----------------------------------------------------- JULY 17, 1975 ----------------------------------------------------- Source: Rolling Stone Magazine Wakeman's Mythic Ice Capades Rick Wakeman Wembley Empire Pool London May 30th, 1975 By Paul Gambaccini Lerner and Loewe were the first to suggest that the Knights of the Round Table sang and danced. Rick Wakeman is the first to suggest that they did it on ice. In an evening that literally had to be seen to be believed, Wakeman performed his entire "Myths and Legends of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table" album to the accompaniment of the New World Symphony Orchestra, the English Rock Ensemble and the Nottingham Festival Vocal Group.  The musicians huddled together on a circular stage in the middle of a chilly rink while skaters in medieval costumes acted out the plot around them. At one point 20 maids and maidens joined the ice drama, but nobody fell, not even when men dressed as knights on horseback engaged in swordfights at both ends of the arena. The music sounded better Iive than on disc, since the starchy narrators reading their dull lines were far less conspicuous as a visual minority than when dominating the sound on record. Orchestral passages that won welcome new attention were further blessed when a malfunction in the vocal mikes caused distortion in the speeches without seriously affecting the instrumentalists. The orchestra and the vocal group were both highly professional and occasionally poignant to their accompaniment to the action. But, as preoccupation with sex and campery characterizes New York excess, so silliness marks English overemphasis. It was enjoyably distracting to watch a home movie made by Wakeman and his friends outside their local pub while legions of musicians played their way through "Merlin the Magician," and thrilling to watch a chorus line on ice. Yet it was obvious that Wakeman was enjoying the icing more than the cake, a situation only overcorrected when his "little number" of an encore turned into the 40-minute-long "Journey to the Centre of the Earth." Wakeman faces a dilemma: This show, as well as his live presentation of "Journey," proved his skill at packaging a pleasant evening's entertainment. But he's done so at the expense of attention to his music. That four knights on skates could command one's senses while scores of musicians made an ignored din just ten yards away said little for the appeal of the music itself. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, problems, corrections, or additions, contact YesinthePress@aol.com