Worthy ROCK from RICK
Peter Anderson | Levittown, PA United States | 08/11/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"When "Return to the Center of the Earth" first came out, it put Rick back in my mind and I wanted to catch up on some of his music. At that time, I saw on AllMusic that Rick had released hundreds of albums (as you can see at Amazon), but from what I could tell, lots of those albums were more like new age or muzak-y albums. Well, I wanted to find the rock stuff. Hey, I grew up in the '70s with Wakey. His music rocked out then and that's the way I still wanted it. I already have Enya albums. So after belaborously reading endless summaries at AllMusic, I finally selected this obscure album and purchased it here at Amazon, as it seemed to hold the most prog-rock potential.
And I'm glad I did! This is a delightful listen. Wakeman puts his synthesizer to good use. It is evident he was in a happy state of mind when he recorded this album as the melodies are playful, fun and upbeat. And he does quite a bit of soloing, with a full band accompanying. I felt like his playing was not featured enough on "Return to the Center of the Earth." I mean, that album had well written songs and all, but it didn't have driving synth solos. Well, this "Cirque" album delivers the Wakeman goods a la his great '70s albums.
So in summary: Wakeman has done it with this album. A solid rock album featuring his multitude of keyboards, especially highlighting his classic Moog-sounding leads. I felt it was well worth the money and am glad I got it."
Absolutely first-rate fun
Peter Anderson | 05/02/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"All the songs are great - the tunes Rick plays on his keyboard are amazing. I wish I could play like him!"
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1