JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH (DVD)

The DVD contains three tracks from Wakeman's hit "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" and two from the yet to be released "The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table". The shorter tracks from Six Wives are a real treat, performed excellently, and I must say far surpass the original in quality. The absence of vocals in those tracks are a plus, but sadly that tradition doesn't continue throughout the DVD. "Guinevere" contains some stomach churning vocal work from the two male vocalists, the famous Ashley Holt, and Gary Hopkins. At LEAST he could have picked some better singers.. They sound terrible. But in terms of instrumental work, the performances of the King Arthur material is really enjoyable. Rick hardly misses a beat on that fast piano solo, and the hard edge version here is alot better than the dismal studio album.

"The Journey" itself is quite a adventure. Since the original Journey was played live, it sounds very similiar besides the narration, which on this DVD is hard to watch. A sweaty man on a wicker chair screaming beyond his abilities with major arteries dangerously close to errupting is not a enjoyable scene. But between the dreaded narration and vocals, is an excellent performance by Rick and the band. The choir and orchestra do their job admirably as well. During "The Battle" a horrifying scene occurs on stage.. MASSIVE INFLATABLE SEA MONSTERS!! It's comical to see the heads bouncing dangerously close to the heads of performing choir members, and it was a nice touch to keep things from getting too serious.

"The Lost Journey" is a bonus segment, it shows an aged version of the original band sitting around an oval table marvelling at old 8mm footage from the Journey tour. It's hard to hear what they're saying most of the time, as you would expect from several eccentric englishmen in converse. It's generally boring, only for hard core fans and even then worth a single viewing. A welcome addition though.

The video quality is generally very good, only in a few spots you can see cuts or washing out in the film, colour is fair and clarity is good on close up shots. Sound quality is a little congested, but during solos or quiet segments it's hard to notice and is overall excellent for the time period.

Although sadly showing changes of the times, this is a excellent DVD, and I would reccomend it to any Wakeman newbies, or fans of keyboard-heavy symphonic rock. Also An essential part of any Yesfan's collection, and fans of Wakeman's first three concept albums will enjoy immensely.

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