An in-demand session musician, the classically trained pianist Rick Wakeman had been a member of folk ensemble The Strawbs before joining prog rock juggernauts Yes in 1971.
The album The Six Wives of Henry VIII established him as a solo performer in early 1973 but it was Wakeman’s first post-Yes release, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, that gave him his biggest commercial success and became a cornerstone creation of the symphonic rock genre.
Wakeman’s plans for a musical interpretation of Jules Verne’s celebrated science fiction novel involved a cast of thousands, including the London Symphony Orchestra and Blow-Up (1966)star David Hemmings as narrator.
However, the British arm of Wakeman’s record company, A&M, weren’t convinced by the idea and gave him such a meagre budget that he was unable to meet studio costs.
Determined to pursue the project, the musician remortgaged his house, raising sufficient funds to instead record the work live at the London Royal Festival Hall on 18 January 1974 – the same day that he received a writ from his local dairy for non-payment of his milk bill.
The huge financial gamble paid off. Though UK A&M were reluctant to release the work, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth – a suitably epic combination of prog rock pomp and classical arrangements, with Wakeman’s virtuoso synthesizer work always at the heart of the matter – topped the British charts on 25 May and made #3 in America, where it was quickly certified gold.
Wakeman spent two-and-a-half years working on his interpretation of George Orwell’s 1984 and came up with a work of art. Featuring Chaka Khan, Jon Anderson, Kenny Lynch and Steve Harley providing the vocal pizzazz, it was a dramatic album of orchestral splendour.
Related Posts
Be-Bop Deluxe Formed in Yorkshire in 1972, Be-Bop Deluxe are one of British rock's classic marginal bands. Everyone seems to have heard…
Caravan One of the seminal British 'head' bands of the 70s, Caravan hailed from the Kent cathedral town of Canterbury and…
Ariel Australian band Ariel was the brainchild of Mike Rudd and Bill Putt, following on from the break-up of their previous…
Utopia After five solo albums released between 1970 and 1974, Todd Rundgren put together the band Utopia. The band was originally, in effect,…
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) By the end of the 1960s, many artists became swept up in the wake of The Beatles and their aggressive exploration of…
Crabby Appleton In 1969, guitarist/vocalist Michael Fennelly met up with a group called Stonehenge who were playing at a Sunset Strip club…
Strawbs, The One of the better British progressive bands of the early 1970s, The Strawbs differed from their more successful compatriots (The…
Peter Frampton Born in Beckenham, Kent, in 1950, Frampton was an old mate of David Bowie (Frampton's father, Ossie, taught Bowie art at Beckenham…
The album The Six Wives of Henry VIII established him as a solo performer in early 1973 but it was Wakeman’s first post-Yes release, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, that gave him his biggest commercial success and became a cornerstone creation of the symphonic rock genre.
The huge financial gamble paid off. Though UK A&M were reluctant to release the work, Journey To The Centre Of The Earth – a suitably epic combination of prog rock pomp and classical arrangements, with Wakeman’s virtuoso synthesizer work always at the heart of the matter – topped the British charts on 25 May and made #3 in America, where it was quickly certified gold.
