Record Reviews

RICK WAKEMAN ~ LIVE AT THE BBC HUX 085 (Barcode: 682970000855) ~ UK ~ Progressive Rock Recorded: 1976 Released: 2007 By the time the two concerts featuring Rick WakemanFind albums by this artist and his English Rock EnsembleFind albums by this artist were recorded, the young keyboards wizard had already behind him a list of achievements that few others manage to accomplish in a lifetime. Wakeman played on endless studio sessions for the top UK acts, was a members in two seminal Prog bands StrawbsFind albums by this artist and YesFind albums by this artist and composed and recorded a series of musical epics of grand proportions: The Six Wives Of Henry VIIIFind albums with this title, Journey To The Centre Of The EarthFind albums with this title, The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round TableFind albums with this title, White RockFind albums with this title (the soundtrack for the Winter Olympic Games) and most recently his first album with his English Rock Ensemble: No Earthly ConnectionFind albums with this title. The two concerts recorded for the BBC were a part of Wakeman’s promotion tour of the last album. With Wakeman’s enormous array of keyboards and the six-piece English Rock Orchestra (Ashley HoltFind albums by this artist – vocals, Roger NewellFind albums by this artist – bass, John DunstervilleFind albums by this artist – guitar, Tony FernandezFind albums by this artist – drums, Reg BrooksFind albums by this artist – trombone and Martin ShieldsFind albums by this artist – trumpet) produced a truly awesome, powerful orchestral sound, which suited Wakeman’s dramatic compositions perfectly. The music includes excerpts from all the Wakeman’s solo albums mentioned above, as well as material from the last album. Although the two concerts include some parallel material, each performance is quite unique and therefore none of it is redundant. This is undoubtedly Wakeman’s finest hour ever and considering the great sound quality of these recordings perhaps the best live album he ever made. Quite honestly this album is more or less the essence of Wakeman’s output and except for fanatic Wakeman fans is quite sufficient as his spot in one’s music collection. Definitely most wholeheartedly recommended! Side Note: Unfortunately things went pretty downhill for Wakeman from that point on. Although he is to this very day one of Rock’s most prolific composers, his totally unrestrained policy on releasing his albums, which resulted in a monstrous (I stopped counting a long time ago but they must be well over 200) amount of albums, which totally destroyed his credibility. Sure there is a lot of great music in those albums, but none of it was innovative or neoteric enough to make any difference. Overproducing can be disastrous and unfortunately Wakeman is a living proof of that.

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