RICK WAKEMAN'S GREATEST HITS

I bought this back when it first came out because I was a huge fan of Yes and wanted to hear a taste of Wakeman's solo stuff. I think I listened to it once and shelved it. And it was a long time before I bought any other Rick Wakeman albums.

Having just heard it again recently, it's really no better than I remember it being, although I enjoyed it more this time around because I was more familiar with the original versions of the songs on disc 2. The original versions are many times better, so avoid this album until you're familiar with the original.

Basically this album sounds like a few robots playing instruments. I can just picture the Gumby band playing back up to Wakeman on a synth as I listen. All in all, it's actually somewhat enjoyable at certain times, but oh so synthetic sounding. Wakeman is a very skilled player, and you can tell by how well he plays. But it's pretty emotionless here, because it all sounds electronic. Good in small doses, like the first poster said.

The album gets better towards the end, when Rick finally drops the synth in favor of a piano, harp and bass. Real instruments at last! Sea Horses is a beautiful, definitely one of my favorite Rick Wakeman songs. So this album is worth owning for this song (as I can't seem to find it on any other albums of his). There is also a piano version of Gone But Not Forgotten which is quite good. If it wasn't for these songs, I'd probably give this album 1 star, maybe 2. But these tracks save the album from the trash bin, so I'll give it 2.5.