NO EARTHLY CONNECTION

Without being a full-fledged conceptual work, "No Earthly Connection", Rick Wakeman's third studio album without counting the soundtrack "Lisztomania", reflects on the human being and the myth of his existence based on music and the possibility of extraterrestrial life referenced through a fictitious spaceman. The futuristic cover that shows the distorted image of the musician and an imperceptible keyboard corrected in the reflection of an aluminised paper, serves as a starting point to enter into the spirit of the work.

Composed of five sections, the suite "Music Reincarnate" is the backbone of the album, featuring the initial and innumerable overlapping layers of Wakeman's infallible moog in the choppy "The Warning", the beautiful and splendid "The Maker" with the classical piano and the curtain of mellotrons caressed by Ashley Holt's voice, the sorrowful "The Realisation" and its theatrical performance with the trumpets and trombones of Martyn Shields and Reg Brooks, and the verses sung by Holt on the hypnotic and astral journey of "The Reaper" (a gem in Wakeman's discography), including flashes taken from the previous pieces. "Music Reincarnate" concludes circularly, with the same moog layers with which it began.

And without carrying the pomposity and grandiloquence of "Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight" from the predecessor "The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table", the album's fantastic second piece "The Prisoner" features a similar structure, less orchestrated but just as dizzying, where Roger Newell's energetic bass, Tony Fernandez's consistent drumming and John Dunsterville's acoustic guitars underpin the dynamic melody for Wakeman's virtuosic display of crystalline clavinet sounds. The lilting "The Lost Circle" closes the work by rounding off the idea of the probable existence of life outside this planet.

The 2016 40th anniversary reissue brings with it a concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1976 recorded by the BBC, with a very good sound and a rich selection of songs, highly recommended.

Despite not having achieved greater popularity or widespread recognition, "No Earthly Connection" is one of Wakeman's finest creations and an inescapable classic in his discography.

4 stars