CRIMINAL RECORD

Returning to the musical and conceptual path of "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", Rick Wakeman uses the dark theme of crime and villainy, combining real and not so real stories, to release his sixth studio album, "Criminal Record". Pressed by a complicated financial situation related to tax issues and the costly staging of pompous live tours that hardly left any income, Wakeman didn't have much budgetary leeway for this new adventure, which is why the album is generally perceived as a less ambitious and more earthy proposal in relation to his previous works.

The six pieces that make up "Criminal Record" attempt to describe sordid situations, without transmitting them instrumentally with all the rawness that they imply. But there are some very good passages to highlight, such as the epic beginning that Wakeman makes with keyboards and synthesizers in "Chamber of Horrors", seconded in the development by Chris Squire's bass and Alan White's characteristic drums, or also the melancholic notes overlaid on classical piano in "Birdman of Alcatraz", one of the Englishman's most delicate and beautiful melodies, or the anecdotal detail that the comedian Bill Oddie contributes in exaggerated and satirical soul mode in the foggy "The Breathalyser" or, above all, the extensive "Judas Iscariot", the most complex piece on the album, where Wakeman makes use of the pipe organ of St. Martin's Church (Vevey) and the choirs of the Ars Laeta Choir of Lausanne to generate a piercing and dramatic atmosphere that the moog amplifies and accompanies, closing the album.

"Criminal Record" shows that Wakeman's keyboard skills were intact, but this time in a quieter and less grandiloquent way, and is probably one of the last works to be included in his most representative discography.

3/3.5 stars