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After the massive scale of the Journey to the Center of the Earth and Myths and Legends of King Arthur... projects, Wakeman was told by his record company (and his finances, and his health), "no more extravaganzas." So he produced this album with a stripped-down seven-piece band he called the English Rock Ensemble. It's notable that Wakeman, having broken with Yes over the obscurely metaphysical album Tales From Topographic Oceans, proceeded to make his own obscurely metaphysical album here. "All the music," according to the liner notes, "is based on a futuristic, autobiographical look at music, the part it plays in our pre-earth, human, and afterlife." The album deals with the fate of a man who has lost his "music soul." Musically, it's not up to his previous standards, though "The Prisoner" is appropriately melodramatic. ~ Stephen Raiteri
