RICK WAKEMAN AND THE ENGLISH ROCK ENSEMBLE
"Live in Buenos Aires" (DVD)
Classic Pictures Entertainment
5/5
After kicking YES to the curb a few years back Rick Wakeman reinstituted his solo incarnation as his preeminent musical outlet and kind of drifted off of American radar for a while. Though absent in America the man has certainly been busy everywhere else performing and recording works both old and new for territories, and this may seem strange, that know little if anything of his affiliation with YES. Case and point is captured here on DVD with a live concert from Buenos Aires.
Essentially this is a standard, if one is allowed to use the term in reference to anything Wakeman, recording of a live Rock concert. Four cameras, some nifty stage lighting including banks of lasers and smoke but nothing on the level of some of the shows touring the world at present, frankly this didn't need any off that anyway.
The songs featured are, "Lancelot and the Black Knight," "Catherine Howard/Catherine of Aragon," "The Visit," "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Catherine Parr," "Merlin the Magician," Buried Alive," "1984" and "Starship Trooper." All are performed with unparallel brilliance from Wakeman's cloaked entrance through his wireless wandering into the audience and lap set keyboarding at the lip of the stage to the final classic YES tracks encore though a hearing of "Starship Trooper" sans a Jon Anderson vocal does take a bit of getting used to.
Wakeman is not above nepotism and so his "ENGLISH ROCK ENSEMBLE" features a Jr. Wakeman, Adam, keyboarding along with his Dad. The rest of the group are all obviously stellar performers if unknown to me and are, Ant Glynne on the guitar, Tony Fernandez pounding the percussives, Lee Pomeroy on bass and Damian Wilson on lead vocals. Wilson has the perfect voice to carry Wakeman's compositions and sounds unlike any other vocalist that you are likely to hear. Despite the familiarity of some of these tracks Wilson delivers an even timbre so natural it is as if they were all written and performed by him with the already noted exception of "Starship Trooper."
Most DVD's promote their "bonus material, this package goes a step further by including a full bonus audio disc, "The Official Bootleg." This "Bootleg" captures a different lineup of the ENGLISH ROCK ENSEMBLE performing a similar but not identical set to the DVD in Birmingham, England circa July 1997. You simply can not complain about "bonus" material but the sound on this recording is definitely "bootleg" quality and sounds like someone held a tape recorder at the back of the room for the whole gig. Still, it is a free bonus and features a warts and all insight that you might not ever have heard in a standard "live" recording.
Worthy of any praise that has ever been showered on Wakeman, "Live in Buenos Aires" goes beyond being a worthy purchase, it is vital.
"Live in Buenos Aires" (DVD)
Classic Pictures Entertainment
5/5
After kicking YES to the curb a few years back Rick Wakeman reinstituted his solo incarnation as his preeminent musical outlet and kind of drifted off of American radar for a while. Though absent in America the man has certainly been busy everywhere else performing and recording works both old and new for territories, and this may seem strange, that know little if anything of his affiliation with YES. Case and point is captured here on DVD with a live concert from Buenos Aires.
Essentially this is a standard, if one is allowed to use the term in reference to anything Wakeman, recording of a live Rock concert. Four cameras, some nifty stage lighting including banks of lasers and smoke but nothing on the level of some of the shows touring the world at present, frankly this didn't need any off that anyway.
The songs featured are, "Lancelot and the Black Knight," "Catherine Howard/Catherine of Aragon," "The Visit," "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Catherine Parr," "Merlin the Magician," Buried Alive," "1984" and "Starship Trooper." All are performed with unparallel brilliance from Wakeman's cloaked entrance through his wireless wandering into the audience and lap set keyboarding at the lip of the stage to the final classic YES tracks encore though a hearing of "Starship Trooper" sans a Jon Anderson vocal does take a bit of getting used to.
Wakeman is not above nepotism and so his "ENGLISH ROCK ENSEMBLE" features a Jr. Wakeman, Adam, keyboarding along with his Dad. The rest of the group are all obviously stellar performers if unknown to me and are, Ant Glynne on the guitar, Tony Fernandez pounding the percussives, Lee Pomeroy on bass and Damian Wilson on lead vocals. Wilson has the perfect voice to carry Wakeman's compositions and sounds unlike any other vocalist that you are likely to hear. Despite the familiarity of some of these tracks Wilson delivers an even timbre so natural it is as if they were all written and performed by him with the already noted exception of "Starship Trooper."
Most DVD's promote their "bonus material, this package goes a step further by including a full bonus audio disc, "The Official Bootleg." This "Bootleg" captures a different lineup of the ENGLISH ROCK ENSEMBLE performing a similar but not identical set to the DVD in Birmingham, England circa July 1997. You simply can not complain about "bonus" material but the sound on this recording is definitely "bootleg" quality and sounds like someone held a tape recorder at the back of the room for the whole gig. Still, it is a free bonus and features a warts and all insight that you might not ever have heard in a standard "live" recording.
Worthy of any praise that has ever been showered on Wakeman, "Live in Buenos Aires" goes beyond being a worthy purchase, it is vital.
