It’s 1971. Emerson, Lake & Palmer are performing Pictures at an Exhibition at Newcastle City Hall for the first time. A couple of years later my dad will buy the ELP 1979 live album, featuring that concert and will find himself listening to Mussorgsky’s melodies for the first time. Struck by the music, he will go on to buy the classical original and the Newcastle concert version on CD. And more than 30 years after that concert, I’ll find myself in my elementary school music lesson, 7 or 8 years old, listening to the classical original. And the only thing I’ll be able to think of is the prog rock version I’d dance around to in our living room.
I remember listening to this album on repeat, actively looking for the cover with the empty picture frames, the dark wood, the clean canvases. I remember dancing along to the music, almost acting out the drama inherent in its storyline. I think, what drew me to it, was its connection to painting, as I recount the numerous times I flipped through that booklet. I adored the juxtaposition of the filled-in frames on the inside and their blank brothers on the outside. That gallery spoke to my love of visual arts, my love of going to museums like Het Rembrandthuis or Het Mauritshuis with my grandma, my love of colours and brushes and paint.
Usually, this would be the moment for me to pick a couple of songs from the album, tracks that stood out to me, that I remember listening to for one reason or the other. But in this case, it’s hard to divide the album into pieces, to cut up the suite into songs. That’s the thing with the majority of progressive rock records: they’re not really made to be put on shuffle. And since this is prog rock at its finest, it’s an album to listen to in one piece. An album where the transitions are as important as the individual pieces. An album that grows, that moves, breathes and ultimately finishes with a ridiculously overblown finale – overblown, yet perfectly fitting.
The first Promenade is a musical celebration in and of itself. The moment that massive organ enters makes every cell in my body vibrate. The sheer size of the sound makes my heart tremble in anticipation. There is something to be said about listening to music trough a certain medium. This album needs a stereo, needs the largest and best speakers you can afford. And it’s all because of that organ hitting your ear midway through the opening track. It’s all about the effect. And the effect of the almost theatrical percussion in The Gnome perfectly illustrates the mood present in Mussorgky’s original. It walks a fine line between music, sound, and noise. Or maybe it erases that line. This song creates a creepiness, a tension, that feeling of something lurking in the shadows or crawling trough the underwood. It is the musical twin of Lewis Carroll’s poem Jabberwocky. That synthesiser, literally screaming out, valuing effect over sound, adds a fitting theatricality to the entire track.
After the second Promenade (this time featuring lyrics and vocals by Greg Lake) the tenderness and medieval beauty of the ELP original The Sage fills the air. It works incredibly well as a transition piece, erasing the tense atmosphere created by the previous songs. An auditory palate cleanser. Mystical lyrics are paired with an acoustic guitar and sung in the style of medieval minstrels. That might sound like a lot, that might even sound like a cliché – but it works for the genre, it works for the overall record, it even works in combination with the Mussorgsky originals. It’s a moment to breathe, a moment my younger self couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to, a moment I can appreciate all the more now.
The punchy cover version of The Old Castle probably represents the greatest deviation from the original source material. It speeds up the melody, adding a funky quality by making the hammond organ the leading player of the piece. As the song evolves into a blues variation, Keith Emerson’s virtuosity takes the spotlight, swirling through bar after bar, piling chord upon chord. Yes, this is showing off. But this also is musical craftsmanship on a very high level. This is prog rock at its finest. And although all the people in the audience of the original concert are sitting down and listening attentively, doesn’t mean you can’t dance around to this!
Baba Yaga makes even my adult heart start beating faster, evoking the feeling of a chase, the feeling of restlessness and danger. The moody synthesiser at the beginning of The Curse could almost be the voice of the titular witch, threatening the audience, threatening me and you at home. And yet, there is a weird danceability to this piece as well. As the percussion kicks in I find myself swaying along to the beat. And when Lake picks up the microphone again, I’m full on head-banging. Yes, genre conventions might tell you that prog rock is not made to be danced to. You’re expected to listen. But why not have both?
Why shouldn’t I stand up and feel like Bono at Live Aid when that first bar of The Great Gates of Kiev hits? I feel the ecstasy, the relief, the glory – it’s textbook prog rock. Emerson, Lake & Palmer certainly know what they are doing. But they’re not the only musical geniuses that deserve praise at this point. Mussorgsky himself needs to be thanked for writing this incredible music. Those harmonic progressions. Those melodies. Gifting us with the satisfaction of that E-flat major chord in this last piece. The introduction of the bells. And yes, ELP make this music their own. Few things can top the screeching synthesiser solo right in the middle of this track (the crowd appropriately goes wild as Emerson shows off his skills once again) . It’s everything, it’s picture-perfect.
I don’t see many 8-year-olds completely mesmerised by the cover art and booklet of a 1971 ELP live album. I don’t see many people dancing along to a prog rock interpretation of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. But these people exist. And if you’re no longer 8 years old, why not become a member of the latter group? You don’t have to be a classical music aficionado or artsy-fartsy prog rock enthusiast to simply enjoy this music. It’s been more almost 50 years since this concert was recorded. Enough time passed for you to listen to it in whatever way you want.
This was one of your favourite albums growing up? Why not check out: Janelle Monáe – Metropolis: The Chase Suite
The Dad Anthology 