Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Rick Wakeman - Journey To The Centre Of The Earth CD (album) cover

JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH

Rick Wakeman

 

Symphonic Prog

3.76 | 413 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Mark-P
4 stars Journey to the Centre of the Earth is a live recording album by Rick Wakeman, musicalizing Jules Verne's science fiction novel of the same title. It was recorded in 1974 where he worked with his band, the London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Choir.

This album consists of two long tracks (21 and 18 minutes respectively) and to me is one of Rick Wakeman's finest works: passionate (and energetic ? he was 24 at that time) and wonderful compositions. The chemistry of band, orchestra and choir is excellent.

Journey / Recollection is the first track. The "overture" (if I may say) presents a very firm and glorious theme, followed by a softer tune as it introduces the characters and brings us into the story. The band did a great work in this part. Mike Egan's solo guitar really goes well with the composition. I think the band's work should be well appreciated considering their portion is somehow a bit limited in this recording (i.e. not to be compared to 1969 Deep Purple's Concerto for Group and Orchestra, where the band played more equal roles to the orchestra).

The Battle / The Forest is the second track. It has higher intensity and more dominant choir. The musical adaptation of The Battle is very explicit (it musicalizes part of novel when 2 creatures from Jurassic era engaged in a battle). The Forest nicely adapts a piece of Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of Mountain King before its ending.

Overall it is a 4-star album to me. With such a strong musical composition (and presuming that most of listeners know at least a bit of this particular Jules Verne's novel) I wonder if the narration is really necessary. It could be a concept album with only musical and lyrical adaptation and let the listeners build their own imagination as the music goes.

Mark-P | 4/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this RICK WAKEMAN review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.