RICK WAKEMAN

In 2003 Rick released a new album, 'Out There', with The New English Rock Ensemble. The line-up was his touring band of the time, so he was joined by drummer Tony Fernandez, bassist Lee Pomeroy, guitarist Ant Glynne and singer Damian Wilson. Now I have a few of Rick's albums (okay, most of them), and when I heard it I was just blown away and I rated it as one of my albums of the year. So, I was extremely eager to catch him on the tour to promote the album and it was a major surprise to everyone (including Rick) when Damian dropped out of the tour just a couple of days before it was due to start. So, the choice was to either cancel the tour or to find someone at extremely short notice who was familiar with at least some of the material. Step forward one Ashley Holt who of course had sung on both 'Journey' and 'King Arthur' among others. He has a very different vocal style to Damian, and of course knew none of the new album either, so there had to be a radical shift in the setlist (hence the album title).

So everything was in place for this to be a disaster, but instead the show I saw was an absolute triumph with all of the audience understandably annoyed that Damian wasn't there, but very pleased indeed that Ashley was the person who had stepped into the breach. The DVD was released in 2004, but for some strange reason it took until 2012 for this CD to be made available but at least it is here now. My biggest issue with it is that it is way too short at just over an hour, and while there are some songs on the CD that are not on the DVD it is also true the other way around so why not make it a longer album and more like the setlist?

But, this is worth getting just for the version of "Out There" alone where Ashley doesn't attempt to hit Damian's notes but instead uses control and passion to make it his own while the rest of the band simply rock. Ant is a revelation here, as while he is content to provide the muscular support required by Rick he is not adverse to moving to the fore when the time is right. And any album that contains versions of "Catherine Parr" and "Wurm" is going to sit well with progheads isn't it? Absolutely brilliant.

My first Wakeman's album and still the one I like most. Ok, I have to admit that it can be considered pompous, self-indulgent and all the worst that can be said about rock dynosaurs, but I'm not Jonny Rotten and I don't care of it. Let me say that Wakeman is still making albums and I don't know what John Lydon is doing currently.

I saw the album at a friend's home. He was a bit older than me and I didn't own a turntable at that time. I was impressed by the cover art with the booklet made of photo shots inspired to the Verne's novel but in debt with the 1959's movie which was one of the first hollywood sci-fi movies full of special effects. The movie amazed me as well when I was a child so I was captured by that package.

When it went on the turntable I was even more surprised. It was different from anything I had heard before. I already knew and loved Emerson Lake and Palmer but the orchestra, the choir...I was actually listening to country and blues, you can imagine what kind of impact it was.

What I found negative was the fact that only 4 sections of the whole opera had lyrics, in the sense that only four topic moments of the story are represented. Also, not knowing English at that time, I had some problems with the narrator. Luckily the background music while he speaks was good enough so I never had the impulse of moving the pick-up ahead.

Apart of that, I wasn't expecting the quote of Grieg's Hall Of The Mountain King. The Peer Gynt Suite was one of the first classical music works that I have appreciated since my early childhood, so it made everything sound very familiar.

Today, of course, my perception of the album is different, but the pleasure of following the story building a theathre (not a movie) in my mind is still great. I don't listen to it very often, but when I do it I like staying concentrated on each single note and respect to the past I'm also able to understand what the speaker says.

Somebody can think, and it's correct, that this is the kind of things that have caused the decline of prog. I partially disagree. In a world in which the labels had the power to decide who to publish and who don't, were self-production and bandcamp were not available they have maybe chosen to influence the public in the direction of easy low-cost productions like Sex Pistols. Never Mind The Bullocks (which I like, I admit) costed surely less than Journey.

This dynosaur has been acually able to play with the orchestra and the choir in a perfectly integrated manner, composing what I think is a wonderful piece. In the 80s I've been at a Wakeman's concert. He had just a group made of bass, drums and vocalist but he played the whole "Journey" and I don't think I'll ever forget that performance.

Long life to dynosaurs.

Almost at the same level as Tales From The Topographic Oceans (his previous work with Yes), Rick Wakeman (24) do the Journey To The Centre of The Earth. This album is a storytelling musical adaptation from the Jules Verne classic, recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, and it's the kind of album that makes you excited and listen to the whole concert. A little bit over-the-top (okay, too damn pompous), but it's very good. The rock instrumentation and the epic classical theme are a great entertainment. It was overrated at time, but today it sounds hated by a legion of Yes fans. But it don't prevents me to listen to one of the best storytelling suites ever made.

After some not very inspired soundtracks and newage albums Rick Wakeman is back with a concept: the Ancient Greek Mythology. Respect to the huge numeber of session men of his most pompous and pretentious (but great) album, this time he has only his long time collaborator Tony Fernandez on drums and percussion and a tenor, the Liverpudian (not Spanish as one may think) Ramon Remedios.

"Dawn Of Time" is a good prologue. Unfortunately my vinyl copy of the album is now laying in a garage and I can't reread the lyrics. However, this song works well as intro with its major chords sounding pompous as the intro of an opera, and with a tenor singing why don't call it an effective opera?

"The Oracle" is opened by piano. Wakeman's touch is easily recognisable. Remedios sings, of course, operatic, but this melody could fit also with Jon Anderson's vocals. Listening to the mmusical theme it's not much "operatic".

"Pandora's Box" starts with a harp like sound and has a medieval English folk flavor. On this track the tenor sounds very appropriate. The song has a great melody, too and it's one of the best songs recorded by Wakeman in the period.

"Chariot Of The Sun" is good enough but the melody sounds "already-listened". It reminds me of the Renaissance of Mother Russia. The inspiration from Russian composers seems quite clear to me. Not the best album's track.

"The Flood" closes the A side of the vinyl. Harp again for a song which seems inspired more by German composers. I think to Schubert, mainly but with the addition of Wakeman's Korg in the second part of the song which is how Wakeman sounds usually.

One could have expected "The Voyages of Ulysses" to take the whole second side of the albium, it's a 4 minutes song, instead. Not too dissimilar from the previous one has some good passages still with the background layer typical of Wakeman. I can't not think to the songs as they were sung by Anderson. Remedios has a great voice, but Jon's is closer to my tastes.

Finally, the side long (more or less) suite. Effectively the story of Hercules can be not much shorted than the Odyssey. This is the Wakeman we all know: a rock track on which even Remedios sounds rock even singing operatic. Fans of Wakeman can find all the usual good qualities of his most famous albums without too many excesses. This is everything but boring. It's strange as a 22 minutes track can be so light and easy to stay concetrated on. possibly my addiction with Magma has something to do with it... This song is one of the reasons why I'd like to have the lyrics with me. However, if one has liked Journey to The Center of Earth would probably appreciate this album as well.

Excellent addition after a bunch of mediocre things.

Meh... That's what I think when this album comes to mind. I play it in the car on a fairly consistent basis as it makes decent background music I don't mind breaking up on little day-to- day trips, but it really doesn't stand out as anything special and doesn't leave me feeling floored or inspired by any stretch of the imagination.

Wakeman's playing and variety from piece to piece are in top form, don't get me wrong, and he has enlisted the help of some very talented musicians for this album, but I really don't see what all the hype is. It's just a collection of six well-crafted, polished compositions that display Wakeman's talent and diversity. The catch? The pieces are pretty emotionally flat to me and only become more tedious and uninspiring with each passionless repetition.

Because of the level of talent and compositional prowess Wakeman shows by putting out six unique pieces that admittedly are nice on the first couple listens, I don't want to rate the album lower than 3 stars, but this truly does encapsulate the "good, but non-essential" rating and all this rating's bland, forgettable nature represents. It's not so inaccessible that only fans can appreciate the album, but it doesn't reward repeated listens like I expect from a masterpiece album, or even an excellent one for that matter.

The first impression this album gave me was "very bad and boring". I bought it just after 1984 and it really left me unimpressed. Relistening to it now I have changed my mind a litlle. It was not as bas as I remembered.

There's a nice piano intro suddenly interrupted by the onomatopeic Twij, followed by a spy- story like track. I actually found it very bad, but now I can say that's not so different from the rock songs of 1984 and I hear some affinity with The Friend Of Mr Cairo released few months before by Jon and Vangelis. Maybe sung by Jon it would have sounded better. The key solo is quite good.

"Gone But Not Forgotten" is a melodic piano tune, a bit romantic in classical sense. Also this track is not too dissimilar from the instrumentals on 1984. It's not Six Wives, but really not bad even thoug surely not very original.

"One For The Road" for the tempo and the sounds can be considered a follow-up to 1984 as well. If one has liked that album there's no reason to dislike this very much as I actually did. The choice of vocalists could have been done better, not because they are bad singers, ony I think the voices don't fit very well with the music. In any case this song has good moments.

I don't know what Rick was thinking to do with "Bedtime Stories".The melodic piano parts are not bad, but the "La-La-La" thing is awful.

"Happening Man" if you don't consider the chorus which seems coming from a parody of the rocky-horror picture show is quite good.

"Shakespear's Run" is a coming back to the age of Henry the VIII, I mean the album, of course. It's the track which is most reminding of the "classic" Wakeman, the one of the Six Wives.

"Monkey Nuts" is one of the weak tracks. It has a folk flavor, very English I think, but the vocals are not the best possible. Not that every Wakeman's song has to be sung by Jon Anderson, but I would have preferred some of the past singers like Ashley Holt on this song. Relistening to the chorus Marillion's Fish popped up in my mind. His vocals on Internal Exile would have been a perfect fit on this folky song.

Finally the highlight. Thomas Gray's Elegy is a great piece of romantic poetry which is accompanied by a good track musically reminding of "Myths and Legends" and the speech which reminds of course of "Journey". This is the track which saves the album and the one I have sometimes listened to skipping all the rest.

Three weak stars for an album that now I appreciate more than then.

Another of my Wakeman's vinyls, I still remember the moment I bought it and the first listen at home. By coincidence my current house is exactly in front of that records shop. I put it on in the late evening, wearing headphones and the prologue which includes more or less all the musical themes which will come later, like an opera's ouverture, was actually a very big surprise: so rock and uptime, with Jon Anderson quite screaming instead of using the sweeter timbre he was used to show with YES. I also remember to have been a little surprised reading the name of Chaka Khan in the vocalists as she was actually a disco dance star. Another surprising name who will later appear on other Wakeman's albums is the lyricist Tim Rice, author with Andrew Lloyd Webber of one of the greatest rock operas of all times: Jesus Christ Superstar.

If only the whole album were at the same level of the initial about 11 minutes....

"Julia", which in Orwell's concept should introduce the main character is a mellow song with a trivial melody only partially saved by the touch of Rick at the piano and by Jon's vocals, now back to more usual notes respect to the ouverture.

"The Hymn" is nicer. Short and very in line with the concept with Jon in a good shape. After the proper hymn, the music is vaguely reminding of "Journey to the Centre of Earth" then returns to Jon's vocals for the conclusion.

"The Room" is the first totally instrumental track. This is rock side of Wakeman. He was already off of YES, but this track in some parts sounds similar to Going For The One. This track has similarities with the ouverture as it's made of very different parts, only it's shorter.

"Robot Man" is the last rock effort of Jon Anderson and the last rocking song of the album. It closes the "A" side and the "B" side is less exciting. Effectively, relistening to it today, it's a radio-friendly 80s song featuring vocoder and on which Jon sounds like a metal clean vocalist but reaching very high notes. The album notes say that the singer is some Kenny Lynch, but I can't believe that somebody can sing the same high pitches other than Squire.

The B side is opened by a piano driven instrumental of the kind of Myths and Legends. Not bad, but I don't think it fits well in the concept.

"No Name" is sung by another singer, some Steve Hurley who has a very particular voice which adds something to this averagely good song. I don't like much "Forgotten Memories". An instrumental which doesn't add much to the album and seems totally outplaced respect to the dramatic concept. This music doesn't seem to have anything to do with the story, even though is surely not bad on its own.

"The Proles" seems coming out from the union of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and Carla Bley's Fictitious Sports. I quite like it, but I don't think I'd put it on a Wakeman's compilation. Listening better to the very high falsetto...well it's possible that's not Jon. Would you have ever thought? Somebody with a pitch higher than Jon....

The closer and title track is like the end-titles of a movie. The story is already ended and this melodic track reprises some of the principal musical themes of the album. Also this, taen on its own is good, but at this point of the album is a bit unnecessary.

I have liked this album when it was released, but today it shows its age. When I went to see Wakeman few years after, I think it was in 1985, he didn't play any song from this album. He played the whole Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, instead, and I wasn't unhappy.

I missed White Rock for some strange reason. I have seen that album in the shops several times but its sleeve design failed to interest me even with the name of this master of keys on it, and I still haven't heard it.

I went directly for this Criminal Records, instead. Also this has a quite bad sleeve design that's also misleading because there's not plenty of grand piano inside, in the sense that there are many other keys, too. Coming from the excellent "No Earthly Connection" I remember to having been a bit disappointed for the absence of lyrics, except for the grotesque blues of Breathalyser, but this album didn't take too long to grow.

Grand piano is the lead instrument in the intro of "Statue Of Justice"., an intro which unexpectedly sounds very close to the Emerson's style, but when the keyboards are in, with more or less the sounds of "Going For The One", it's clear that the "Master of Keys" is back in all his splendour. This first track has some folk background which gives it a feeling similar to that of Six Wives, but it's more solar.

"Crime Of Passion", after the piano intro, is very melodic and sounds similar to Wonderous Stories with sounds which are a Wakeman's trademark. Then it becomes darker for a while. A blues remind and a medieval interlude to return to the initial theme followed by a piano coda.

Last track of side "A" (I have it in vinyl) is "Chamber Of Horrors". Not as dark as the title, is my favorite on this album. It's probably the only Wakeman's track that I've really tried to play on an organ (I'm surely not a keyboardist), that means that's easy enough, even on the fastest parts. Luckily I have never attempted a live performance of it. I remember I was very satisfied of Side A, especially for this track.

The B side is opened by a nice melodic piano piece. I remember a sad movie about the "Birdman of Alcatraz",however this music is sweet, not sad. Probably the first Wakeman's composition which can be considered borderline with newage.

The short "Breathalyser" is mainly a joke. After an initial part which is uptime it falls into a blues sung by some "Bill Oddie", likely a pseudonym (from Odd, I think. An Odd Bill ?). NOTE: I've been informed that Bill Oddie is a comedian, not a pseudonym. Apologies to him. It's a pity because I thought the joke on his name was nice.

At the end of the album the church organ of "Judas Iscariot" is a return to the pretentious and pompous sounds of Journey and of Myths. At about minute 4 the chords remind to Pink Floyd's Echoes for just a while, then a female choir reminds us about Journey, before moving to more relaxing soundscapes of piano and vocals, then it's back to the initial theme enriched by a choir this time. The coda is possibly too long even with the "grand" finale..

It's an album that I love, but I'm personally not comfortable in rating it more than 3 stars.

If prog is about dynosaurs making pompous end pretentious music with symphonic orchestra, choirs and fireworks, this is prog!. With the vinyl edition you immediately see the sword in the anvil and a seal made of wax with Rick Wakeman's name on. Then you open it and find a booklet with paintings and lyrics plus on the last page the names of the about 100 people who took part in it. Of course, behind the booklet the interior is occupied by a painting of the battle between Lancelot and the Black Knight.

Of course everything starts with Arthur and the famous sentence about "who pulleth out this sword..."immediately followed by the symphonic orchestra and Rick's piano and keyboards. For the kind of composition, before the main theme appears for the first time, one could expect to hear Roger Daltrey singing. The chords of this intro remind me of Tommy, but when Ashley Holt starts singing it's clearly Wakeman. The melodies are catchy and the symphonic arrangements fits well with the operatic voices of the two vocalists. It sounds very similar to Journey To The Centre Of Earth which is his first true concept album, but being both featuring operatic vocals and symphonic orchestra, how could they be much different?

For less than one minute a male choir sings "Lady Of The Lake". Nothing to do with Gnidrolog who dedicated her a full album. This is just a quick apparition.

About two minutes of piano intro reminding the Arthur's theme and the song about "Guinevere" starts. Without the classical arrangement it would be just a pop song, but don't forget that Wakeman has been capable of making excellent pop music like the piano part of Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken".Guinevere is just a two minutes song, what is great is its long interlude in line with Journey.

Again, very operatic, the battle of "Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight" contains also the hardest and heaviest parts of the whole thing. There's also a jazzy keyboard solo in the middle of the track. This song has all the requirements to be called an 'epic' even if its lenght is inferior to 10 minutes.

The theme of "Lady Of The Lake" is reprised by the same choir, but this time it introduces "Merlin The Magician". An excellent piano intro seems to carry us into the Magician's laboratory, while the Arthur's main theme, slowed down in tempo, is back again. The real song starts after about 2:30 minutes.A very interesting thing is the rhythm of the guitar which leads to the most compulsive part. However this song is made of very different moments but all the transitions are well managed, including the one leading to the very fast ragtime interlude. Then the various themes which make this song reappear until the final ragtime closure.

The choir again starts "Sir Galahad". After this dark intro, despite the subject, the music is upbeat and quite "happy". It acquires a sense if you imagine a live performance, like a musical. In this sense the acapella singing which follows makes sense. From a musical perspective only this part of the song featirung the English Chamber Choir shows all the excellent composition skill of Rick Wakeman and is also the part more similar to Journey.

The last track has reminds to all the principal musical themes. It has to be sad..."Gone are the days of the Knights...". It features the full orchestra and the choirsbut there's room also for a jazzy keyboard solo which is one of the best album's things. However, this is mainly a coda, like the end titles of a movie. It could be considered "essential" because it's one of the clearer examples of how pretentious prog was, but we are speaking of an artist who had all the rights to be pretentious.

I don't hear the masterpiece,but it's surely an excellent album with some historical value.

A live album made of piano only can exist only in classical, jazz and prog worlds, and there aren't many players able to make something so good other than the dinosaur Rick Wakeman.

Looking at the tracks one may struggle in finding a connection if he doesn't know that Wakeman other than a very huge solo discography and all the things done with the YES, has worked also for David Bowie and Cat Stevens, so ALL the tracks in the list have been originally played and arranged by him.

Just think to three hits like "Space Oddity", "Life On Mars" and "Morning Has Broken", three songs in the history of the 20th century's music, and it's amazing how this piano performance can make us forget the missing singers. Can anybody imagine "And You And I" or "Wonderous Stories" without Jon Anderson's voice? Well, Rick Wakeman is able with his piano to make us forget it.

Nothing to say about the songs from his solo works, if not that Cathrine Howard sounds very good even without synths. We probably prefer listening to the original versions, but let this album go and you'll better appreciate the composing skill other than the impressive technique...we are speaking of one of the best keyboardists ever. I remember to have seen him live in the 80s, very close to the stage just in front of him and being unable to count out how many fingers he has in his hands.

Exactly the countrary of pompous albums full of orchestra, intrumentists and choirs like Journey and Myths and Legends, this album reveals better the greatness of this composer, arranger and performer.