NO EARTHLY CONNECTION

As we all know, among many music fans, Rick Wakeman is a polarizing and polemic figure. Some love his work and others despise it. For those in the former camp, his keyboard playing, composing and arranging show a deft, assured and endlessly creative master. Both, as a highly in demand sessioner, on David Bowie's "Changes", Cat Stevens' "Morning Has Broken" and Black Sabbath's "Sabbra Cadabra" (to name but three of countless contributions he's made) and as a member of Strawbs and Yes, his work is often exciting. But to his detractors, he's the visible symbol of everything that was wrong and excessive with rock in the 70's. In any case he is an inescapable figure of those times.

"No Earthly Connection" is the fourth studio album of Rick Wakeman and was released in 1976. "No Earthly Connection" was a return to a more "normal" format, although there is supposed to be some a sort of concept to the album. It isn't as popular as the first three Wakeman's releases. Still, "No Earthly Connection" rates right up there, if for no other reason than this was an exceptionally creative period in the keyboardist's career. So, somehow, "No Earthly Connection" is certainly a lost gem for the ages and represents for many people the last great album of Rick Wakeman.

His breakout solo album, 1973's "The Six Wives Of King Henry VIII" established him as a potent force, and his follow up album "The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table" was also quite good, though it didn't quite scale the heights of his debut. By 1976, Wakeman had settled into recording with a steady band he called the English Rock Ensemble. Still interested in conceptual and thematic works, "No Earthly Connection" concerns itself with big ideas. The music remains keyboard heavy, as we could expect, but his band is prominently featured as well.

Somehow and despite the differences, "No Earthly Connection" represents more or less a kind of a return to the same formula of "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", where he employed members of Yes and other rock musicians, but choose not to use the orchestras of "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" and "The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Roundtable". Curiously, "No Earthly Connection" was recorded in France, supposedly for tax reasons.

The line up on the album is Rick Wakeman (Mander pipe organ, Hammond organ, Steinway grand piano, RMI Electra piano, Hohner clavinet, Moog synthesizer, Baldwin electric harpsichord, honky-tonk piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Mellotron, Godwin organ and Systech pedals), Ashley Holt (vocals), Roger Newell (vocals, bass guitar and bass pedals), John Dunsterville (vocals, acoustic and electric guitars and mandolin), Tony Fernandes (drums and percussion), Martyn Shields (vocals, trumpet, flugelhorn and French horn) and Reg Brooks (vocals, trombone and bass trombone).

"No Earthly Connection" has three parts. The first part is the suite "Music Reincarnate" and is divided into five chapters: "The Warning", "The Maker", "The Spaceman", "The Realization" and "The Reaper". The second part is "The Prisoner" and the third part is "The Lost Cycle". The first part opens with the startling Moog ascending arpeggio of the "Music Reincarnate" suite. It has plenty of string sounds, lots of Clavinet and some nice bass playing of Newell. The music sounds like a cross between Alan Parsons and Gentle Giant. The former is recalled through the album's ambitious yet catchy arrangement, while the latter comes to my mind via the tricky time signature changes and complex vocal arrangements. It features some great vocal snippets while Wakeman provides an atmospheric musical bed. Sometimes it's a bit pompous and silly, to be sure, but fun nonetheless. And the analogue synthesizers' solos are predictably tasty. The second part "The Prisoner" is led by Newell's bass. Wakeman comes in on harpsichord and duel ensues. This is more or less a read on the trials of the spaceman. It's a tune that requires complete attention to the lyrics and a deep love for progressive stuff. The third part "The Lost Cycle" ends the album, pulling out all the stops as Wakeman plays a flurry of keys. The lyrics describe the spaceman's full journey. But the song is less about the story and is more about Wakeman's superlative arranging and playing. It indicates how Wakeman is taken with his technique.

Conclusion: If you like pianos, organs, Mellotrons, Moogs and all sort of other keyboard instruments, you'll find plenty to like on "No Earthly Connection". But, it's overall a more mainstream album than Wakeman's earlier works. "No Earthly Connection" is deeply layered stuff even without Wakeman's reliance of an orchestra. The lyrics may come off as a bit trite, the story is nothing more than weak sci-fi, but the musicianship of The English Rock Ensemble and vocals of Ashley Holt make this album certainly worthy of inclusion on a list of classic lost albums. Somehow, "No Earthly Connection" is, comparatively, a streamlined album by Wakeman. It's not as elaborate and ambitious as its immediate predecessors, "The Six Wives Of Henry VIII", "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" and "The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table". Anyway, it still remains for me, an impressive work, one of his best.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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