THE OTHERSIDE OF RICK WAKEMAN

It's alright I suppose. I would say this is for completists only: it's part playing old Yes/Wakeman favourites on the piano, part chat with a pub-type audience. The chat is great, Rick is an amazing raconteur and always worth listening to (though, be warned, he loves to be seen as a bit of a lad and non-PC which isn't to everyone's taste), but the music is the same Easy Listening versions of stuff he's been touting for ages.

Rick is capable or creating magnificent and inspiring music, but I never find these 'piano only' versions work well, not even for pieces written for piano like 'Birdman'. On the original album this is one of my favourite pieces of music ever (and I listen to and love a LOT of classical piano music, so there's stiff competition!) but this version is very New Age Piano music, which is lovely in its place, but not what I come to Rick Wakeman for. The songs are just disappointment after disappointment for me.

I find the more conventional songs like 'Morning Has Broken' and 'Life on Mars' particularly disappointing. Rick's accompaniment to Cat Stevens and David Bowie is amazing, but stripped of the voices and lyrics of those distinctive singers you've just got a couple of melodies repeated for three minutes each.