THE RED PLANET

Rick hasn't picked up many new tricks in some 50 odd years: without question, he's a phenomenal musician, and yet much of his solo career defines what I like to call "regressive rock". But with "The Red Planet" Wakeman is reaching back into his familiar bag of tricks and pulling out a few from the most creative part of his career (the early 70's). The instrumentation and arrangements here are sure to please fans of 70's prog -- though not giving us anything we haven't heard before. In fairness to Rick, though, he seems to be pushing himself in the composition department. There are some really surprising chord progressions here and there, breaking out of the predictable diatonicism his style is known for. And in Tharsis Tholus and Olympus Mos, there's a few really surprising rhythmic shifts and even polyrhythms, without ever sounding "put on" or complex for its own sake. Nicely done.

The record's pretty darn good.