THE MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE

The Six Wives of Henry the 8th was pretty good, this is simple dreadful. It is little wonder that prog got such a bad name. This sounds like a school orchestra on a pretty bad day. Wakeman is a great Musician and even this dross has its moments , but who hired the band ? Who told Wakeman that this was a good idea ? This is the sort of mush that might have sold a lot of records but which gave progressive rock a reputation for being pretentious that it still has not completely over come. Rick was at this time going through something of a personal crisis and this shows up on this less than inspiring recording. I like Rick Wakeman, and as a Band member there is no finer Keyboard player. Just listen to his work with the Strawbs or Dave Cousins or even Yes and you will almost certainly agree that he is a very fine musician with a lovely touch and a very real talent. So its not surprising that the Keyboard playing is excellent even on this low point in his output. However the rest of the band and the lyrics of the story never comes close to being up to the high standard of some of Wakemans other solo projects. This record is so silly that for many years I filed it with my Monty Python albums just in case somebody saw that I owed a copy and asked me why...I could then honestly say that it is a very funny record and maybe that was the point in the first place.