Coming nearly three years after The Red Planet, Rick Wakeman and The English Rock Ensemble are back with A Gallery Of The Imagination. The album’s 12 songs are wrapped in a loose concept born from Wakeman’s remembrance of his first piano teacher, Mrs. Symes, whom he studied from the age five until his time at the Royal College of Music. Symes taught her young student that music was like painting pictures, and here Wakeman gives us a dozen “pictures” of various instrumentation and style.
Tricked into believing we might be getting an opening piano solo piece in “Hidden Depths,” Wakeman is quickly joined after 30 seconds by the players who currently make up his band, The English Rock Ensemble — bassist Lee Pomeroy, guitarist Dave Colquhoun, and drummer Ash Soan. The track takes off with organ, chorused-backing synths, soaring key leads, all very much in mid-70s Wakeman solo style.
We do get Wakeman playing solo piano on “The Creek” and “Just A Memory,” two beautiful moments featuring vocalist Hayley Sanderson. The players are tight in their arrangements (although all contributors recorded their parts separately from various studios, never playing together). Wakeman consistently picks interesting keyboard sounds, but these non-instrumental tracks prove to be the weakest pictures in this exhibition.
“The Visitation” is the rare case though with Sanderson mining a Kate Bush warble, the swirling background keys and big bass strikes, the band in a deep, locked groove. Wakeman’s synth leads are also on the mark. It’s always a treat to hear Rick Wakeman, whether it’s purely instrumental, solo piano, or heavy ensemble rockers. A Gallery Of The Imagination offers a little bit of each and more.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
