PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

''Tarkus'' was undoubtfully a huge selling success for E.L.P. with the album taking his place at the top of the British charts and reaching the top-10 of the American Billboard, eventually leading the trio to a great tour in North America.But its side-effects were beyond this success.The band had recorded a performance based on Russian composer's Modest Mussorgsky most famous composition ''Pictures at an exhibition'' at Newcastle City Hall in March 26th, 1971, which was set for release, but Island's management refused to publish in time, believing it was way too pretentious to have any commercial value.The answer came though with the huge success of ''Tarkus'' and the label decided to release this recording in November 71'.The artwork was again a responsibility of William Neal.

The truth is that ''Pictures at an exhibition'' Classical depth and tension was a great choice for a group like E.L.P., the reworking of the trio is up to the standards of the original composition, flavored with Greg Lake's excellent voice and Keith Emerson's diverse keyboard work.It brings back memories of THE NICE and their tendency towards Classical Rock, although E.L.P. were far more refined and progressive.Opening with the pipe organ, which was installed in the City Hall around 1928, this Classical adaption is full of Emerson's smooth piano preludes, powerful Hammond organ and nervous Moog synth fanfares, that eventually switch from mellow passages to bombastic offerings, always having a grandiose Classical nature.The album contains the flaws, evident in any live recording, however most of its part is nicely executed with long, keyboard-led solos and acrobatics and good work by Lake and Palmer on bass and drums.The bulk of synthesizer lines are way too pompous, angular or even abstract and the best qualities come during the great organ runs with the dynamic rhythm section backing up.The much needed acoustic breaks are rather limited and the absolute peak of the album seems to be ''The hut Of Baba Yaga'', featuring maybe the best vocal performance of Lake with E.L.P., the measured organ work of Emerson and the solid drumming of Palmer, creating music somewhere between Psychedelic and Classical Rock and at least delivering some nice, romantic textures through the storm of keyboard strikes.

Not the best work of E.L.P. for sure, yet this is far from an uninteresting album.It's a fine reworking of a deadly Cllassical composition mostly performed with passion and accuracy, suffering a bit from some stretched and abnormal instrumental solos.Recommended.