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

I picked this up at a vinyl store for 50p in mnt condition. A lovely gatefold with lush drawings of knights and a huge 12 page booklet. I really wasn't sure what to expect. Some of his solo album reviews got terrible feedback and i am a huge yes fan but this album is excellent. Rick does what he does best, with brilliant traditional piano piece (which reflects the concept of the album) as well as some synth and guitar work here as well. This was musically arranged very well with a huge orchestra featuring on the album.

This album definetly has some yes sound to it but it is a very delightful and refreshing change from Yes. One strong point here is the vocals. They are very different to jon anderson and the guitar arrangements are different too. The concept of this album is a bit over the top but it works brilliantly. The lyrics are accurate and do the job nicely. This sounds like a very proffesional arrangement of musicians which is something yes didn't have, though still managed to create with 5 musicians.

The standout tracks here are "Sir Lancelot and the Black Night", "Merlin the Magician" and "The Last Battle". I found these pieces incredible and very progressively captivating. I highly recommend this piece as it is brilliant and gentle progressive rock and definetly for fans of YES but people who dont like them can still find this piece very listenable. The only offputting thing is that the male choirs can become a little tedious as they are played on just about every song and it all sounds the same. Otherwise this is a brilliant piece.