Unreleased Wakeman from 1974!
Henry R. Kujawa | "The Forbidden Zone" (Camden, NJ) | 05/01/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Hard to believe-- but Wakeman's epic JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH was intended to be a studio album. THE PRIVATE COLLECTION opens with the previously-unreleased original version of "The Battle", giving fans a glimpse of what might have been. Considering how many times in the last 10 years Rick HAS redone this and its related pieces, both live and in studio, one wonders why he doesn't just leave well enough alone!The remainder of this album are a set of instrumentals that Rick played on live on the tour to promote JOURNEY..., making this a sort-of before-and-after bookends for that album. There's some nice stuff here (the aggressive "Warmongers" a standout) but too much of it just doesn't stick in my head, even after repeated listening. Except for the closer-- "And Now A Word From Our Sponsor", which includes the no-doubt-world-famous jingle, "Things Go Better With Coke"!"