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RECOLLECTIONS: THE VERY BEST OF RICK WAKEMAN

Rick Wakeman

Symphonic Prog


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Rick Wakeman Recollections: The Very Best Of Rick Wakeman album cover
3.79 | 10 ratings | 4 reviews | 20% 5 stars

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Boxset/Compilation, released in 2000

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Catherine of Aragon (3:45)
2. Anne Boleyn (6:33)
3. Catherine Howard (6:37)
4. The journey / Recollection (excerpt) (6:21)
5. The battle (excerpt) (4:03)
6. Arthur (7:26)
7. Merlin the magician (8:51)
8. The prisoner (7:03)
9. White rock (3:12)
10. After the ball (3:01)
11. Statue of Justice (6:20)
12. Crime of passion (5:49)
13. Chamber of horrors (6:38)
14. The palais (2:23)

Total Time: 78:02

Line-up / Musicians

- Rick Wakeman / keyboards, synthesizers

Releases information

Cd. A & M Records 069 490-774

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
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RICK WAKEMAN Recollections: The Very Best Of Rick Wakeman ratings distribution


3.79
(10 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(20%)
20%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(70%)
70%
Good, but non-essential (10%)
10%
Collectors/fans only (0%)
0%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

RICK WAKEMAN Recollections: The Very Best Of Rick Wakeman reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Marcelo
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This is a compilation from the first and best WAKEMAN's albums -1973/ 79 period-, and (essentially for newbies) it's a good introduction to understand the unlimited talent that Rick showed in seventies, beyond his performances with YES.

But there's a hard point here: Among "Six Wives" (1973) and "Rhapsodies" (1979), RW released several masterpieces; so, make an essential compilation would be virtually impossible because many fantastic pieces wouldn't be included. Then, it's hard to rate this album, because music is beautiful but compilation is not complete or the best, and the excerpts are never a good option.

From "Six Wives of Henry VIII": Three chosen tracks are really magnificent, but "Jane Seymour" and "Catherine Parr" deserve a place among the best RW creations too.

From "Journey to the Centre of the Earth": It was a concept album with many spoken parts and outstanding musical pieces. Excerpts are just a mutilation.

From "The Myths and Legends...": "Arthur" and "Merlin" are two of the best tracks, but "The Last Battle" is the highlight in that album and it wasn't included.

From "Lisztomania": Interesting film soundtrack, but none of the twelve short songs was included.

From "No Earthly Connection": "The Prisoner" was chosen. Excellent song, as the rest of the album tracks.

From "White Rock": Another film soundtrack. Both included pieces are among the best.

From "Criminal Record": A dilemma again: How to choose just some pieces when the whole album is wonderful? Chosen tracks are beautiful, but three are not enough.

From "Rhapsodies": IMHO, this double album was the first step in the Rick's decadence. "The Palais" is a very short piece, one of the best in that -at least- uneven stuff.

Summarizing, "Recollections" has a good selection from the Rick's strongest period. Nothing useful or new for WAKEMAN's old fans and only a nice cover art for completionists, but it's an interesting way to know (for those who don't) the great keyboardist's job. I guess that, after hear it, a newbie sensation will be: "I wanna hear more!"

Review by memowakeman
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Recollections, is it the real best o RW?

It could be, at least it has some of his best 70´s songs, some of his most representative songs, and i concour with Marcelo the last reviewer who said that this could be a nice compillation for Wakeman´s newbies who are searching for an "easy" introduction, (being honest with you, this was my first Wakeman´s CD), so you can imagine that i really love it, i know that maybe a compillation is not the best way to star with a band, in this case with a BIG musician, but that CD came to my hands for some strange reason, before get it, i had listened to some of his works, but until this CD i fell in love with his music, with his keyboard playing.

He has been a discussion topic, some may say he´s overrated, some may hate him and love Emerson, i dont really know, but you have to accept that he was /is / will be a virtuoso and one memorable musician, that at least change my music view, before know him, i loved Radiohead Pink Floyd and The Doors, i still love them, but the fact is that when i knew Rick Wakeman i was shocked, i remember that i couldnt say anything, i only put my ears clean and my mind became a keyboard theatre, that´s why i love him.

Because it is a compillation, i wont review track by track, but i will mention some of them and their characteristics.

This album starts with 3 authentic masterpieces , from his well known Six Wives of Henry VIII, here we can find Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, i really love these songs, a great example of Wakeman´s style, classical, symphonic and some weird and fast notes.

Then we can find excerpts of Journey to the Centre of the Earth, we know that masterpiece is huge, so for that reason here you can find only excerpts of it, good but not the best, next to it The Battle, one of my favorite songs, another passage of Journey. and.

Now from king Arthur we can find Arthur and Merlin, both great songs, but especially Merlin, that weird song is really excellent, in fact it is my favorite Wakeman´s song, amazing!!

The 8th track here is The Prisoner,it comes from his No Earthly Connection, and it is another excellent song, i have always wanted to sing that song in a concert, i love it.

White Rock and After the Ball form his White Rock album, both are good crazy keyboard songs.

From my favorite Criminal Record, here we can find Statue of Justice, Crime of Passion, and Chamber of Horrors,all are beautiful songs, great im sure you will love them , this is one of my favorite parts here.

Finishing the album The Palais, which is another soft and beautiful song.

So, if you are not familiarized with his solo works, and you would like to, then get this compillation, i really love it, it is not perfect but im sure you could enjoy it, 14 great and representative song of him, so because of this y highly recommend it , and i will give it 4 stars, excellent addition to any prog lover!!

Review by fuxi
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars I don't know about the rest of the planet, but here in the U.K. there has been a vogue for releasing invidious little double CDs with titles such as ALL THE JAZZ YOU'LL EVER NEED, ALL THE CLASSICAL MUSIC YOU'LL EVER NEED, ALL THE REGGAE YOU'LL EVER NEED etc. Well, I've got half a mind to dub this collection ALL THE WAKEMAN SOLO STUFF YOU'LL EVER NEED. And yes, it fits on a single CD - but a glorious one. With Wakeman, as soon as you try to compile a TWO-disc collection, you're bound to include material of dubious quality, as proved by a (bigger) rival compilation, VOYAGER.

On RECOLLECTIONS, however, everything is strong:

1. You get the three most melodious (and varied) tracks from SIX WIVES, all featuring a dazzling array of keyboards (tracks 1 -3)

2. You get two exciting excerpts from JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH (tracks 4 & 5) - just about all you'll ever need! (Any more and you end up with a severe stomach ache.)

3. You get the two most Tremendous Pieces from ARTHUR (tracks 6 & 7). The first is prog at its most overblown (but boy it's uplifting) and the second is an inimitable rollercoaster fun ride!

4. You get the single best track from NO EARTHLY CONNECTION (No. 8), featuring some of Rick's loveliest harpsichord solos,

5. Two charming tunes from that technicolor soundtrack, WHITE ROCK (tracks 9 and 10),

6. Just about the only bearable ditty from RHAPSODIES (track 14),

7. And best of all (especially if you already own SIX WIVES): you're also getting the very best pieces from CRIMINAL RECORD (tracks 11 - 13). These three are actually the main reason why I bought RECOLLECTIONS, as I find the remainder of CRIMINAL RECORD (including the horrifying "Judas Iscariot", with its doom-laden church organ and aaah-aaah-aaah choir) totally forgettable. Now, tracks 12 and 13 may contain some cheesy moments (at this stage in his career, Rick seemed to forget which keyboard sounds you'd better NOT use) but they're full of gorgeous ideas. And track 11, "Statue of Justice", is one of the most exciting pieces Rick ever devised, with its soaring synth and Hammond organ solos.

So if you're simply looking for a good overview of the most inspired stage in Rick's career, this may be the right album for you. There are just two things I regret:

A. What a shame they didn't include "Anne of Cleves" and "Catherine Parr", the longest tunes from SIX WIVES, both dominated by the Hammond organ! If you really enjoy Rick's virtuoso Hammond organ playing (as characterised by his epic solo at the end of "Close to the Edge") perhaps you ought to buy SIX WIVES separately.

B. A pity they didn't find room for "Lax'x", the most experimental (and visionary) tune on WHITE ROCK: Rick at his (unexpected) best, as a composer of little symphonic poems for keyboards.

But that's the problem with compilations - they'll never please everyone!

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Talking about Rick Wakeman, I cannot forget the days when I first knew his work in "Journey To The Center of The Earth" when by that time I only was given a cassette containing a stream of music that I did not fully understand, with many narratives which lately I knew it's Rick Wakeman's "Journey"! What a great journey of past days when everything I owned was in cassette format. The cassette was made by my brother Henky who recorded the album from vynyl when he was a rock radio broadcaster. After that I followed any new album by Rick Wakeman, including No Earthly Connection, The Myth and Legend of King Arthur, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, etc.

I actually do not like compilation album, but this compilation made me buy because of one reason: it was my best favorite track that I love from Rick's, i.e.: The Prisoner from No earthly Connection album. By the time I saw this CD at local store in Jakarta, I was amazed there was this wonderful track included here. This rarely happen because usually "the best" kind of thing does not contain list of songs that I really like. And, by the time, I did not have No earthly Connection in CD format, so you know, I was very keen to buy it because I would then have The Prisoner in my CD collection! In fact when I spun the CD I was surprised with the fact that The Prisoner featured right here is the "live" version. WOW! I was really excited! Later, I got the no Earthly Connection CD with me - but still I love this compilation because that reason: The Prisoner performed live! Any of you in the same taste with me in terms of The Prisoner? Maybe there are not so many people that notice that this is a brilliant track. But I do have friends here in my country who agrees that The Prisoner is a great song. "You shall hang said the judge ...!!!" ... hmmm .. it's so stunning!!!

Under this compilation, you would get also tracks from Six Wives of Henry VIII, Journey, The Myths, White Rock, Criminal Records, etc. This compilation serves well for newbies as well as die hard fan of Rick Wakeman. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

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