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Live, released in 1998
Track Listings
1. Elizabethan Rock/ Make Me A Woman (10:00)
2. After Henry (20:34)
a) Catherine Of Aragon
b) A Crying Heart
c) Jane Seymour
d) A Crying Heart (part 2)
e) Catherine Howard
3. The Realisation/ The Prisoner (9:40)
4. King Arthur (20:37)
a) Guinevere
b) Lancelot And The Black knight
c) The Last Battle
Total Time: 60:51
Line-up/Musicians
Rick Wakeman/ keyboards
Davy Paton/ bass, guitars
Tony Fernandez/ drums, percussion
Ashley Holt/ vocals, percussion
"This is a great collection of long lost and/or unreleased recordings like the only studio performance of "Battle" from "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" with original line-up and orchestra. Next rarity is a track from the "Journey" concert at the Royal Festival Hall ("The Pearl an Dean Piano Concerto"). Also four very nice previously unreleased solo-piano pieces to be found on this CD. Last but not least we have here two convincing rocking group tracks recorded during the early 80's.
review by Siggi Zielinski on 20/09/1999"
Track List:
1 The Battle 4' 35"
2 Penny's Piece 7' 43"
3 Pearl and Dean Piano Concerto 4' 35"
4 Piece For Granny 3' 58"
5 Steamhole Dance (Parts 1 & 2) 3' 37"
6 The Mountain 8' 18"
7 Warmongers 4' 14"
8 Aberlady 11' 18"
9 Now A Word From Our Sponsor 3' 14"
Artist List:
Rick Wakeman-Keyboards
Ashley Holt-Vocals
Barney James-Percussion
David Hemmings-Narration
David Measham-Conductor
English Chamber Choir-Choir
Gary Pickford Hopkins-Vocals
Geoff Crampton-Guitar
Jackie McAuley-Guitar
John Gustafson-Bass
London Symphony Orch-Orchestra
New York Symphony Orch-Orchestra
Roger Newell-Bass
Tony Fernandez-Drums
"Rick has rearranged the "journey"-parts very nicely. The whole album is performed in a "journey"-like way, with a trombone and a trumpet added. The way Rick fits the instruments with tracks like "lancelot & the black knight" and "anne boleyn" is great for a change, i like them better than the original versions. If you like when Rick plays classical piano, you should check out the "anne boleyn"-outro, where he improvises a lot and extends the outro to about 2 minutes. Merlin the magician is the weakest point of the album, the mics seem not to pick up the lower frequenzies of rick's synth-solo very good, so there's a big lost. Ashley's voice is better than ever, he sings the "forest"-part perfectly (where gary's voice cracks on the original journey)
by Max Hult on 12/01/2000"
"This album is one of the best live recordings I have heard. The skill of the musicians is heard throughout the recording and the vocals are excellent. "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is a beautiful rendition as is the extended version of "Catherine Howard
by Rhett Nilsen on 07/12/1997"
Track List:
1 Journey to the Centre... 12' 3"
2 Catherine Howard 11' 42"
3 Lancelot and the Black Knight 5' 30"
4 Anne Boleyn 8' 57"
5 The Forest 6' 43"
6 Arthur and Guinevere 14' 40"
7 Merlin The Magician 7' 21"
8 Catherine Parr 8' 29"
Artist List:
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards/
Ashley Holt - Vocals/
John Dunsterville - Guitars/Mandolin/
John Hodgson - Percussion/
Martyn Shields - Trumpet/
Reg Brooks - Trombone/
Roger Newell - Bass/Vocals/
Tony Fernandez - Drums
"This album misses the big set of instruments that Rick used in earlier days, like Journey and Arthur. Ashley's voice is not as good as it use to be either. What's good about this album is "The Prisoner", where Rick shows his great ability of playing the keyboard in baroque-style, As voice fits nicely. The tracks on the Arthur and the Wives sections are put together in a different way, quite nice to hear as a change from the original albums. The best point of the album is "Jane Seymour" which is very different from the original, with great rock/heavy metal-guitar added. For more richful instrumentation, check out the "King Biscuit"-album.
review by Max Hult on 12/01/2000"
Track List:
01 Elizabethan Rock
02 Make Me A Woman
03 Catherine of Aragon
04 Crying Heart (pt 1)
05 Jane Seymour
06 Crying Heart (pt 2)
07 Catherine Howard
08 Music Reincarnate - The Realisation
09 The Prisoner
10 King Arthur
11 Guinevere
12 Lancelot and the Black Knight
13 The Last Battle
Artist List:
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
Ashley Holt - Vocals/Percussion
David Paton - Bass/Guitar
Tony Fernandez - Drums/Percussion
"This recording from a 1976 Old Grey Whistle Test is most of all a lot of fun, in addition to that you get a perfect Catherine Parr, a happy mamma journey excerpt with terrible vocals and wonderful keyboard playing, a good Merlin and Lancelot and last but not least; three great songs from the rare No Earthly Connection album. I heard this album (Live on the Test I mean) was only just deleted from being on sale, I don't know if it is true, try to find a copy nonetheless it is definitely worth the money and the trouble!
review by Tim Boudewijn van der Wart on 26/10/2001"
"This BBC recording features the English Rock Ensemble in all their glory. They all must have had some drinks before the show. Off course they're promoting "No earthly connection" with the inclusion of 3 songs from the Album. The mix is typical "radio", but not bad. If you like Rick's legendary announcements, this is definetly the right CD for you. And don't miss John Dunsterville's Johnny Cash parody! All in all: a great mixture of good live music (some nice mellotron playing) and a lot of fun!
review by Christian Loebenstein on 20/12/1999"
Track List:
1 Recollection 13' 50"
2 Music Reincarnate - The Realisation 5' 12"
3 Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight 5' 47"
4 Music Reincarnate - The Spaceman 4' 25"
5 Catherine Parr 10' 17"
6 The Prisoner 7' 36"
7 Merlin The Magician 7' 29"
Artist List:
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards/
Ashley Holt - Vocals/
John Dunsterville - Guitars/Mandolin/
Martyn Shields - Brass/
Reg Brooks - Brass/
Roger Newell - Bass/Vocals/
Tony Fernandez - Drums
Rick's Perspective: Only after agreeing to make this album did I discover that it was meant as a tax loss for the investors which upset me greatly. The album is all about how I saw not just South Africa at the time but also countries and people of the world in similar circumstances. I rate this as the best album of songwriting that I have ever made.
Wakey's Verdict: This is an album that I genuinely recommend for both musical and lyrical content.
Track List:
1 African Bach 3' 56"
2 Message of Mine 4' 0"
3 My Homeland 4' 16"
4 Liberty 5' 18"
5 Anthem 6' 8"
6 Brainstorm 4' 35"
7 Face in the Crowd 4' 19"
8 Just a Game 4' 10"
9 Africa East 5' 44"
10 Don't Touch The Merchandise 4' 38"
Line-Up:
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
Ashley Holt - Vocals
David Paton - Bass
D'zal Martin - Guitar
Tony Fernandez - Drums
South African Choir - Choir
Studio Album, released in 1990
As a large number of Rick Wakeman albums,especially the ones made in the 1986-1995 period are,this album called "Phantom Power" is only for the fans of this Rick Wakeman genre or for the persons who want to have a complete collection of everything Rick Wakeman has released. This is album is,in my opinion,very close to terrible,anyhow it is not good at all...Mainly all tracks are short and the music (more background than a higher role) is togheter with vocal...The special thing here is that the vocals are horible...Tracks like "The Visit","Heaven","Evil Love","Heat Of The Moment" leave you with the impression that you have wasted your time and money (probably) with this album,since there is too little Wakeman here and too much awful songs...
I don't know what the film represents or if this soundtrack is appropriate to the film,but I don't care too much,because I'm interested in music,in Rick Wakeman...and here I don't see almost at all the magic or,at least,the decent Wakeman...
Track Listings
1. The visit (3:44)
2. Heaven (4:14)
3. The rat (3:26)
4. The stiff (3:22)
5. Evil love (3:49)
6. The voice of love (3:07)
7. Heat of the moment (3:55)
8. Fear of love (3:27)
9. The love trilogy: (5:14)
a) One night
b) Dream sequence
c) One night in love
10. The hangman (2:48)
11. The sand-dance (2:49)
12. You can't buy my love (3:31)
13. Phantom power (2:48)
14. Rock pursuit (4:48)
Total Time: 50:12
Line-up/Musicians
- Rick Wakeman / keyboards, synthesizers
+ Tony Fernandez / drums, percussion
- Chrissie Hammond / vocals
- Ashley Holt / vocals
- D'Zal Martin / guitar
- Ramon Remedios / tenor vocals
"Time Machine shows the influence of the 80s music in Rick's style. This is an album which has got one of the best moments from the keyboard wizard, and for the ones that haven't listened to the album, you should try to listen to songs like Ice, Angel of Time, Make me a Woman and Custer's Last Stand. Here comes a great album with great performances and great songs for people who like Rick's rock songs.
Reviews: Tatiana P.Wakeman on 07/01/1998"
BRILHANTE!
Track List:
1 Custer's Last Stand 4' 5"
2 Ocean City 4' 4"
3 Angel of Time 4' 51"
4 Slaveman 6' 44"
5 Ice 4' 52"
6 Open Up Your Eyes 9' 57"
7 Elizabethan Rock 3' 14"
8 Make Me A Woman
9 Rock Age 8' 37"
Artist List:
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards
Ashley Holt - Vocals
David Paton - Bass
John Knightsbridge - Guitar
John Parr - Vocals Roy Wood - Vocals
Tony Fernandez - Drums/Percussion
Tracey Ackerman - Vocals
The last of Rick Wakeman's decent albums. After this the slide began to show. Maybe it had something to do with mass production and releasing of records, not sure really what happened. No Earthly Connection is an excellent album though and whilst being pretentious at times it has a great concept feel to it. Pointedly stating that music is more spiritual than we really think and of course having the cosmic reference of being a universal language. He transfers those ideas into this album very well.The whole album is continuous but Side 2 commencing with ' the Realisation' really gets the album moving.It has moments of lucid stillness and is very spatial which is unlike any of Wakeman's previous works. Give it a listen.
Rick's Perspective:
Notes: I truly believe there is life apart from that on earth and also that there are many other unknown dimensions as welland that's what this album was all about. Unfortunately the press thought I'd gone off my rocker and slagged it off. A&M records held emergency meetings because of poor sales - 4,000,000 plus as it happens!!
Wakey's Verdict: Full of recording techniques and production that were way ahead of its time and the album has created more controversy than any other album I have made . It's either loved or hated.
Track List:
01 Music Reincarnate - The Warning/
02 Music Reincarnate - The Maker/
03 Music Reincarnate - The Spaceman/
04 Music Reincarnate - The Realisation/
05 Music Reincarnate - The Reaper/
06 The Prisoner/
07 The Lost Cycle
Line Up:
Rick Wakeman - Keyboards/
Ashley Holt - Vocals/
John Dunsterville - Guitars/Mandolin/
Martyn Shields - Brass/Reg Brooks - Brass/
Roger Newell - Bass/Vocals /
Tony Fernandez - Drums
(Review - Prog Archives)
“The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table” is one of the definitive epitomes of Rick Wakeman’s prog approach at its best. Wakeman musically approaches the legend of King Arthur, a mythical pioneer of the British nation, as a work of dramatic grandiosity and cinematographic pomposity, something like an original soundtrack for a movie in his head. Wakeman’s intention wasn’t for sure to recapture the spirit of those old times’ folk: what does that Cajun upright piano on ‘Merlin the Magician’ have to do with the music that Arthur and his brave knights used to sing and dance to when the partied? And what about that Latin-jazz inspired rhythm section for the Moog solo in ‘ Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight’?… But I won’t bash this album because of these foreign elements. On the contrary, they serve as indicators of the general colorfulness that constitutes the album’s musical ideology as a whole. Anyway, the touch of the Middle Ages can be clearly grasped in the choral arrangements that at times appear either between songs or introducing them. Generally speaking, both the main melodies and the interaction group-orchestra-choir are tighter than on his previous "Journey" album. The monster opener ‘Arthur’ displays a superb majesty like only Wakeman can create with his delicate arpeggios on piano and harpsichord, mellotron orchestrations and captivating Moog leads. The choir and orchestra enhance that cinematographic aura that will constantly shape the music contained in this album. The solemnity of ‘Arthur’ is soon reprised in ‘Guinevere’, only with an added romantic vibe; the featured presence of female voices in the chorale properly create a solid companionship for the instrumentation and the lead vocalists. The first real explosion gets going with ‘Sir Lancelot’: the Moog solo in the middle section is one of the best articulate leads ever delivered by this keyboardist magician. Wakeman, being as skilful as he is, can also be a gigantic performer of impromptu solos, and in this album we also have a great showcase for that: I’m, of course, referring to ‘Merlin the Magician’. This is a real classic, in which Wakeman displays a large amount of effort in order to keep things constrained and ethereal in the calmer sections and then go nuts during the stronger ones (it is said that he was actually inspired by the ‘muse of alcohol’ in his performance of the second Moog solo – true or false, the final result feels very good to me). The effort is successfully translated into a manifestation of musical genius. The upright piano interventions serve to provide a touch of frivolous playfulness, something I’ve always interpreted as a reference to the funny side of magic. ‘Sir Galahad’ returns to the intensity of war and struggle that we already knew in ‘Sir Lancelot’, only with a bit lesser degree of intensity and a bit major dose of sophistication. This track is segued into the other monster track, which is also the closure. Although its title makes a direct allusion to a fighting situation, ‘The Last Battle’ is not stormy at all, actually. It is focused on the mourning for the loss of the king’s dream, the dream for a united nation; therefore, it is centered on feelings of sadness and disillusion. The ‘Arthur’ and 'Lancelot' quotations that surface near the end give this album a full circle ending: this resource of consistence is a very clever way to fulfill the album’s general idea in full splendour. “The Myths and Legends of King Arthur” is a definitive cornerstone of symphonic prog rock at its prime, and also, a Wakeman masterpiece.
[I dedicate this review to my grandfather Celestino Flavio, recently departed]
Studio Album, released in 1975
Track Listings
1. Arthur (7:26)
2. Lady of the Lake (0:45)
3. Guinevere (6:45)
4. Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight (5:21)
5. Merlin the Magician (8:51)
6. Sir Galahad (5:51)
7. The Last Battle (9:41)
Total Time: 44:58
Line-up/Musicians
- Rick Wakeman / keyboards
- Ashley Holt / vocal
- Gary Pickford Hopkins / vocal
- Jeffrey Crampton / guitars
- Roger Newell / bass
- Barney James / drums
- John Hodson / percussion; with the English Chamber Choir, vocals
- Terry Taplin / voice
RICK WAKEMAN
JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH (1974)
In the mid '70s, great excess translated into great success, thus the hearty reception that met RICK WAKEMAN's "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". Today, the mix of orchestra, narration and dated songs will be met with a few raised eyebrows. The idea of transforming JULES VERNE's classic into a musical work is unquestionably admirable, but the album itself is an ichthyosaurus, with the head of a GILBERT & SULLIVAN overture and the body of a boring English class. Listeners will need to sit down and absorb this over several sittings before becoming acclimated to the unusual mix of sounds; unlike "Six Wives of Henry VIII", which moved with genuine purpose, this recording changes course with the celerity of a confused hummingbird. Each of the four sections features a song encased in the middle, although the vocals of ASHLEY HOLT and GARRY PICKFORD-HOPKINS give the material a very antideluvian feel. "The Battle" is arguably the most ennervating of the four pieces, yet each has its moments.
Many fans regard this record as Wakeman's magnum opus. It's easily the most ambitious work he ever undertook, performing the work live for this recording, and producing subsequent concerts on ice (thus making escape impossible). It's ironic that he left Yes after the inscrutable "Tales from Topographic Oceans" to create something even more indulgent, but again one needs to remember the times to understand the temptation. As much as I like RICK WAKEMAN, and appreciate his trying to expand the lexicon of modern music with this narrative, "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" is ultimately a quixotic venture.
Report this review (#25619) | Posted 7:10:58 AM EST,
Live, released in 1974
Track Listings
1. The Journey / Recollection (21:11)
2. The Battle / The Forest (18:57)
Total Time: 40:08
Line-up/Musicians
- Rick Wakeman / keyboards, synths, Mellotrons
+ Mike Egan / guitar
- Ashley Holt / lead vocals
- Barney James / drums
- Roger Newell / bass
- Garry Pickford-Hopkins / lead vocals
- David Hemmings / narration
The London Symphony Orchestra
The English Chamber Choir
Live, released in 1998
"This is a great collection of long lost and/or unreleased recordings like the only studio performance of "Battle" from "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" with original line-up and orchestra. Next rarity is a track from the "Journey" concert at the Royal Festival Hall ("The Pearl an Dean Piano Concerto"). Also four very nice previously unreleased solo-piano pieces to be found on this CD. Last but not least we have here two convincing rocking group tracks recorded during the early 80's.
"Rick has rearranged the "journey"-parts very nicely. The whole album is performed in a "journey"-like way, with a trombone and a trumpet added. The way Rick fits the instruments with tracks like "lancelot & the black knight" and "anne boleyn" is great for a change, i like them better than the original versions. If you like when Rick plays classical piano, you should check out the "anne boleyn"-outro, where he improvises a lot and extends the outro to about 2 minutes. Merlin the magician is the weakest point of the album, the mics seem not to pick up the lower frequenzies of rick's synth-solo very good, so there's a big lost. Ashley's voice is better than ever, he sings the "forest"-part perfectly (where gary's voice cracks on the original journey)
"This album misses the big set of instruments that Rick used in earlier days, like Journey and Arthur. Ashley's voice is not as good as it use to be either. What's good about this album is "The Prisoner", where Rick shows his great ability of playing the keyboard in baroque-style, As voice fits nicely. The tracks on the Arthur and the Wives sections are put together in a different way, quite nice to hear as a change from the original albums. The best point of the album is "Jane Seymour" which is very different from the original, with great rock/heavy metal-guitar added. For more richful instrumentation, check out the "King Biscuit"-album.
Rick's Perspective: Only after agreeing to make this album did I discover that it was meant as a tax loss for the investors which upset me greatly. The album is all about how I saw not just South Africa at the time but also countries and people of the world in similar circumstances. I rate this as the best album of songwriting that I have ever made.
Studio Album, released in 1990
"Time Machine shows the influence of the 80s music in Rick's style. This is an album which has got one of the best moments from the keyboard wizard, and for the ones that haven't listened to the album, you should try to listen to songs like Ice, Angel of Time, Make me a Woman and Custer's Last Stand. Here comes a great album with great performances and great songs for people who like Rick's rock songs.
The last of Rick Wakeman's decent albums. After this the slide began to show. Maybe it had something to do with mass production and releasing of records, not sure really what happened. No Earthly Connection is an excellent album though and whilst being pretentious at times it has a great concept feel to it. Pointedly stating that music is more spiritual than we really think and of course having the cosmic reference of being a universal language. He transfers those ideas into this album very well.The whole album is continuous but Side 2 commencing with ' the Realisation' really gets the album moving.It has moments of lucid stillness and is very spatial which is unlike any of Wakeman's previous works. Give it a listen.
