$ record crates were stacked. The joy (especially on flea markets) when you found a rare record for a bargain was priceless. But of course, it came with deceptions too. As it was with this record. Knowing ELP as being a progrock supergroup from their hit "Lucky Man" my expectations were high. At this time that thing called "The Internet" was barely available, and computers didn't belong to any household. So my musical knowledge came from a pop encyclopedia, the radio and of course, mixtapes on cassettes we shared with friends. So I couldn't wait to get home and play my new records (luckily, I had bought a few more). The deception was complete, this was nothing like "The Nice", "King Crimson" or "The Crazy World of Arthur Brown", this was, well, utterly synth batshit. Played the record once, put it in my collection and never listened to it again. Until today, and I'm still convinced that the only right thing to do was to throw this album away, instead of keeping it. 1/5

Garbage. Lukewarm noodling garbage, with the bones of some grander music tossed in for an appearance of structure.

Basically the epitome of everything I don’t like in music — theatrical, noodly, and way too pleased with itself.

pompous tosh

Oh dear lord this was upsetting - "genre defining" apparently! The very worst and most indulgent of prog rock. I hope there's not much more of this - it's not like I get points off the kids for listening to it. There are a couple of moments of light - one song could possibly be a bit This Mortal Coil, another might have a hint of Belle & Sebastian but very little to redeem the whole thing. Glad I wasn't around much in 1971!

Wanky prog trash. I even hated the song from the nutcracker, which shouldn’t be possible.

The only real value of this LP is probably the words ELP set to Mussorgsky's piano suite -- and the value is probably close to 0 anyway. Everything else is kind of atrocious. Also, Ravel's orchestration literally exists.

Listen, I like 70s English prog as much as the next red blooded American millennial, but a live version of these toothless, diddling, prententious, go nowhere jamfests which crescendos in an encore of a bad organ rendition of the Nutcracker is NOT one of the albums you need to hear in your lifetime. 1/5

I tried to be open to this but it is the kind of progressive rock that I struggle with and find really self-indulgent.

Hey! Nut Rocker was my nickname back in college! And speaking of gratuitous organ abuse... DAMN, Emerson!

Keyboard heavy, not for me

Wow seriously unlistenable 1/5

Another live album. Shouldn't be on list and most songs are covers

Ohh Shit.. En åbner med ogel... Jeg er ikke fan af det her! Det stikker i alle mulige retninger med grimme lyde. Hov var det noget bekendt... Næ.. Det var bare mere grim rod. Duck stab var i det mindste underholdende. I modsætning til det her.

"no dude you just don't get it dude, like dude, c'mon now"

Was going to give this 2 stars because the can play their instruments but they wore me down

Like a nightmare combination of Spinal Tap’s jazz exploration and Ross from Friends’s “music”.

That sucked soooo hard

what even was this

A total dud!

Too sober for this.

Klassieke muziek voor mensen die niet van klassieke muziek houden. Wel een rock imago, maar ook willen profiteren van de intellectuele reputatie van klassiek. Echt irritante muziek bovendien.

If you "get it" then, genuinely, I think that's great. I don't, and found it inaccessible, pretentious and not at all enjoyable to listen to.

Fuckin prog rock

Boo

Live. Lots of keyboard/organ with drums. Maybe enjoyable stoned. Minimal bad lyrics. Wouldn’t voluntarily listen to it. Like some of there other songs, eg Lucky Man. But this album sucks. D-

I have no use for this.

Quite dumb. Absolutely not an important listen by any stretch.

A live album that's as dead as the medievalisms these dudes resurrect, w/ an ear for the pretentious and the sentimental: 'Eroded by times rivers / To the shapes we now possess'; 'Trained apart from houses of stone / Hour of horses pick the bone'; 'Come forth, from love's spire / Born in life's fire.' It's soap-operatic rather than rock-operatic, brimming w/ melodrama and about a thousand meaningless interludes. ELP is missing the H, tho I doubt they found any, releasing seven tapes after this one, and something tells me they're no better than this organ-blasted nonsense. I actually feel for Baba Yaga, stuck in this soulless mess w/o even an attempt to understand where he's coming from or to properly delineate his character. The nerve!

If this were an exhibition, it would be arrested for exhibitionism.

A mixture of tedious and annoying. An album made up of organ solos and the shrill, harpsichord-led closer. This type of music just isn’t for me.

Yikes this album made me say yikes

Challenging. I've never really understood Prog. This album started off with a classical piece then a nice simple ish song 'The Sage' then headed off down the Prog path. There's only so much Hammond organ a human can handle. Great skill and perhaps inventiveness but once the Old castle hit, no. Too much noodling.

Initial reaction: oh gawd, more prog?!!! 😩🙄 (Finishes album): that was disappointing. Transforming Romanticist classical compositions into symphonic prog was going to be a challenge. I give ELP points for enthusiasm. It needed more umph to make it more engaging. Skip this unless you’re *really* into prog rock. Overall: 2/10

Just because you can play keyboards fast doesn't mean it's good. Also falls into the trap that a lot of old live albums do which is suffer from really weak production. The vocals get absolutely lost in the mix and it feels like every instrument is fighting the rest of the band to be as loud as possible

You know what, follow your passion with great skill, that's a good thing. Extremely well done live album. But boy i do not like prog rock at all.

muy monótono

To be fair, I don’t think listening to this sleep-deprived in the fever-induced haze of a viral infection did it any favors. On the other hand, I don’t think there are any conditions in which I would enjoy it.

Well, that was massively self-indulgent nonsense. Live albums are so rarely good at the best of times, and this does nothing to buck the trend.

This is stupid.

God damn this is fucking annoying.

Not really my speed

Not available to stream 😭

Sometimes all you can do is laugh

Bored me to tears. Disconnected sounds, long stretches of nothing then explosions of noise. Pass.

horrible

Miremos al prog-rock como cualquier otro género, sólo para efectos de este ejercicio. El prog-rock como el reguetón, como el jazz o el electro-pop. En todos ellos encontrarás ejercicios que encapsulan el género como ningún otro disco y también encontrarás discos que logran centrarse en el punto medio del género, sin salirse de las casillas predeterminadas. Éstos últimos son discos que prácticamente son sinónimos de su género. Tras ellos corre una legión de fanáticos. La diferencia entre los fans del prog y, digamos, los fans de los corridos mexicanos, el reguetón latino o el k-pop es que nadie que pertenezca a estos últimos tiene pretenciones de intelectualismo. ¿Se ofenderá un fan del k-pop si digo que me aburrió su disco? Probablemente no, pero si digo lo mismo de este disco de EL&P probablemente una legión se me venga encima a acusarme de que mis oídos no estan entrenados para degustar semejantes manjares. Es justo decir que mi queja es más con los fanáticos que con la música, pero uno alimenta al otro. Es una relación simbiótica. Todo esto para decir que este disco me aburrió. Este disco es como esos discos.

Not my cup of tea. One to leave in that decade

I liked that there was a story to the album. That was about it. Reminded me of final fantasy or church music but pixelated. The rock elements were cool. On a day I was nicer this could maybe be a 2.

I listened, hoping that wise grown up me would find something here, but nope, young dumb me had it right. Fuck art rock.

What an absolute pile of garbage this was.

I did stick it out through the whole thing! But I mostly wasn’t paying attention. This is some boring prog made either for people who understand much more about interpolation of classical music or those stoned out of their gourds.

I mistakenly thought it was ELO and when they started playing I thought man why do they suck so bad? Even the audience at times sounded a bit unsure about clapping after a song ended. I think I even heard people leaving for the exits.

A bit weird. Got through more tracks than I thought I would.

This is what people are talking about when they say they hate prog rock. Borderline unlistenable 2/10

Why?

At first I thought "ugh another live album" and then quickly realized that the live-ness was not going to be the worst part for me. The worst part was everything else about it. 1.5

Fuuuuuuuuuuck no. Live albums are rarely good and this one isn’t even in the same country as an exception

exhausting

"the live album of distress and mild discomfort" was not a great accompaniment to dinner

.wh

WTF was this? These strange sounds made me so uncomfortable and jittery, I had to stop halfway through. I’m honestly not sure if you need to be an alien or pop some LSD before hitting play—but whatever it takes, I clearly wasn’t prepared. Definitely not my cup of tea.

You had to be there I suppose…

How is a live album covering Mussorgsky a top 1001 album. This is not something you need to hear before you die. Mussorgsky’s original is barely something you need to hear before you die. This is a big “fine” for me. Musical value, 2-3. But inclusion on this list is a big 1. The nutcracker encore was absurd.

Not too sure where to begin , not sure I wish it had. A long 38 minutes of which most was an assault on the senses. Nope

Sincerest apologies from the UK to the rest of the world for subjecting you to this.

Ooh, a live album. Hmm flat vocals and mashed up arrangements? We shall see. Opens with a Zelda-esque melody (they should sue) then descends into 20 minutes of fiddly nonsense before starting to rock out a bit towards the end. Too late though my friends, I’d already started hating you and everything you stand for and regretting wasting 38 minutes of my life listening to this dross. I could have been watching. man I beat Ath Bilbao instead. Making me wonder why I ever came back.

I’m sure it’s really cool for whoever likes them but this just felt overly long and boring & I didn’t enjoy the music.

Not for me.

I just, don't like this? It could be cool, but I don't think it represents Pictures at an Exhibition very well. On further listening, this is a prog rock abomination of a beloved and iconic classical piece of music. Even the encore song is bad. Maybe it's legendary to the prog rock community, but outside that, it doesn't really have a leg to stand on, in terms of this list. Favorite Song(s): -

This was strange and Christa did not like it

one of those strained pop culture references in an academic paper, from a bunch of smarmy fuckin dorks: the album music: hated. (⌐■_■)

That was hilarious -- and also kinda insufferable.

1/5 Why have I been subjected to this crap?

What a load of pompous, overblown nonsense.

Jos koko levy toistaisi The Great Gates of Kievin paatosta tai Nutrockerin puhdasta komiikkaa, tämä cover-LP (niinpä) saattaisi olla kiinnostava kuriositeetti. Ja kuriositeetti se on myös tällaisenaan.

okay girl... work

This is such trash. It’s basically a live performance that sounds more like a classic soundtrack to an old Sci-Fi show than rock. It was constant grinding on my ears and mind as sounds of what would be more akin to the sound effects used for Aliens/UFOs literally made me scream “FUCKING STOP” as I was reaching for my phone to hit stop. Absolutely terrible experience. No one should ever have to listen to this before they die.

Chaotic bunch of sounds. Interesting first listen but nothing with replay value to me. Them few rare Vocals where not bad but it was just so rare to hear them say something. (2.0/5.0)

I think that we can all agree that only one Emerson, Lake & Palmer album belongs on this list, and it's not this one. Minus one half-star for the unironic use of the word "Nutrocker" as a track title.

who cares 1/5

Definitely not a fan

01) Promenade - 4,0 02) The Gnome - 3,0 03) Promenade - 4,0 04) The Sage - 5,5 05) The Old Castle - 2,0 06) Blues Variation - 3,0 07) Promenade - 1,0 (for the third time... come on...) 08) The Hut of Baba Yaga - 3,0 09) The Curse of Baba Yaga - 1,0 10) The Hut of Baba Yaga - 1,0 11) The Great Gates of Kiev - 1,0 (it's all just noise at this point...) 12) Nut Rocker - 5,5 TOTAL: 2,83 (28/100) Current ranking: 474/478 I don't know what to think about this. Well, maybe I do: pretentious crap.

Sounds like bad video game music

Got irritating ver quickly

As Progressive rock goes, this is actually terrible. Just stuff happening for the sake of it, when Greg Lake shouts to the audience "do you want more music' I'm astounded they chanted for it to go on although I suppose for 1971 this was groundbreaking. The freaks on RYM probably lap this crap up and if I told them my thoughts on this album I'd likely be told 'I just don't get it' but I can't fathom how of all the prog-rock albums out there this one is considered in the upper echelons of this genre. The best track is 'the Great Gates of Kiev' which is a run of the mill progressive rock song which I can't necessarily knock with the first full vocal performance of the album and harmless synthesiser playing making it the standout track but really nothing special. I actually find this album to be a disappointment to me as the idea behind it incredibly cool, turning composer Modeste Mussorgsky's work into a progressive rock performance. This idea (if well executed) would have been incredibly cool but sadly the whole performance feels overdone, good music is hinted at with generally okay bass playing but the synthesiser work is so poor and the fleeting vocal performances rarely speak to me. This album is not the worst album I've listened to yet, but its probably second bottom. 2/10 Needlessly Progressive. Top Tracks -> The Great Gates of Kiev

got to song 5 before i was tired of it

Hhahhahaha, yeah, no. I guess I'm just not that much into Classic Prog Rock, or maybe I haven't heard an album that really caught my interest. This is just a bunch of sounds with a keyboard, trying to make some semblance of a song. Hard No. 1/5

I couldn't finish it. I like weird instrumental music but this one wasn't for me.

I just listened to 3 guys masturbating for 38 minutes

2/10 This is one of the albums of all time that’s for sure. Not my bag at all but prog rock is cool sometimes so I guess there’s a space for this. Favorite Song: Blues Variation

I absolutely hated this. Don’t get it at all.

Absolutely fucking hated this

I liked “The Sage”, the rest was just psychedelic nonsense and improvised keys. “Nutrocker” was complete junk!! Not for me at all.

Boring.

Just when I was beginning to think myself incapable of giving any album less than four stars, this album came along to rid me of my worries. It's just dire... An example of an album that you only want to hear once before you die. I certainly won't be revisiting it any time soon - in fact, not ever! I don't have many albums on my "worst albums" list, but now there is one more to add. I'll give it one star only because zero is not an option.

Quite fitting that the album is titled 'Pictures at an Exhibition', because I feel like an everyday shmuck in an art gallery that is tailored to those who spend their lives living, breathing, and vomiting art. Because I don't get it. Doubt I'm going to listen to this again.

I mean - yes I should listen to this so that I’m certain that 95% of prog rock is not for me, and the other 5% is some Rush.

Terrible album. Couldn’t wait for it to end.

Hmmm, I went into this unsure this warrants a place in the Top 1001. ELP is a band I know by name, perhaps know a few tunes by from classic rock radio, but have never been introduced to the live album, "Pictures At An Exhibition". From the outset it sounds dated with organ and that prog rock jazz sound that feels disconnected and random. I felt the first three songs were just a waste of my time, they went nowhere and served no purpose! The vocals on "The Sage" were buried in the mix and elfen and the volume never went up until the middle of track 5, "The Old Castle", with it's annoying keyboard work and repetitive drumming. Finally the vocals came back for another visit on "The Great Gates Of Kiev", a dramatic nothing song that never caught my attention and includes 2 minutes of just plain noise in the form of screechy instruments & sounds. "Nutrocker" was the only song I even thought had value. If I was there, I'd have been the guy asking for his money back after the 2nd song. Hated this album, I just don't get it I guess. This did nothing to enhance my view of ELP or the choices included in this Top 1001 List.

Not for me.

Well that was pretentious as fuck

I gained nothing from this

I almost liked some of the minimalist bits where they didn't play many notes. But then they'd go and play all the notes to make up for it (some of them perhaps unintentionally, or maybe as an in-joke, or maybe that's just how they sounded live). And then somehow it all ends up sounding more dated than the Mussorgsky original.

I cannot stand prog rock. ELP is ingenious in their own right, but it’s 100% not for me in any way. There are no standout tracks and I found it dull for a live album.

Ugh the only good thing about this record is that probably it was a catalyst for punk music. Over sel indulgent naff.

There is a new version of this album which includes more of this epic live 2 1/2 hour concert. The original release is 38 minutes. Thank God almighty I discovered this before choosing the wrong one.

1- Stars (1/15)

Nah

This is just indulgent self important nonsense. I get it, they are proper musicians. This is ridiculous. Would quite happily listen to the original but the keyboards in particular do nothing for the pieces. Nut Rocker is the best thing here but it’s not enough

What the fuck was this

Wow, this really was hot garbage. Almost an hour long live album of (what seems like) improvised stuff. It almost can't get any worse. So extremely incoherent and all over the place. Would not recommend to anyone.

I'm trying to imagine the scenario where someone hears this album and says to themselves, "holy shit, this album is so great that everyone should hear it before they die" and I cant make myself picture it. Its a live album, and its not a great one or even a good one. 1/5

Why does this exist?

I liked this stuff when I was fifteen. Now I hear it as soulless wankery.

Rating: 2/10 Prog-rock wankery, this embodies all of the worst characteristics of progressive rock.

I can't quite believe the Geordie crowd's excitement when he shouts, 'We're gonna give you Pictures At An Exhibition!'. Personally I'd have wanted my money back.

A synth-heavy progressive snore fest. It just isn't my jam.

I've listened to this three times and it just never makes an impression

hell nah

Very odd

I was quite excited to listen to this album because the premise seemed so novel. A prog rock adaptation of a Romantic piano suite? Count me in! Well, save that Nutcracker cover at the end, count me out. Alternatively boring and annoying. A mix of slow strumming, mid vocals and "hahaha synth go brrrrr" Self-indulgent in the worst way that prog rock can be. If you listen hard enough, you can hear the baby punks gestating. I can appreciate the concept in theory, but sorry, this ain't it. Fav track: Nut Rocker

1 star

Try to be experimental, which it is, but basically just bad. Bar 1er songs, sporadisch mal e 3er passage. Ha nööd würki plausch gha bim zuelose :)

tönt chli wiene looney tunes rock opera spooky witch hunt version hans nöd fertig gschafft doe chöntmer maybe lose zum fangis spile?

trotz langem sueche irgendwie nur en live version devo gfunde und die hed richtig trümmlig tönt… nach de erste 5 min hani's nümm usghalte und han mi rasant duregspuelt definitiv zu experimentell für en dunschtig nami, mi scusi

emerson lake and palmer? more like asserson asse and asser

Not for me…

Love ELP. Hated this album.

"I've got an idea. Let's cover some Russian classical music in our style! I think that could go over well" "Yea, I think that's good. No one's really done that before, and these classical songs can still sound really good." "But it's missing something..." *band members think for a minute...* (in unison): "MORE SYNTHS!!! ALL THE SYNTHS IN THE WORLD!!!!!" Ugh, this one was a chore to get through. It’s everything people hate about prog rock all in one package. Felt so much longer than its 38 minutes.

Indulgent rubbish.

1. I don´t like the synthe and doodle-doodle-sound. 2. I question live-albums on this list. positive: it has only 38 minutes running-time.

Tiresome prog nonsense for people who wank to pictures of themselves

This sounds like what happens when my kids used to go into my brother's studio and mess around on the keyboards. Unlistenable.

Mussorgsky spinning is his grave can solve the energy crisis

Meh

Live English rock…guess I get the day off.

This is just weird… no thank you to most of it. - maybe it was very special back then, and that’s why it is historically important. The guitar playing om The Sage is nice though

I was trying to find something positive about this album, but it's just noise on top of noise, and a few of the tracks are unlistenable and all recordings of them should be destroyed. I would rather be taken and eaten by Baba Yaga than have to listen to this again.

The whole album sucked apart from the last song which was an absolute joy to listen to.

First listen Saved 1/12 Top track: The Sage

I don't think I even know how high I'd need to be to enjoy this

Do one. Go away. Stop. I hated every second of this from the moment it started to the end of the world's stupidest encore (with the exception of about five seconds of The Sage, which I thought was OK). Imagine being this smug.

I get the concept. Same song, different flavors and venues…but…Nope.

I bet Dennis Nilsen murdered people to this record. 1/5

Nope

What the heck. I'm going to go with if you don't have anything good to say....

Guessing only hardcore EL&P fans would find this one stimulating.

“Tarkus” was my least favorite progressive rock I’ve ever heard, and “Pictures at an Exhibition” doesn’t do anything to change my view of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. I’ll give them credit for going for the concept - a rock adaptation of an 1870s piano suite? Not something you hear everyday. I wanted to be mad because I don’t think live albums belong on the list (granting exceptions for the way they allow for meaningful compilations of work by the early rock n’ rollers, or for Johnny Cash’s seminal prison performances), but “Pictures” is a unique one-time-only performance of unique material, so I let it slide. Instead, I’m mad at every single thing Keith Emerson does with a Hammond organ, a pipe organ, and a Moog synthesizer. These instruments don’t have to make awful music, but in Emerson hands, in these arrangements, they torture poor Modest Mussorgsky’s composition. That’s a great name, though, and now I want to hear Modest Mouse’s version of Modest Mussorgsky.

Halfway through the first song and I'm already exhausted by the pretentiousness of this album. The organ is grating on the ear. This is like a novelty album. And to finish off, the ELP version of the Nutcracker Suite.

Pass

Boy howdy, I did not care for this. It felt noisy and unstructured to me. Could not get into it, did not finish the album.

No

A musical wank

It’s like if you gave a classroom full of boys a bunch of fisher price instruments and a load of sugar and told them to make some noise. Total chaos to my ears

Live album

Felt like just noise

Just not my jam.

The kind of person who likes this is the kind of person I would not want to be stuck with at a party.

Terrible.

Mussorgsky was better

I don't know what's worse: the concept or the execution. Scratch that. It's definitely the execution. This album makes me feel like a music store employee driven to murder from having listened to twenty years of wankers noodling away on shitty Casiotones.

Just not it at all. Cute idea but terrible execution

Emerson, Lake and Palmer are a Prog rock band that sometimes sound like they are from 2003, sometimes 1984 and sometimes 1678. If I was on enough drugs to leave the solar system, I might enjoy this 3.7/10

What is this a participation trophy? That sucked.

something something British experimental pretentious music. Wah wah wah i'm too uncultured to get it... no just because it is experimental does not make it good.

Prog rock on a good day is still an affront to my ears. And today is not a good day.

The soundtrack of the “jerk-off” hand motion

That was a waste of time.

Hardly music

I never want to hear this again

Prog rock is a funny game. At the time, it was sincerely meant to be forward thinking and futuristic, challenging the conventions of the day etc blah blah. But 50 years on, it sounds more dated than a lot of the music that came before it. Here of course, much of the material is covers, and the band has reamaginged it into something arry. It's tempting to rate it higher because it's trying to be different but the brutal truth is it's just a load of rubbish. Just think of all the enjoyable music that you could be listening to instead?!

Crikey. This is truly horrendous.

Walk the line precariously between novelty album and serious prog rock statement and then nosedives into the novelty camp. A pointless album.

Pretentious wank!

That is a lot of synthesizers. And silence

Excellent musicianship, but not for me 1/5

Where are the song? This was just awful noodling, couldn't get through it. Yuk.

Ew no.

Too experimental. 1/5

Just want my kinda music honestly

1/5

Если бы Мусоргский был пришельцем - то его "Картинки с выставки" звучали бы так...

This album was weird and bad

Just sounds like 3 talented people who are just complete tossers. Trying to show off to each other about how great they are. It just leaves you with a pile of steaming self indulgent shit that reeks of arrogance 0.4

Not Chicago. Not really digging the frenetic upper range electric keyboard.

Ambitious but not my cup of tea.

Normally I say stuff like this would be better on drugs, but I'm certain this wouldn't be. It sounded like video game boss music from the 90s.

This shit was not what I needed to hear during a stressful day at work

Lord of the Rings.

As a musician, I can understand the drive to create something like this to put out into the world. As a writer, I cannot fathom the audacity to say everyone should hear this before they die. I 100% could have died without listening to this album.

I have very few rules in life. One is to be wary of anyone who dots their I's with a circle, flower or a smiley face. Another is never, ever trust a band whose name sounds a law firm.

Am not a fan.

The double whammy...a live album by a prog rock band... life couldn't stick any more right now. FML

I can honestly say that this a terrible band with crap music. I think this was the second time an album of theirs popped up in this challenge. I hope we're done because this was dreadful.

Interessant project, maar niet per se om aan te horen. Orgeltje helpt ook niet.

Prog is not my thing. Have tried and tried to no avail.

Did not like all the synthesizer & endless instrumentals.

Couldn't get past The Gnome. Sorry.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer's album "Pictures At an Exhibition" provides a distinctive journey through the realms of prog-rock, a genre that I openly admit not enjoying one bit. "Promenade (Pt. 1)" kicks off the album with a pompous organ showcase, creating an ambiance reminiscent of entering a grand cathedral. "The Gnome" follows, conjuring images of a Giallo film or a scene from Doctor Who, with its organ and guitar dueling before giving way to Emerson's synthesiser-driven melody. While the album serves as a showcase for the band's musical prowess, it veers into tedious territory for me. "Promenade (Pt. 2)" offers a variation on its predecessor, featuring Lake's Renaissance-esque vocals. "The Sage" introduces keyboard pyrotechnics and delicate guitar, resembling Middle Earth dinner theatre music that, for me, becomes nearly unbearable. Despite the applause-worthy moments in "The Old Castle," the overall sentiment toward the album remains lukewarm, with "Blues Variation" showcasing Lake's virtuosity but lacking soul. While acknowledging Emerson's synthesiser artistry and Palmer's drumming prowess, the overall verdict stands: ELP's "Pictures At an Exhibition" may impress some with its technicality, but its distinctive brand of prog-rock fails to resonate universally, and I can't help but appreciate the lack of imitators in their wake.

Horrible.

Ugh

1. promenade - 0 2. the gnome - 0 3. promenade - 0 4. the zage - 1 5. the old caztle - 0 6. bluez variation - 0 7. promenade - 0

One thing's for sure, those synth/organ sounds have not aged very well!  Apart from that, the idea of adapting a classical masterpiece was great on paper, but the overall result is awkward at best. ELP are the caricature of a prog-rock act. All the clichés about this genre you can think of (very cheesy sound palettes, vituosisitic mania that has no real artistic point, hermetic lengthy interludes, hackneyed faux-jazz overtones, misplaced intellectual pretensions...), they fit right with it. I wonder if you would have had the same clichés about grindcore if Napalm Death had adapted Ravel's "Bolero", or the ones of Country and Western if Dolly Parton had adapted Bizet's "Carmen". I have a sneaking suspicion that from the vantage point of 2023, the results of those imaginary adaptations would still be more listenable than what ELP had attempted with today's record. But sadly, we'll never know. 1/5 for the purposes of this list of "essential" albums, which translates to a 6/10 grade for more general purposes (5 + 1). Number of albums left to review: less than 400 (I've temporarily lost count here) Number of albums I'll include in my own list: half so far, approximately Number of albums I *might*  include: a quarter, approximately. Number of albums I'll never include: another quarter (including this one, many other albums are more important to me).

Emerson, Lake & Palmer seem intent on showing us that their musical education has been worth it. "Look at the theory we've learnt! Look at the composers we've studied! Look at the techniques we've mastered!" But for all their knowledge and prowess, in Pictures At An Exhibition they fail to imbue their music with any humanity or human experience. The whole listening experience feels akin to marking the English homework handed in by a precocious kid who lacks an interior landscape. An utterly thankless task.

Confusing and not very interesting to me

Too experimental for me

Just….miserable listen. I hate whatever that sound is, synthesizer? Kill me.

I can enjoy non-traditional types of music. I like a lot of abrasive punk, noisy kraut-rock or glitchy electronic music that gets low ratings on this site. But this is terrible masturbatory noodling.

Nope

Just plain shit!

nah

It's times like these I wonder why I agreed to participate in this challenge. Thankfully, I'm limiting my own misery by simply turning off the shittest stuff early doors, I make no secret of that. Today, I was taken into a funeral service in the opening song of the album, before being taken to Playstation 1 space. More annoying than the songs was the location of filming. The crowd go wild in the opener, but you're truly left thinking 'what the fuck was the crowd meant to do while listening to this bollocks?' as the rest of the tunes begin to play out. But if there are any mutants that are going to lap this up, of course it is going to be Toon mutants. Shite.

stop pratting about and play some tunes

Weird live prog can fuck right off.

Gøy med prog, men livealbum

1/5. I’m a huge fan of whomever sings within the group as they have the perfect mysterious, tale-telling voice, but the whole album just is a modge podge of overused synthesizer. I could not imagine paying money to go to their concert to hear 36 minutes of that.

Its just not my thing. bye bye rock opera 70's style. but i I want to blame you, and british stuff like this, for spawning Andrew Lloyd Weber .

Prog rock has never been my forte, honestly it bores the hell out of me. This album is no different, it’s so bloated and banal. I’m scratching my head wondering how this went to number 10 on the Billboard charts, it is neither critically or commercially appealing. It’s basically just something you’d find in the record store junk bin. Their attempt at transferring classical to rock is so pretentious, they even try to make this grittier than it never could hope to be by inserting gravelly shouts now and then. The last track Nutrocker is an embarrassing kitschy cover with an even more embarrassing title. Certainly the nadir of prog.

Experimenty mám ráda, ale tohle mi nějak vůbec nesedlo. Je to zážitek si to jednou poslechnout, ale jednou fakt stačí. Není tu nic, co bych si poslechla znovu. Je to takový funky goofy rockový jazz, chaos, umění pro umění. Nevidím za tím žádný jiný smysl, což je v pořádku, ale moc mi to k zamyšlení nedalo. Zdálo se mi to dost vyprázdněné, ani žádný určitý pocit to ve mně nevyvolalo. Nic mi to neříká, nekomunikuje to se mnou. Název alba „Pictures At An Exhibition“ mi dává nápad, že každá skladba má reprezentovat obraz, který muzikanti viděli v galerii. Pokud je však toto, jak se cítí lidé, když vnímají umění, divím se, proč by vůbec do galerií chodili. Nejlepší písničky: nic Nejhorší písničky: vše Hodnocení: 2/10 (nesedlo mi to, nic mi to neříká, otravné po nějaké době)