Rick Wakeman

Greatest Hits

Herald

 

In the last twenty three years he's recorded almost as many solo albums (some wonderful, a few deplorable) and played keyboards (off and on) with Yes. In the fall of '92 he began recording the twenty two tracks that encompass this two disc set. Those sessions resulted in the fifteen Wakeman classics found on disc two. Remember his second solo album, Journey To The Center Of The Earth ? Pretty bad, huh? Well, never fear. The music that was once hidden under those horrendous lyrics/vocals has been lovingly overhauled and is here in its splendiforous entirety. I'd long forgotten most of Journey especially the horrid vocal pieces. I'm glad I did. Listening to these great performances was like hearing them again it for the first time. The rest of the cuts on disc two span more than a few years and albums. There's "Catherine Of Aragon" from his debut solo album,The Six Wives Of Henry VII (released in '71), "Merlin The Magician" from his third solo effort,The Legend Of King Arthur (which was a little better than Journey) and two others from more recent releases. That's it for the solo stuff.

 

Disc one features seven Yes tunes that were recorded in the Spring of '93. He isn't credited with writing any of these songs so I'm guessing that they must be some of his favorites. "Roundabout" (from Fragile), "Siberian Khatru" ( from Close To The Edge) and "Starship Trooper" (from The Yes Album) are all given lengthy twelve minute workouts. It's intoxicating to hear his new arrangements of these familiar tunes. You may notice that he's playing keyboards that sound like the originals . (In other words the trademark "Wakeman sound" is intact and sounds better than it did twenty years ago.) There are no instrument credits listed in the album, so whatever he's playing is a mystery. "Wonderous Stories", "Going For The One" (from Going For The One) and "Don't Kill The Whale" , "Madrigal" (from Tormato) are also longer that the original versions. Again, all have been affectionately rejuvenated, joyfully performed and sound bloody marvelous. On top of all that, Greatest Hits sells for about the price of a single disc. That's over two hours of music for seventeen bucks. (Need I say more?) If you've ever had the slightest interest in Rick Wakeman, as a solo artist or with Yes, then you've already put this issue down and are heading to the music store, post haste. 'Nuff said. (SC)

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