Always ones for the big entrance, Emerson, Lake, And Palmer premiered their rocked-up version of Russian composer Modeste Mussorgsky's classical work at 1970's Isle Of Wight Festival, their first proper show together.
William
Neal's artwork was a very sedate affair— empty picture frames in a
gallery—completely out of scale with the impact of the music. Far more
noteworthy was Emerson's work with the Moog synthesizer, an innovation rarely
found outside the studio due to its unpredictability and because many bands did
not regard it as a "real instrument".
Ironically,
the highlight of the record was an original composition from Lake, "The
Sage", which had been intended for another record but fitted the mood
perfectly. It featured his best ever recorded acoustic guitar playing. By
contrast, "The Hut Of Baba Yaga'' saw Emerson follow some speedy Hammond
organ with a chunky Moog workout. He then switched to boogie-woogie piano for
a cover of B. Bumble And The Stingers' 1962 Tchaikovsky pastiche "Nut Rocker", concluding proceedings with a suitably irreverent bang.
Pictures At An Exhibition gave them their third UK Top Three in a year and a groundbreaker in the mold of Keith Emerson's previous band, The Nice. For better or worse, a trail had been blazed. The album was released in the U.S. only after import levels became overwhelming, upon which it went to No. 10 on the Billboard chart.
FULL ALBUM:
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