JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH

Ah nostalgia for the days when progressive rock could be engaging, pompous and chart topping all at the same time. Let me add one more - it could contain a live album of never before released material. Journey to the Center of the Earth is far and away the crowning achievement for Rick Wakeman, and one of the critical pieces of the genre. The use of a top notch backing band, the compelling narration, the sympathetic vocals all bolster the man's keyboard wizardry while keeping it in check, unlike in Six Wives where he became his own enfant terrible.

In spite of these accolades, I give the album only 4 stars because The Battle loses a bit of the user friendliness and gets mired in its own excesses. But the first side is so full of wonderful segments bursting with colour and emotion that it is worth the price of several albums. It is rare that a solo work outshines a performer's collective oeuvre with his band, but to have this occur in a live setting warts and all only adds to the mystique of a day now long past.