------------------------------------------------------- JUNE 19, 1975 ------------------------------------------------------- Source: Rolling Stone The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table Rick Wakeman A&M SP-4515 By Ed Ward Hey, I saw Camelot on Broadway with Robert Goulet and everything and I don't remember a one of these songs being in it. Seriously, though, folks, it looks like Rick Wakeman is developing into a composer of at least the magnitude of Dmitri Tiomkin. King Arthur, unlike either of its predecessors, actually contains a couple of memorable melodies ("Arthur" and "Sir Galahad," significantly enough) and a couple of attempts to write some real music. These attempts -- two ersatz madrigals -- fail but show that Wakeman's heart is in the right place. One of the things I find rather unusual about this album, in fact, is that Wakeman, formerly allied with Yes, a band of pseudomystics who never fail to exploit the spiritual dimensions of any situation, has stayed away from all but the most mundane storybook angles of the Arthurian mysteries. Gone are the wood spirits, Morgan le Fay and her evil machinations against the throne, the entire magickal overlay of the story. Does Wakeman have any idea what the rose in the middle of the picture on the lyric booklet's cover means? Does he know what the writing on the veiled chair on the booklet's back cover says? Does he care? The stage production that goes with this album is most likely on the intellectual level of the lyrics to "The Last Battle": "Gone are the days of the knights/ Of the Round Table and fights." Pure Malory, that. The sixth century A.D., when Arthur supposedly reigned, is not well documented by music, but Wakeman's score here is more reminiscent of mid-Fifties cinematic excess than the brilliant 12th-century school of polyphonists who were England's first composers of note. (If you're interested in them, Nonesuch has just released an album of The Worcester Fragments, vocal music from some laboriously reconstructed manuscripts found decaying in the cathedral there.) It is wrong for me to criticize Wakeman too heavily, though. He is writing ultra-light entertainments, not without their cynical edge, methinks. These entertainments are popular with a group of people who I suspect are afraid of real classical music and they keep Wakeman in beer. Still, the lure of the Arthurian legend to somebody with a genuine scholarly interest and a rock background must remain and I suspect something a bit heavier than this could be made of it. Jimmy Page, are you reading me? Close Window YesinthePress.com For site comments, inquiries, corrections, or additions, contact yitp@yesservices.com