JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH

Rick Wakeman's musical adaptation of Jules Verne's novel for orchestra, choir, rock band, synthesiser array, and narrator was recorded when he was still - barely - a member of Yes. He'd been unhappy during the recording of Tales From Topographic Oceans, but even so he kept up his role in the band and mounted this concert series during a break on Yes's touring schedule. However, with The Six Wives of Henry VIII having been a massive commercial success (to the extent that selections from it ended up on the Yes live repertoire) and this one also becoming a hit, it was very apparent that Rick could viably go solo full-time, and so it was that he'd leave Yes by the middle of the year.

Whereas Six Wives was all-instrumental, this one has vocals, and the emphasis on telling a coherent, condensed version of the Jules Verne narrative is certainly a contrast with the abstract explorations that Yes was more interested in at this point in time.

It's all rather fun, though Wakeman's synthesisers are at points rather shrill and in general the quality of the live recording feels a little murky at points even by the standards of the era. Still, you can't fault Rick for his ambition, and he certainly in his own way manages a skilled fusion of orchestral music, rock, and synthesiser which perhaps only Camel on The Snow Goose could rival at the time.