Pictures at an Exhibition (Emerson, Lake & Palmer album)
| Pictures at an Exhibition | ||||
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| Live album by Emerson, Lake & Palmer | ||||
| Released | November 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 26 March 1971 at Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle, England | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, symphonic rock, classical crossover | |||
| Length | 37:56 | |||
| Label |
Island Manticore (UK) Cotillion/Atlantic, Rhino (US) |
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| Producer | Greg Lake | |||
| Emerson, Lake & Palmer chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Robert Christgau | D+ |
| Rolling Stone | (unfavorable) |
Pictures at an Exhibition is a live album by the English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released in November 1971 on Island Records. It is a recording of the band's arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky, performed at Newcastle City Hall on 26 March 1971 during their 1971 tours. Emerson wished to arrange the piece after seeing an orchestral performance of it several years before. He bought a copy of the score, and pitched the idea to Lake and Palmer, who agreed to adapt it.
Pictures at an Exhibition went to number 2 on the UK Albums Chart and number 10 on the US Billboard 200. In 2001, it was reissued as a remastered edition that included a studio version of the piece.
The original live album was recorded at Newcastle City Hall in North East England. The opening track of the album was played on a Harrison & Harrison pipe organ which was installed in the City Hall in 1928. The organ console is some way above stage level, at the top of a stepped terrace used for choral performances. The drum roll connecting the opening track to the next served to cover Emerson's dash back down to the stage.
Due to management conflicts, the recording was not released until after Tarkus, their second studio album. The record company was reluctant to release a classical suite as an album, and insisted it be released on their classical music label instead. Fearing that this would lead to poor sales, ELP instead decided to shelve the work. After the success of their second album, however, the label agreed to release Pictures as a budget live album.
There was also a video made of a different live performance (Lyceum Theatre, 9 December 1970). This had a limited theatrical release in 1973, and a remastered DVD release with Dolby Surround Sound in 2000. Being a live album, sometimes Keith Emerson's voltage-controlled Moog oscillators went out of tune, due to humidity and temperature.
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