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In 2001 a first version of the concert ‘Pictures at an Exhibition
(Mussorgsky) of EL&P in the Lyceum Theatre (9/12/1970) was already
available on DVD. As 2005 is the 35th anniversary, a special edition
has been released. You could expect that this would be a real ‘thing
to have’, but sadly there is not so much new to discover. In fact,
the live-concert is now followed by half an hour of the classical
performance of the ‘National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine’,
accompanied by some psychedelic pictures and movies. The extras of
the previous version have been removed (history of the band and
their members, a photo gallery, a discography,..), the die hard ELP
fan will not be pleased with it.
But those, who have not bought the first DVD and who are not afraid
of listening to classical music, this remains a true diamant. The
video recording from different points of view, the close-ups and the
quality of the sound are really amazing, surely if you take into
account the technical possibilities of that period. It is also very
amusing to see how quit the audience stays, even in the quiet
fragments you can’t hear anything at all. It seems if they were
witnessing the first landing on the moon, fascinated and impressed
by this fabulous trio. Not so amazing knowing that for most of them,
this was the first contact with this classical performance, the
vinyl album ‘Pictures..’
would only be
released the next year.
The musical talent of these guys is so obvious and clear, the
synchronisation between keyboards and drums is perfect, the vocals
and guitar play of Greg Lake (especially on acoustic guitar) are
fantastic. Op a certain moment (‘The Old Castle’) Emerson plays the
keyboards between his legs, I don’t know if the public was ready for
this :-). If course you can hear some minor mistakes, normal for a
live concert, Emerson has to fine-tune his keyboards now and then.
Carl Palmer is unbelievable on drums, he has always been one of my
favourite drummers, also when his he was member Atomic Rooster. At
the end of set the images of the band are mixed with some
psychedelic effects, very nice indeed.
Progressive rock has always been very close to classical composers
like Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky, Beethoven, Bach and so on. Emerson,
Lake & Palmer were pioneers in thet matter, and until now nobody has
been able to equal them. This fact alone will make the acquisition
worthwhile, having both dvds is only for ‘completists’. If this was
the first version of the DVD, my rating would have been at least
9/10.
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