{"id":24995,"date":"2023-03-24T05:30:14","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T09:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24995"},"modified":"2023-05-26T04:23:09","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T08:23:09","slug":"album-review-rick-wakeman-a-gallery-of-the-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/24\/album-review-rick-wakeman-a-gallery-of-the-imagination\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Rick Wakeman — A Gallery of the Imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Rick Wakeman is staggeringly prolific. I defy anyone to absorb his entire body of work; hell, even coming up with an accurate count on the number of albums he\u2019s released is a Herculean task. What matters more, of course, is the quality of the music. And while that has inevitably ebbed and flowed, as a rule, Wakeman\u2019s output is always worth a listen. His most celebrated material was released during his A&M era, 1973 to 1979, but there are gems throughout his career, now well into its sixth decade.<\/p>\n

2020\u2019s The Red Planet<\/em> is his most recent release of note, and it\u2019s a testament to his enduring popularity that that album charted in his native UK. That instrumental album followed on from his classic The Six Wives of King Henry VIII<\/i> and featured his band, the English Rock Ensemble.<\/p>\n

His latest, A Gallery of the Imagination<\/i>, again features that group, this time with vocalist Hayley Sanderson. Now, Rick Wakeman albums with vocals \u2013 not his<\/em>, mind you \u2013 tend to rank a bit lower on my preferential list than do the instrumental releases, but that has less to do with any perceived shortcomings of the singers and more to do with my interest in hearing Wakeman’s keyboard solo runs and nothing but.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s perhaps inaccurate to classify A Gallery of the Imagination<\/em> as a concept album, but it is a collection of thematically linked songs. The album opens with a catchy instrumental number, \u201cHidden Depths.\u201d Featuring the whole band, it has a character not far removed from Alan Parsons Project, albeit with some flashier instrumental work. A yearning ballad, \u201cThe Man in the Moon\u201d features Sanderson\u2019s vocals out front. She\u2019s a fine singer, but the track is at its most interesting during the instrumental passages. Lots of Mellotron (or, more likely, the modern-day equivalent).<\/p>\n

The dreamy \u201cA Mirage in the Clouds\u201d evokes a contemplative, vaguely haunted feel. \u201cThe Creek\u201d is a lovely \u2013 if comparatively spare and simple \u2013 piano solo. Dave Colquhon\u2019s lyrical lead guitar is the highlight of \u201cMy Moonlight Dream.\u201d While keyboards dominate on the understated \u201cOnly When I Cry,\u201d the tune does have vocals. But they\u2019re buried in the mix and thus function more as another sonic element.<\/p>\n

\u201cCuban Carnival\u201d sounds like its title suggests; Wakeman\u2019s long-standing affinity for the Caribbean country is showcased here. \u201cJust a Memory\u201d is an elegiac piano solo. \u201cThe Dinner Party\u201d is an instrumental, too, but a more fully orchestrated one featuring some wacky sonic textures. \u201cA Day Spent on the River\u201d is vaguely evocative of sixties girl-pop a la Petula Clark, with some nice keyboard textures added. Sanderson\u2019s vocal showcase is \u201cThe Visitation,\u201d in which she explores the upper end of her vocal range. It\u2019s a dramatic piece of work. The album concludes with \u2018The Eyes of a Child\u201d (not the Moody Blues song), a quiet and understated way in which to end an album.<\/p>\n

As the liner note booklet explains, the album wasn\u2019t record as a band; each musician laid down his or her parts in their own studio. But the results mesh together seamlessly, and the album doesn\u2019t have a patchwork character. A Gallery of the Imagination<\/i> isn\u2019t among Rick Wakeman\u2019s best, but those who appreciate his artistry won\u2019t be disappointed with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rick Wakeman is staggeringly prolific. I defy anyone to absorb his entire body of work; hell, even coming up with an accurate count on the number of albums he\u2019s released […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,56,65],"tags":[1843],"class_list":["post-24995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-prog","category-review","tag-rick-wakeman","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-56-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24995"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25409,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24995\/revisions\/25409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}