PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

If, like me, you're of the opinion that part of the reason for ELP's downfall was that the band couldn't focus on a single musical direction but tried to accommodate too many incompatible musical ideas on the same album - leading to albums which presented a jumble of classical adaptations, original prog works, wistful ballads and dreadful comedy numbers which failed to hang together - then Pictures At An Exhibition might be one for you.

There's no gentle Greg Lake ballads here, and there's certainly no horrible comedy songs - the band are focused on adapting some old-school classical music to an electrified prog context, and they do so with gusto. A pretty excellent little exercise from before Emerson's rocking-the-classics schtick started to wear thin.