Pictures At An Exhibition was the first ELP album that I acquired, having liked it after borrowing from a friend and being attracted by the discounted price of £1.49 the LP was being sold at.
Loosely based around Modest Mussorgsky's composition in the 1880's, with arrangements of four pieces from Mussorgsky's suite and three original compositions, it is held together by "Promenade", giving the sense of the viewer wandering through the gallery. "Nut Rocker", Bee Bumble and the Stingers 1960's interpretation of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" tops it all off as the encore. The album was recorded live in Newcastle.
The introduction "We're gonna give you Pictures At An Exhibition" is greeted by huge cheers by the audience, who were presumably familiar with yet to be released the live piece.
"Promenade" opens the set with just its regal and ecclesiastical church organ, leading the way for "The Gnome". Powell's drumming opens the number, before being joined by jerky, staccato bass lines. The organ eventually crashes in before moving to a completely different moog synthesizer piece.
"Promenade" returns, this time with a gentle vocal and lasts just over a minute long. Greg Lake's "The Sage", the next track, is one of the highlights, being just acoustic guitar and vocals. Its a pastoral, folk song, with a medieval style solo, the type of which you would normally find in a Henry VIII film, leading into some Spanish guitar flamenco, before returning to the verse.
Screeching synthesizer in the style of the The Osmonds "Crazy Horses" opens "The Old Castle" followed by funky bass underneath the synth main line, which then morphs into "Jazz Blues Variation" which makes for a good ending to side One.
"Promenade" returns to open side Two but this time as a group effort with a faster tempo and violent drums.
The Cossack rhythm's of "The Hut of Baba Yaga" last barely a minute before seamlessly moving into "The Curse of Baba Yaga", with a menacing synth, nice bass line, and a yelling vocal eventually joining in. It becomes all a bit manic, there's some over the top synth solo and I am not to sure when it becomes "The Hut of Baba Yaga" again. It all starts well, and there are some nice parts, but it is also a bit messy and extravagant at times, and its my least favourite track on the album.
The grand, anthemic "The Great Gates of Kiev" ends the piece and is a strong finish. "There's no end to my life, no beginning to my death, death is life".
With the conclusion of "Pictures At An Exhibition", the encore is "Nut Rocker", played in a honky tonk/ragtime style, with a short drum solo ( the best type of drum solo ! ), near the end.
"Pictures At An Exhibition" remains the best of the three ELP albums I have, and there probably weren't too many better live albums than this at the time of its release.
Track Listing :
Side One :
1. Promenade
2. The Gnome
3. Promenade
4. The Sage
5. The Old Castle
6. Blues Variation
1. Promenade
2. The Hut Of Baba Yaga
3. The Curse Of Baba Yaga
4. The Hut Of Baba Yaga
5. The Great Gates of Kiev
6. Nut Rocker
Released 1971
UK Chart Position : 3
Singles :
N/A
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