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

It is obvious that Rick Wakeman is a very prolific musician. I only have listened to this album (which has a very long title!) and to "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" from his very long discography. I still prefer "Journey...", which is more accessible than this "King Arthur" album. The best songs in this album, in my opinion, are "Arthur" and "Merlin the Magician". "Arthur" has a very good melody which is maybe the main musical theme of this album, as it is repeated several times in the album. "Merlin" has some "humour"in the music. I think that Wakeman invested a lot of money and time in the production of this album as it has impressive arrangements, an orchestra, a choir, etc. But the best moments in this album, in my opinion, are the instrumental moments when Wakeman appears as the main musician, playing very good piano parts (which reflect very well his Classical music trainning), without the orchestra and the choir, or with the orchestra and the choir in the background. Of course, he also plays very good synth solos. As I wrote in my review for the "Journey..." album, I don`t like the lead vocals by Ashley Holt and Gary Pickford- Hopkins. But his backing band (drums/guitar/bass) does a better job in this album than in the "Journey..." album, particularly drummer Barney James. I consider this album as a very good example of some excesses done by some Progressive Rock musicians. Sometimes this album is very "pompous", with the choir and orchestral arrangements sounding as excessive as Richard Wagner`s operas (sorry, I don`t like Wagner`s operas, apart from some preludes, overtures, etc.). But I still respect Rick Wakeman (and Wagner too!) despite some of these excesses. I have read some interviews in which Wakeman really laughs about some of his excesses in the 70s (was "King Arthur on Ice"?) and the lot of money he spent in these excesses :"It was done in the mid 70s, you know!".