Album: The Private Collection Artist: Rick Wakeman 1991 RIO Digital CD RIO CD 1004 (1993/4?) President Records CD RWCD 23 Bandmembers: Rick Wakeman: Keyboards ???: everything else (see notes) Produced by: NA Tracks: The Battle (4:37) Penny's Piece (7:44) The Pearl and Dean Piano Concerto (4:38) Piece for Granny (13:59) Steamhole Dance (Part 1 & 2) (3:40) The Mountain (8:21) Warmongers (4:17) Aberlady (11:20) And Now a Word from our Sponsor (3:14) Comments/notes: Probably the most annoying thing about this wonderful recording is that there was absolutely NO information included about any of the tunes in my RIO copy. Where did these tunes come from? Who's playing? What year were they recorded? Hopefully President corrected all this in the reissue, and I will watch this space for someone to update this... "The Battle" appears to be a rehersal recording of the song from "Journey..." It includes the band, vocalists, the choir and orchestra, almost just like the original recording. I could be wrong, but "Penny's Piece sounds like it's from the "1984"/"Cost of Living" era. If so, it would have improved the latter, as it is a very nice (fake/processed) piano solo. "The Pearl and Dean Piano Concerto" was recorded live, I'm guessing from the original "Journey" tour, as the french horns resemble those from the "Journey" recording. I'm not familiar with all of the tunes that Rick nicked and pasted into this piece, but the audience is laughing and having a grand time. Excellent piano playing and trade offs with the orchestra!!! "Piece for Granny" is a piano solo on a real piano, and has more connections with Rick's classical training than most of the items in either of the "Classical Connection" albums. "The Mountain" is another piano solo - maybe a real (if out of tune) piano. Slow, maybe even pretty. "Aberlady": more solo piano. "And Now a Word from our Sponsor" is a close relative to "Pearl and Dean..." complete with piano, orchestra, and choir. "nya nya nya nya nya nya" is a recurring theme in both pieces. Clocking in at 61:50, it's well worth it, especially if you like Rick's piano playing.
Thanks to Greg Predmore for providing this information
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