01	The Journey / Recollection						21:04
	02	The Forest / The Battle	the Forest					18:57

Journey to the Centre of the Earth ( 1974)


Catalogue
Type Cat No. Label Country
CD CDMIDI61 A&M UK
Vinyl LP AMLH 63621 A&M UK
Cassette CAM64515 A&M UK
Cassette CAM CRO 14 A&M UK
CD MFCD 848 MFSL USA
Vinyl LP SP3621 A&M USA
Cassette CS-3156 A&M USA

Track List
Title Length
1 The Journey ' "
2 Recollection 21' 10"
3 The Battle ' "
4 The Forest 18' 57"

Artist List
Name Instrument
Rick Wakeman Keyboards
Ashley Holt Vocals
Barney James Drums
David Hemmings Narration
David Measham Conductor
English Chamber Choir Choir
Gary Pickford Hopkins Vocals
London Symphony Orch Orchestra
Mike Egan Guitar
Roger Newell Bass


Additional Information
Studios:
 Royal Festival Hall, live on 18th January 1974

Engineering:
 Paul Tregurtha
 Pete Flanagan


Reviews
William Menz on 22/12/2002 [Other reviews by William Menz ]

When this album was released in 1974 it was a milestone in music, it totally redefined what music could be. No longer was there just rock or classical, there was an album that incorporated it all into a contemporary symphony. The use of a symphony orchestra and choir, as well as a rock band, synthesisers and tape SFX, moves music to a new level of expression. It was and still is far ahead of any of the "contemporary classical" music that's being pushed as new and innovative. The innovation and integrity that was used to portray a scifi/fantasy story, not as film music, not as classical, nor rock or any other individual style. A whole new style was created to express this story, a style that has influenced many people since.

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Mehmet S Ozcan on 01/11/2002 [Other reviews by Mehmet S Ozcan ]

Ladies and gentlemen, this album, together with King Arthur, stands among the ouvre of Wakeman. You may have criticism on the lyrics, on the orchestration or on how the whole concept is blended into an album. Everybody may have a different view on the overall sound of the orchestration and of that of the rock band. But I salute Wakeman in his effort in doing this remarkable piece of work. I first heard this album at the age of 10 or 12, and since then, I return to it again and again. The mere presence of this messageboard, among with many others on the web, is a proof that there is something to remember and talk about!

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Tim Boudewijn van der Wart on 30/03/2002 [Other reviews by Tim Boudewijn van der Wart ]

This has to be the standard to quality entertainment, written by the master himself (as is all his work) it shows the world that music has been given a new definition; Music=Rick Wakeman, the rest is just insignificant sound (okay, not all of it, but a lot is!). A perfect Rock-Opera with full orchestra and choir, Rick plays the moogs perfectly and all his other synths too. I can listen to this one a million times and I even like it better! The singers being bad just makes it more fun to listen to. I can't get enough of the forest and the moment the storm begins always is one of the most enjoyable moments of the album for me. It has a perfect grand opening and a ditto ending! This particular version is great but the dvd version is even better! If you do not own a copy yet, you should better rush yourself to the store to get one!!

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Jim Fletcher on 10/08/2001 [Other reviews by Jim Fletcher ]

This is one of a very few albums I loved all the way through the first time I heard it (except for the vocals, but they've grown on me over the past 25 years). I have three copies of it, the orignial LP, a quad LP, and the CD. "Journey" is a major work by a young musician. I really expected Rick's popularity to exceed Elton John's at the time (another young keyboard musician) but I guess the lowest common denominator prevailed. That doesn't take anything away from a truly wonderful piece. Even my parents were impressed by it!

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Tina Hansen on 27/03/2001 [Other reviews by Tina Hansen ]

This album is a great way to introduce people to the work on which it is based. It would make a good multimedia show if you could add visuals to it.

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Tony Elvers on 25/11/2000 [Other reviews by Tony Elvers ]

On a biblical scale, this album sums up the very essence of Rock/Classical and Jazz. Rick has managed to mix all these themes together into a truly wonderful "experience". A must for all ages and likes!

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Nic Neufeld on 12/11/2000 [Other reviews by Nic Neufeld ]

When I first listened to this, I (like many people) did not like it. This is definately an acquired taste. It was the same way with Yes music for me. The first time I heard Close to the Edge, I was confused and indifferent to the music, but with repeated listenings (thousands and thousands of times!) I now regard it as the best rock composition ever. Now to back to JTTCOTE; this is an addicting album! Rick has a band, orchestra, choir, and narrator perform live on stage for a concert. No overdubs (to my knowledge)! This is impressive, but also contributes to a weak point in the album. The lead vocals. One voice, the softer, higher voice, lacks character and power, while the other more operatic voice that mainly sings harmonies and backups is simply wretched, being just plain flat for most of the album. Not that its really their fault; you have a full orchestra choir and rock band on stage, and you cant expect everything to go just right. But I am for! giving on the vocals and the rather cheesy lyrics, seeing as my aforementioned favorite song ever opens with "a seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace." Ricks keyboards are excellent as ever. He tended to use a LOT of Minimoogs, and he also used a Clav quite a bit. To my dismay he didnt tear up on a Hammond organ very much (if at all), and the Steinway was neglected for most of the album. But overall, it is essential library material if you are a patient Wakeman devotee.

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Shawn K McTopy on 14/08/2000 [Other reviews by Shawn K McTopy ]

Being both a fan of Jules Verne and Yes, I much enjoy this classic from Rick Wakeman. Rick's keyboard playing meshes quite well with the orchestra. The vocals are somewhat light and some of the lyrics are a little cheesy. However, I find anyway, that this lends a certain charm and cosmic spacey-ness to the recording. To my ears, in some sections, the choir is a little overdone but that's not a bad thing in the genre of prog-rock. The narration is most excellent. I believe some of the narrative comes verbatim right from Verne's novel itself(?) - nice touch! This disc makes for great Lava-Lamp listening! For fans of Yes (and other prog-rockers), as well as Jules Verne's classic sci-fi story, I would definitely recommend this disc.

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George Pendred on 26/06/2000 [Other reviews by George Pendred ]

This has been my favourate album since I was under 5 years old. If you haven't yet bought it, buy it. The orchestration is magnificent as is Rick's keyboard playing. Best album in the world ever.

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Guillermo Villegas on 22/05/2000 [Other reviews by Guillermo Villegas ]

I love this album!!!!!! This album makes Rick the Beethoven of our time!!! Every damn piece is written by Rick himself! I just don't believe it, great orchestration and choir. Rick plays the keyboards with his magic fingers as always. This one has more complex music than the Return of the Centre of the Earth, that's why I like this album more than the Return. The narration is cool too...

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Max Hult on 29/02/2000 [Other reviews by Max Hult ]

Great album, not as good as Arthur and Return though... My first impression of this album was not very good, but it's like most other Wakeman-albums, the more you listen the more you like it... If you're thinking of buying Journey, I can recommend Voyage instead, since it contains the whole Journey plus you get the best of his earlier albums for just a few bucks more...

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Sanjeev Raman on 25/11/1999 [Other reviews by Sanjeev Raman ]

A great concept album. I remember reading the novel when I was a kid in school. The album blows me away just as much as the book did. Makes you nostalgic of the old times!! The music interspersed with the narrative provides a good scenic texture to the whole body of work. A brilliant piece of music!!

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Zbigniew Zielinski on 18/10/1999 [Other reviews by Zbigniew Zielinski ]

I think this was a good effort, it has many good bits and pieces, but as a whole it seems incoherent to me and I can't stand the vocalists. Maybe it would have sounded better in the studio.

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Ben Jordan on 29/01/1999 [Other reviews by Ben Jordan ]

Journey is a masterpiece - a great fusion of 70's rock, orchestra and choir that stands out far apart from the music of that decade, and indeed the decades since. A concept album, based on the Jules Verne epic, told with great panache and atmosphere. I'd be lying if I said it didn't at times strongly evoke the time it was made, but why should age detract from enjoyability? You can criticise this album for sounding dated (and everyone's opinion is fair enough), but I wasn't even alive when it came out and it doesn't bother me at all. Indeed, it is precisely this which makes it even more unique today - you won't get anything that compares to this now (unless perhaps it was produced by Rick!) The vocals I feel required artists of a deeper timbre, though the narrator's voice and delivery is spot on. Listen to this and you'll know why Rick felt was worth making a sequel. A true classic.

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Josh Fitz on 01/02/1998 [Other reviews by Josh Fitz ]

This is an amazing album. Rick transfer the Jules Verne novel into music, and for the most part, it works. This is also a must-have for fans of psychedelic rock. Because even though the music is good, he uses some of the funnist sounding keyboards ever! Excellent.

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Bjorn Olaf Syvertsen on 04/12/1997 [Other reviews by Bjorn Olaf Syvertsen ]

This album is really great, except for Ashley Holt's voice, which should be kept in a studio (he sings very well on "No Earthly Connection".) On the b-side his voice cracks terribly. But apart from that, this album is excellent. The music is very melodic, and yet complex. It is always fun listening to it. This album is perhaps the nearest thing to a fusion of rock and classical music the 70s brought, with some competition from Mike Oldfield's "Ommadawn" and "Tubular Bells", Camel's "The Snow goose", "Close to the Edge" and "Tales from Topographic Oceans" by Yes, and "Sheherezade and other stories" by Renaissance.

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Downeast Bruce on 21/06/1997 [Other reviews by Downeast Bruce ]

A bold experiment that works! Listen to this one, in it's entirety, in a "quasi-quad" mode. Kick back in the "Lazy-Boy", close your eyes, and become engulfed in the fantasy.

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Eduardo Valle on 01/02/1997 [Other reviews by Eduardo Valle ]

This album is both operatic rock, and symphonic rock. The music creates an atmosphere that leads us to the journey as written by Jules Verne. A sense of adventure is created, being in keeping with the story. The overture shows the power of the whole album. Choir and orchestra were used with keyboards, in a wonderful combination. A classical album that can not be absent of your collection.


c Rick Wakeman/RWCC/Wayne Smith 1995-2003





Recorded in concert at the Royal Festival Hall London on Friday, January 18, 1974

A&M Records (3156)
UK 1974

Rick Wakeman, keyboards;
Gary Pickford-Hopkins, vocals;
Ashley Holt, vocals;
Mike Egan, guitar;
Roger Newell, bass;
Barney James, drums;
David Hemmings, narration;
The London Symphony Orchestra;
The English Chamber Choir

Bob Eichler:
Wakeman has two categories of solo albums - a small collection of good to great stuff, and a much larger pile of junk. In my opinion, Journey definitely belongs on the junk pile, and I can't for the life of me understand why so many prog fans think it's a classic.
A huge, overblown retelling of Jules Verne's story featuring a rock band joined by a stuffy narrator, a full choir and an orchestra, this album must have given critics all the ammunition they needed for their arguments that prog was too pompous and pretentious.
Musically, I find Wakeman much more interesting when he's just wailing away with a rock band, such as on Six Wives of Henry VIII. When he starts dragging concept albums and orchestras into it, he gets almost as silly and over-the-top as the cape he wore onstage made him appear. Add to that the horrible vocals of singer Garry Pickford-Hopkins, and you've got an album that doesn't get played very often around here.
I guess if you really enjoy "prog as a spectacle", this album is just what you're looking for. For me, it's just entirely too goofy.

Jon Fry:
Performed on one day in 1974 with The London Symphony Orchestra, The English Chamber Choir and a hand-picked rock band, Rick Wakeman pulled out all the stops for this piece, which is an attempt at both a short story and musical odyssey. While some would point to Wakeman's The Six Wives of Henry VIII or several of his late 70's albums as the best solo work the man ever put out, it's harder to find an album that better encapsulates the Wakeman spirit than this album. In my opinion, it's also his most effective work.
The plot is somewhat different than Jules Verne's original story, but the general idea is more or less the same: three travelers descend into the Earth, see lots of neat things like a lost race of proto-humans and a battle between giant sea monsters, and then return to the surface, though the point isn't necessarily so clear. Luckily, Wakeman manages to distract the listener from the silly story line by rapidly changing between synthesizer instrumentals, excessive choir parts and David Hemming's narration. Yes, it's pretentious and absurd, but there is a certain naive charm that one can't help but enjoy. Unlike many of Wakeman's works, it is never boring; Wakeman wisely never spends too much time on any single element (for contrast, see Patrick Stewart's drawn-out, tedious narration on Return to the Centre of the Earth).
This album is a classic in its own way, showcasing the most excessive, bombastic side of progressive rock. If one can appreciate the campy elements of Emerson, Lake and Palmer (or maybe even Queen), there is much here to savor and, at times, laugh out loud at.