JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH

Rick Wakeman's third solo album is brilliant. Pompous? Pretentious? I don't think so. As has been said before by Ivan Melgar, Rick was only 24 years old and he was in front of a symphonic orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, after selling almost everything he owned in order to record this album; he was at the peak of his career.

"Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" is one of the most perfect examples of concept album and fusion with classic music. The music reflects the development of Verne's story very well and there are lot of passages were you can clearly feel as if you were one of the members of the expedition: Hans searching for water, when professor's nephew get lost, the battle between the monsters, to name a few. The work of Rick in the keyboards interacts with the symphonic orchestra in a very natural way and take the protagonist role in the exact moments.

It is a pity that after two great albums Rick never recovered the magical touch; his later works are simply uninspired.