Island was a Swiss progressive rock band led by singer Benjamin Jäger, and Pictures, released in 1977, is its only studio album. The quartet had no guitarist: Peter Scherer played keyboards, pedal bass and crotales, René Fisch saxophones, flute and clarinet, and Güge Jürg Meier drums, gongs and percussion. The Italian Claudio Fabi produced the record, and the cover uses a painting by H.R. Giger.
The music is dense and often sombre, with organ and synthesizer layers, reed lines that come from jazz, and Jäger's dramatic vocals. The title track runs close to seventeen minutes and Herold And King / Dloreh over twelve and both move through several sections, with passages that come close to jazz-rock.
The 23-minute Empty Bottles is included as a bonus track.
Japanese CD reissue by Belle Antique in a gatefold mini LP replica with obi and Japanese liner notes, SHM-CD, remastered, with one bonus track. Repress of the 2013 remaster.
