PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

Honestly, i can't believe that Welcome Back is rated higher than this, one of the brilliant live albums here. When i first heard it, i think that it was "a good concept and slight virtuosity" but after i listened to Mussorgsky's original, i can't stop thinking "wow, they really nailed it" and constantly listening it in my playlist.

Let's start from "Promenade" the organ intro, it provides a good beginning followed by "The Gnome" striking drums from Palmer, later accoompanied by the others and brings a dark sense, then back into "Promenade" again, with brilliant vocals from Lake (and his bravery to put lyrics on Pictures must be mentioned). After that is Lake's solo, "The Sage" which in my opinion overpowers most of his other solos slightly.

I noticed that there is "The Old Castle" on the tracklist, but where is it? Emerson really nailed it in an extraordinarily unlikely way, making it sounds like "the jam of a futuristic castle", followed by "Blues Variation", a group effort which shows Emerson's virtuosic solo, and it blends well to the rest.

Then we go back to "Promenade" again, this time with drums. "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" strikes well and overall a great opening to "The Curse Of Baba Yaga" another group effort, and a more brilliant one with vocals and followed by "The Hut Of Baba Yaga" again. But next is "The Great Gates Of Kiev" the most pleasing track for me, and the one that bears most resemblance with Mussorgsky's original, with the exception of the "wheeee!" and "fuzzz!" sounds, coated by Lake's quasi-religious lyrics. This is the end, though the encore "Nutrocker" also pleased me, and is another good track too.

Another 5 stars.