Emerson, Lake & Palmer Pictures at an Exhibition Numbered Limited Edition Hybrid Stereo SACD (Use code: FREESHIPPING at Checkout Two Orders or More UK Only

Emerson, Lake & Palmer were so committed to their visionary interpretation of Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" that the group recorded it twice. Unsatisfied with the quality of what was supposed to serve as the take for a concert album, ELP booked a different venue to stage another show and paid for production out of their own pocket. Following hours of rehearsals and sound checks, ELP delivered a performance for the ages. Originally issued five months after the band's sophomore LP Tarkus, Pictures at an Exhibition landed in the Billboard Top Ten and became a linchpin of the prog-rock canon.

Mastered at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's California studio and housed in mini-LP-style gatefold packaging, the fabled album comes to life with spectacular dimensionality, breadth, and detail on this numbered-edition hybrid SACD. It doubles as an admission ticket that never expires to the band's March 26, 1971 date at Newcastle City Hall. The primary difference from not being there in person? The levels of clarity, presence, and separation are such that you'll immediately be grateful nobody is impeding your view or gabbing beside you as you soak in one of the most celebrated crossover experiments in history.

What you will hear is cut from the best-possible source, and just might be the master. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab engineers observed that the tape box that contained the source tape is marked "Masters" but cannot definitively confirm that is the case given the tape had no splices or other indications that can be taken as absolute proof that this was a master. As such, the label erred on the side of caution when it came to provenance. The sonic results, however, are definitive.

So place the disc in your SACD tray and immerse yourself in this daring, extremely successful reimagining of a piano suite conceived in 1874 by Mussorgsky. ELP had been familiar with the classical piece since the group formed. Keyboardist Keith Emerson had attended an orchestral performance of the work and acquired the score, then floated the idea to his mates that they should adopt at least parts of Pictures at an Exhibition in their live shows. The band soon embraced the challenge of adapting the entire composition for the stage. Once it completed sessions for its sophomore LP, Tarkus, the trio decided to record it for official release.