Wakeman Live

    Rick Wakeman Live, well it'd hardly be Rick Wakeman Dead would it? Except, perhaps, if you saw him at the Dee Why Hotel back in 1984 when the only time he showed any signs of life was during the act of imbibing a clear liquid (not water by the way the mouth puckered afterwards). Over the last 10 years or so Rick has cleaned up his act and no longer partakes of any mind altering substances (including alcohol). His performances, both solo and with Jon Anderson in Yes or a derivative thereof, are now back to his superlative best.

This performance was recorded in the Central Studio's at Nottingham (TV Studio's) in 1984 and as a consequence, as live concerts go, it sucks! The audience seems to be there as an afterthought (as does Rick Wakeman's treatment of them) and the sound quality is somewhere between lower average to upper average.

Fortunately, nothing can take away from the virtuoso keyboard playing of Mr.Wakeman - except perhaps the off key singing by Ashley Holt, and even that can be forgiven as we watch the master tickle the keys on "Merlin the Magician".  Ashley was the original singer on "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and struggles to find the voice that carried the original to such heights. David Paton on Bass is good listening and the drummer, Tony Fernandez is quite exceptional.

Sound is in Stereo PCM and is variable. Picture quality is poor to average, Rick Wakeman's performance, however, is excellent and the sole reason for owning this DVD.

Audio 3 out of 5

Video 2 out of 5

Content 3.5 out of 5