Rick Wakeman released Cost Of Living, an album that wasn't as
recommended by crtic reviewers, even Rick Wakeman himself:
"Another nearly album. It has too much variation within the music for
me to be really happy about it and again I ended up in a studio that I
really didn't like that was picked by the record company at the time and
so I couldn't change. There's a mixture of great playing and some very
poor playing as well. Most disappointing is the piano sound as the piano
in the studio was cheap and nasty. There are a couple of classic tracks
on the album though such as Happening Man which I would love to re-record
one day."Rick's perspective - "Cost Of Living"
Being a huge Wakeman fan, I was curious to read the reviews from others
concerning Cost Of Living. Pretty much the reviews were the same:
mostly disappointing. However, a few songs mentioned from these reviews
were standouts: "Gone But Not Forgotten" is a beautiful piece, as this
kind of music is preferably enjoyed most by the Wakeman fans, including myself.
"Twij"> has a beautiful classical sound, yet I wish the length of
this song was much longer. "Pandamonia" is a rock song, not matching
the classical sound I truly admire. I can see how others enjoy "Gone But
Not Forgotten" -- It has a very nice sound; a song that can easily fit any
pesonal Best Of Rick Wakeman collection. As for the next song, "One
For The Road" certainly is not Best-Of material, based on its title. It's
definitely an 1980s song, and the vocals are sounding like a bad song by the
likes of The Cure. (Bereward Kaye provided the vocals on all the songs except
one, which was narrated by Robert Powell.)
"Bedtime Stories" returns with a nice sound, not necessarily
Classical, as it sounds more like a song from a children's television show or
movie soundtrack in some parts. "Happening Man" is another rock song,
having a bit of progressive rock sound for the 1980s. Like "One For The
Road," it is not a song most would want to remember, nor categorized as
Classic Rock. The energetic "Shakespeare Run" could easily have been
included on his
Rhapsodies
release, as it captures the orchestration contained on many of the songs there.
"Monkey Nuts" can be compared to the progressive rock of Emerson,
Lake & Palmer, ("Welcome back to the show the never ends..."), and Electric
Light Orchestra's Face The Music. The music is very well-done, yet the
vocals should have been much better. "Elegy -- Written In A Country
Courtyard" is a narration composition by Robert Powell. Wakeman's
The Word And The
Gospels comes to mind on this one, as many of the songs on this
particular release has narration throughout the album, also by Robert Powell.
It's nice to read along the narration of "Elegy", from the CD's insert
of Cost Of Living, likewise reading the lyrics to the remaining songs.
It seems that there is an "Everything in Music" theme on Cost Of Living.
The rock styled songs just are plain bad, however the Classical pieces such as
"Twij" and "Gone But Not Forgotten" are songs easily enjoyable.
What is interesting is the last track, "Elegy" as this would be a look
at the future, where in 1987/1988 Wakeman would combine religious themes with
narration on The Word And The Gospels. As his classical works are
truly the "highlights" of this release, this album can relate to one of the
song titles from this release, with one word taken out: This album maybe Gone,
but it is definitely Forgotten.
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