6:05 Can you imagine sitting in that hall and you've never really seen or heard anyone play a synthesizer before in your life? How utterly shocking and even unnerving it must have been when Keith started in with this bit.
Yes Jim I saw them live before they broke huge in Japan, in Scotland. The stage was small I was near the front by, fell in love with all of them. Greg was shouting out to Carl and Keith not the shy guy you’d think, egging them on. Lots of throwing the organ round by Keith incredibly sexy bet you’ve not heard that before! As Greg said to me years later in an email, ‘we were always very pleased to see some girls turn up at gigs, as at that point it was usually just guys’ He said he’d remember me, such an adorable girly so hugely talented and mischievous.My generation lived with strikes. They brought excitement talent and love and light to us all.
The feedback noise in the middle of The Great Gates of Kiev is Kieth stabbing and tossing about his Hammond Organ that the roadies would have to rebuild every night.
Shocked some of your commenters seem to dislike Keith’s playing. Are they actually fans? Keith didnt noodle what a bunch of philistines on here. I’m Scottish and was drawn back here to say do English ppl actually appreciate ELP? If you ask me it’s lack of basic general education in music and culture. ELP were and remain titans of musical ability, futuristic technology, lyricism and entertainment. They pushed forward with their original music and incredible interpretations. That’s a fact, I saw them do it live and they changed my life.
The idea of this piece is that you are going from one painting to the next, with the Promenade being the walk in between the pictures, that's way it's in there so much.
@Jim Newstead The "Muse" bit is probably when Keith was tilting and rotating his Hammond organ. Lemmy was his roadie much earlier when he (Emerson) was in The Nice and encouraged him to put knives in the keyboard to increase the sustain.
My late brother was at this Newcastle gig, I think I recall him telling me that Pictures was played after they'd already played tracks from Tarkus and ELP
They really turn it up to 11 on this side of the album. I don't think anyone had heard a keyboard-led 3-piece get this nuts on stage before. And I agree -- props to Carl who is really giving it his all from start to finish. I remember playing this for my two sons to prove that there was nothing boring at all about old prog! Also, a note about the video version of this from the Lyceum: the part where they come back in after Keith's organ murdering bit, Greg comes in a beat early and you can clearly see Keith and Carl quickly adjust to match him. It's one of those great "these are real musicians playing this shit in real time" moments. Also, it's important to note that this was the first live recording from any of the first-gen progressive rock bands (post King Crimson's debut anyways) so a lot of people got their first taste of what prog rock on stage could be from this record.
To this day, one of the best sounding live albums, EVER! The engineering and editing work of Eddie Offord cannot be over-emphasized. He simply did miracles for ELP and Yes. 50 years on I still get goose bumps listening to The Hut of Baba Yaga/The Curse of Baba Yaga/The Hut of Baba Yaga. Such tremendous playing and interplay amongst the three of them.
I had the wonderful pleasure of seeing them live on the Black Moon tour. Salt Lake City, a small theater , Maybe 3 thousand tops in attendance. ELP absolutely melted our faces. Keith and Carl would play back and forth. Keith was throwing Christmas , top 40, broadway, and nursery rhyme stuff all through the night. It wasn’t cheesy or throw away , it was appealing to all of us. We echoed the chant for more after. They were Special like no one else.
Definitely! I agree nothing throwaway about it.I loved Jims reaction but didn't like when he said he could've done without Nutrocker.That's ok,his opinion but he also noted it's part of their mystique.Serious musicians then go into funny stuff or jawdropping synth solos.Just like you said in Salt Lake.
I saw that same tour...Springfield MA Feb 1993 smaller former classic movie theater venue. Packed house and they killed the show...was amazing. Best concert I've ever attended since the late 60's.😊
They did play it live, although not in its entirety. It was too long to do as one among other pieces the audience expected. Sadly, The Sage was one part that usually got cut when they truncated it live. ("I carry the dust of a journey that cannot be shaken away.") Someone in the comments for your reaction to side 1 mentioned that they did a studio version with orchestra in 1993. It was included on their Return of the Manticore box set and in some pressings of their album In the Hot Seat. It's beautiful.
Hey pumpkin. There's a movie that came out in the early 70s called rock and roll your eyes where they play pictures at an exhibition in its entirety as well as the Barbarian take a pebble and tank. A lot of people don't know about it because it only had a limited run back in the early to mid 70s but yes it's absolutely awesome especially since it was pre video days. I think I saw it at the Varsity Theater but it was great because it gave me a chance to revisit some of the performances I had seen live. I know it's out there on DVD I found one copy but it's pretty hard to find as I would imagine it's probably been out of print for a long time. Good luck in your adventures😅
I had a lot of respect for this band, putting out a live album of a much-loved concert piece for their fans, and at a budget price too! I wish I could have seen them play 'Pictures' live, but sadly not. By the time I saw them, on the 'Welcome Back My Friends...' tour, they had so much more material to play. Glad you enjoyed it Jim.
Outstanding, Jim! What a great album. Yeah, Nutrocker doesn't necessarily fit, but I still think it's a cool way to close the record, as an encore. This absolutely deserves to be listened to in its entirety (or at least one full side at a time), so glad that you did it that way. And props for giving Greg and Carl their due. Keith deserves every bit of the respect he gets, and more, but those other guys were elite musicians too. They were never as good apart as they were together.
Great video, Jim! Yes; this was the definitive full version of the piece. It was not a live version of a studio recording; it WAS the recording and the only official recording of the piece. Decades later, they put a significantly-shortened (15-minute) version, with fewer movements, on a poorly-rated studio album called In the Hot Seat. It’s basically just a studio recording of some highlights of the full work that you just played. Pictures at an Exhibition is an all-time classic, and I would put it in the top two of ELP’s best albums.
Agreed, Gregs bass and Carls drumming laid the groundwork for Keith to work his magic on the keys and synths. Of course they all had their great solos as well.
Nut Rocker is indeed the bit from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite originally adapted/arranged by Kim Fowley and released as a single by B Bumble & The Stingers. For some reason, ELP thought a version of this arrangement on a weedy clavinet rather than piano was a good idea, hence this release. Enjoyment depends on placement in the set-list and amount of alcohol consumed though that's true of a few 'fun' ELP tracks. Others answered the 'studio version' question on side 1.
People moan about the throw away tracks? on ELP albums I feel they are an amuse Bouche a palate cleanser that once you have calmed down they can hit you over the head again?
Pictures was one of the earliest pieces ELP played together. There’s another live version from the IOW Festival and yet another from the feature film that did the rounds in the early 70s (i remember seeing it in a double bill with Grave New World by the Strawbs…btw have you done any Strawbs lps? but the film is on youtube and well worth watching, especially to see Carl’s epic drumming! Mind you some of it is unwatchable thanks to the period psychedelic effects) but as far as i know, they didn’t release a studio version until the Return of the Manticore box set in 1996. That has a 15 minute version recorded after they reformed. It’s ok but obviously not as manic as the early 70s versions.
Recorded live on my 10th birthday. ( Thanks lads ). Originally released as a budget price LP in U.K. At first their American label didn’t want to release it in the US as, they couldn’t categorise it, due to the classical adaptation. They soon had to backtrack though as it sold shedloads over there on import. Such power and energy from the Masters of Prog ! How great is Greg’s “wah wah” pedal.
I have to disagree about Nutrocker being "expendable". Those types of songs were part of the ELP package. It's one of the traits that defined the band's charm. Also this band opened my eyes and ears to Classical music by their adaptations. I was nudged into listening to the originals.
As an aside to my last post. The out of tune Moog still offends he hammond organ on the other hand is BURNING and the interplay is stunning. Can you ever imagine this happening today. I can't.
