rick wakeman journey to the centre of the earth youtube

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The ambitious ‘Journey To The Centre Of The Earth’ was recorded on January 18, 1974, as Rick Wakeman recorded live with a choir, an orchestra, and a rock group.

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Ever since punk broke, Rick Wakeman ’s detractors have jeered at what they perceive to be his excessive virtuosity, yet it’s undeniable that the keyboard maestro has played a vital role in fashioning a swathe of prog rock’s most venerable releases . First coming to prominence after playing the Mellotron part on David Bowie ’s breakthrough 1969 hit “Space Oddity,” Wakeman then spent two years with respected English folk-rockers Strawbs before replacing Tony Kaye in nascent prog superstars Yes, prior to the recording of their multi-platinum-selling 1971 LP, Fragile . All this laid the groundwork for arguably his most ambitious work, the solo album Journey To The Centre Of The Earth .

Listen to Journey To The Centre Of The Earth right now .

The ceaselessly creative Rick Wakeman had embarked on a solo career in 1973 with The Six Wives Of Henry VIII , eventually selling 15 million copies worldwide. Even before that was released, however, he’d started work on a musical re-enactment of Jules Verne’s science fiction novel Journey To The Centre Of The Earth , yet regardless of The Six Wives ’ success and Yes’ massive-selling double-set Tales From Topographic Oceans , Wakeman’s record company, A&M, balked at bankrolling studio sessions involving a choir and a full orchestra as well as a rock band.

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Eventually, a compromise was struck. With Rick Wakeman himself reputedly partially funding the project himself, A&M agreed to record his epic project live at London’s Royal Festival Hall, on the night of January 18, 1974. For this much-anticipated sold-out event, Wakeman was joined by the English Chamber Choir, the London Symphony Orchestra, a rock ensemble (mostly hand-picked from pub musicians who frequented his local in rural Buckinghamshire), and Blow-Up star David Hemmings: the latter recruited to narrate Verne’s story, which centered around the fictitious trio of Professor Lidenbrok, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans, who – with dramatic consequences – follow a passage to the Earth’s core.

A&M invested in recording just the one night’s performance but, with the pressure on, Wakeman and his assembled cast duly rose to the occasion. Though their hour-long show was edited down to 40 minutes for vinyl-cutting purposes, the LP’s two, ever-morphing 20-minute movements (“The Journey”/“The Recollection” and “The Battle”/“The Forest”) are nonetheless captivating, with Hemmings’ commanding oration offset by ghostly contributions from the chamber choir, and the LSO’s occasional Wagnerian overload tempered by funk-flavored rock passages, with Wakeman’s Minimoog and/or clavinet mostly leading from the front.

Journey To The Centre Of The Earth was rapturously received on the night, but its long-term commercial success was by no means a given. A&M dithered until co-founder Jerry Moss personally agreed to its release, but Wakeman’s self-belief was vindicated when the LP finally hit the racks. Following its release, on May 3, 1974, the album entered the UK Top 40, topping the chart on May 25, while peaking at No.3 on the US Billboard 200. Long after yielding an Ivor Novello Award and over 14 million sales for its creator, it continues to beguile new generations of fans.

Journey To The Centre Of The Earth can be bought here .

John Ireland

February 1, 2016 at 6:50 pm

Would love this to get the deluxe reissue treatment.

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Live Performances

Rick Wakeman is at his best in front of an audience, as we're sure many of you know. This page contains details of all forthcoming performances worldwide. We also try where possible to list appearances on TV and radio.

You can also checkout Rick's Previous Tours or an archive of selected Tour Programmes

The Final Solo Tour

Rick recently completed a tour of the U.S. and South America with a series of solo piano concerts for the last time in 2024. Rick, who has become almost as well known for his intimate piano shows as his prog rock extravaganzas, has decided that after a career spanning over 50 years, he is calling a halt to lengthy American one-man show tours, in order to concentrate on composing, recording and collaborating with other musicians.

As an exclusive gift for fans, on these shows Rick premiered a brand new piece of music, "Yessonata", a 30 minute instrumental work featuring YES themes and melodies, woven into sonata form.

Rick says, "I always planned to stop touring by my 77th birthday – but there is so much to fit in before then that I'm having to make plans now and so my final one-man shows will have to cease by that date. I have thoroughly enjoyed performing the various one-man shows, but it's time to call it a day. I intend to throw in the best of what I have done in the past, plus a few new surprises on the way, and possibly even the odd guest joining me on the odd occasion. The plan is not to perform at the same venue twice throughout this period, so whatever venue you are hopefully thinking of coming to, it will be the last performance there – and I am taking this opportunity of thanking everyone and anyone who has supported me over the last 53 years!"

More dates later in 2024 will be announced in due course, please do not contact the site asking about future dates.

Please also read Rick's further statement about this tour.

Yuletide Christmas Show

After an overwhelming response when The Rick Wakeman Yuletide Christmas Show went on sale at the start of March, additional dates have now been added: London Lyric Theatre (25 November), Stoke-on-Trent Victoria Hall (3 December) and Cheltenham Town Hall (19 December).

As previously announced, after a year off, Rick Wakeman’s traditional Christmas tour returns in November and December 2024 with an all-new show.

" There's an old expression which goes 'If it ain't broke, then don't fix it' ", says Rick, " and in most cases, that's absolutely correct. However, I've decided that in spite of the success of the tried and tested formula for my solo Christmas tours over the last few years, it's time for a rethink, and so the one-man show becomes a three-man show – well, two male and one female, to be entirely accurate. "

With a stage set-up of two keyboards and a grand piano, Rick will be joined by two very special guests: his son and fellow keyboard player Adam Wakeman and Mollie Marriott, daughter of the late Steve Marriott, both of whom performed so brilliantly with him as part of the English Rock Ensemble on his Return Of The Caped Crusader tour in February.

The tour will start in Portsmouth on 23 November 2024 and then visit High Wycombe, St Albans, Folkestone, Leicester, Basingstoke, Evesham, Croydon, Bradford, Worthing, Ipswich, Bexhill, Poole, Guildford and Bath before concluding at London's Cadogan Hall on 20 December.

The new line-up will give Rick much more range and flexibility in the material he is able to perform, which will be a mixture of old and new from his back catalogue, some traditional Christmas songs and an unexpected piece of audience participation!

Expect hilarious banter from Wakemans Senior and Junior, as Adam tries to control his father's gentle 'unwokeness', fabulous soaring vocals from Mollie and virtuosic performances from a pair of musicians widely acknowledged as two of the most outstanding keyboard players in the business.

Rick says it will be an evening of festive fun with a difference. Adam says he's worried what his father means by that. Mollie says, whatever, she'll probably side with Rick, as he's paying the wages! In other words, a Christmas show not to be missed!

Tickets for the additional three shows will go on sale at 10am on Friday 26th April.

No tour currently scheduled.

One off Appearances

Fairport's cropredy convention.

Rick and the English Rock Ensemble will be headlining the first day of Cropredy on Thursday 8th August 2024, their first appearance since 2010. Tickets are now available .

Nothing currently scheduled.

Previous Tours/Appearances

These are the tours that have been listed on RWCC since 1996. For earlier dates, you can try setlist.fm

• The Return Of The Caped Crusader (Feb)
• His Music and Stories USA (Mar-Apr)
• The Even Grumpier Old Rock Star Tour USA Leg 2 (Feb-Mar)
• Rick Wakeman and The English Rock Ensemble UK Tour (Mar-Apr)
• Grumpy Christmas Stocking Tour (Nov-Dec)
• The Even Grumpier Old Rock Star Tour USA Leg 1 (Oct-Nov)
• The Not Quite As Grumpy As Last Xmas Tour (Nov/Dec)
• Piano Odyssey (May-Nov)
• Grumpy Old Rock Star USA & Canada (Sep-Oct)
• YES featuring ARW 50th Anniversary (Jun-Sep)
• Piano Odyssey (Sep-Nov)
• Christmas Piano Odyssey (Dec)
• Yet Another Evening with Rick Wakeman (Jan-May)
• YES Featuring ARW (Mar-Jul)
• Piano Portraits (May-Nov)
• YES featuring ARW North America (Aug-Oct)
• Yet Another Evening With Rick Wakeman Part Two (Feb-Dec)
• ARW in North America (Oct-Dec)
• Yet Another Evening With Rick Wakeman (Jan/Apr)
• A Very Intimate Evening (Jan/Dec)
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth UK (Apr/May)
• The English Rock Ensemble in South America (Oct/Nov)
• Edinburgh Fringe (Aug)
• A Very Intimate Evening (Apr-Oct)
• A Very Intimate Evening (Mar-Dec)
• A Very Intimate Evening (Feb-Dec)
• Anderson Wakeman USA Tour (Oct-Nov)
• A Very Intimate Evening (Jan-Dec)
• Anderson Wakeman Project 360 (Oct-Nov)
• Grumpy Old Picture Show (Apr-May)
• Rick Wakeman and The English Rock Ensemble in Canada (Aug)
• Grumpy Old Picture Show (Oct-Nov)
• Anderson and Wakeman Live in Concert UK (Oct-Nov)
• The Grand Piano Tour USA (Jun-Jul)
• Rick was on tour with YES on the 35th Anniversary Tour (Apr-Sep)
• Rick Wakeman and the NERE Out There (Apr-May)
• Rick was on tour with YES on the Full Circle Tour (Jun-Oct)
• The Other Side of Rick Wakeman (Oct-Nov)
• Rick was on tour with YES on the Full Circle Tour (Jul-Dec)
• Rick Wakeman Back Again (Mar-Apr)
• An Evening with Rick Wakeman (Feb-Apr)
• The English Rock Ensemble in South America (Sep)
• An Evening with Rick Wakeman (Oct-Nov)
• The Half a Century Tour (May-Jun)
• Words and Music Tour 98 (Mar-Apr)
• The New Gospels in California (Mar)
• The Piano Tour (Apr-May)
• The Six Piece at Ronnie Scotts (Jul)
• The It's Nearly Xmas Tour (Oct-Nov)
• Wot's On TV Tonite Tour (Apr-Jun)
• The Six Piece Tour (Oct-Nov)
• The Piano Tour (Nov-Dec)

In addition to the above formal tours, this is a list of one off dates .

Previous Tour Programmes

These tour programmes are presented as PDF files. My thanks go to the contributors of these programmes.

Contributors: Paul Chandler, John Chivers, Martin Cook, Paulo Edson, Graham Johnson, Eddie Lee, Eddie McFadden, Brian Neeson, Craig Smith, Derek Wales

• Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974)
• Journey at Crystal Palace (1974)
• North American Tour (1974)
• King Arthur at Wembley (1975)
• Journey in Australia (1975)
• Japanese Tour (1975)
• Rick Wakeman Em Concerto in Brazil (1975)
• Rick Wakeman in Concert (1976)
• No Earthly Connection (1976)
• Rick Wakeman in Concert at Sun City (1981)
• Journey in Durban (1981)
• The Daily Error (1981)
• Silent Nights (1985)
• Southbank Pops '87 (1987)
• Rick Wakeman 20 Years (1989)
• Ere We Go Again (1990)
• Classical Connections II (1992)
• Wakeman with Wakeman (1992)
• Rick & Adam Wakeman - Alone at Last (1994)
• Wot's On TV Tonite (1996)
• The Piano Tour (1996-7)
• It's Nearly Christmas Tour (1997)
• The New Gospels (1997)
• An Evening with Rick Wakeman (2000)
• Back Again (2001)
• The Ultimate Experience Live in Gloucester (2013)
• Piano Portraits (2017)
• Piano Odyssey (2018)
• Piano Portraits Live at Lincoln Cathedral (2018)
• The Grumpy Old Christmas Show (2019)
• Grumpy Old Rock Star Tour USA (2019)
• Journey at the Royal Festival Hall (2019)