PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

Emmerson, Lake and Palmer's "Pictures at an Exhibition" is an adaptation of Mussorgsky's original version which was a piano peice. "Pictures at an Exhibition" is credited as being the first album to merge classical music with rock and roll. It is a truly groundbreaking album and it opened the gate for many other prog bands, who would follow in their footsteps. The idea of taking a well- known classical piece and adapting it to suite rock music would have offended some people and the album was met with some hate. Much of the album was actually original work written by the band. "Pictures at an Exhibition" was first performed live (and eventually recorded like at Newcastle) at the Isle of Weight Music Festival on August 29th. The band played along side with giants such as Jimi Hendrix and The Who. The band rented two old cannons which they fired at the climax of the album, but they were loaded with too much gunpowder and it didn't go as planned.

"Pictures at an Exhibition" is really a Symphonic progressive masterpiece, the idea of it was unique for its time and ELP started a new musical phase. "Pictures at an Exhibition" is very keyboard heavy and the synths sound pretty weird in parts. There are other beautiful acoustic sections on songs like "The Sage", as well as "epic" songs like "The Great Gates of Keiv." To fully appreciate "Pictures at an Exhibition", it must be listened to in full length, it is a wonderful journey. As far as live albums go "Pictures at an Exhibition" is a four star heavy weight. "Pictures at an Exhibition" is my favourite ELP album and it exceeds their other classic ELP albums, 'Tarkus', 'Trilogy' and 'Brain salad Surgery.' I highly recommend "Pictures at an Exhibition", it is one of, if not the most important Symphonic Prog albums, it is an essential in terms of symphonic albums. The 2004 version includes a 12 minute "Pictures at an Exhibition" songs which mashes all the highlights into one song.