Wakeman; Rick; And The English Rock Ensemble: In The Nick Of Time

Although conventional wisdom will tell you that all of Rick Wakeman's best music was created back in Prog's heyday (the 70s to you and me), the early 00s actually saw the caped wonder hit something of a purple patch, his time and albums with The English Rock Ensemble being of a surprisingly, and largely unheralded, high standard.

Continuing their reissue program of this era of Wakeman's output, Cherry Red now grace us with the live album, In The Nick Of Time, from the 2003 tour (although this album was originally released in 2012) promoting the excellent Out There studio release. However with "the singer", as (presumably) Damian Wilson is referred to in the excellent, humorous and reasonably lengthy liner notes from Wakeman, suddenly going AWOL, the whole tour was put in doubt, before a previous alumnus of the band, Ashley Holt, stepped into the vocal breach in "the nick of time" to save the day. It has to be said he does a superb job.

Two years down the line from the recommended 2001 live outing, Out Of The Blue (which does feature Wilson), ITNOT finds three tracks repeated ("Catherine Parr", "No Earthly Connection" and "Wurm") - although the latter pair are standalone here and not part of medleys, while "…Parr" has "Beware Your Enemies" tagged on its end, which differs it from the standalone version on …Blue - and yet there is so much to recommend either. The core of the band is still in place, Wakeman again expertly augmented by Ant Glynn (guitar), Lee Pomeroy (bass) and Tony Fernandez (drums) to great effect, with the quintet assembled actually making as strong a mark through the two (at the time) new tracks, "Out There" and "The Cathedral In The Sky", as they do old classics such as "White Rock". Add in an enthusiastic crowd, which could in truth be a little higher in the mix, and a superb rendition of "Dance Of A Thousand Lights" and there's a huge amount to recommend this excellent representation of a band and band leader right at the top of their game.

Holt is excellent throughout, his stunning vocals totally belying any thoughts that his late introduction to this set and a couple of songs he'd never handled before, could derail the performance; instead his contributions are a genuine highlight of a universally strong recording.

There are many, many Rick Wakeman albums to choose from, however those dismissing his latter day output do so with folly, for as In The Nick Of Time illustrates, the immensely talented songwriter and musician had hardly ever sounded better. This remastered edition of In The Nick Of Time creates both an excellent starting point for the uninitiated and wonderful catalogue addition for the converted.

Track Listing
1. Catherine Parr/Beware Your Enemies
2. Out There
3. No Earthly Connection
4. Dance Of A Thousand Lights
5. The Cathedral IN The Sky
6. White Rock
7. Wurm

Added: October 3rd 2014
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: In The Nick Of Time at Cherry Red
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Language: english

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