Rick Wakeman's: Journey to the Center of the Earth

I stumbled across a really excellent record a month ago from Rick Wakeman, legendary keyboard player from the excellent, British, progressive rock band; Yes. It's called Journey to the Center of the Earth and the theme of the album is based on the sci-fi book of the same name. The album blends elements of funk, 70's prog rock, magnificent orchestral arrangements, and brief spoken-word sections of text from the actual book.

The songs are rather long, with only two on each side, but the long tracks never turn into anything that could be called rambling. The record is divided into four major tracks with side one containing "the journey" and "the recollection" while the songs on side two are "the battle" and "the forest". Wakeman's keyboard playing acts as the strongest common thread that holds each one of these songs (or movements I guess you could call them) together. Sometimes Wakeman's keys are funky, other times they're neoclassical, sometimes they're a fusion of those two. No matter what style he adopts on each track, his virtuosity shows through. You can pick this album up for under ten bucks. Get on it!