Rick Wakeman's Journey To The Centre Of The Earth to be reissued

Rick Wakeman’s 1974 album Journey To The Centre Of The Earth is to be reissued as a 4-disc box set.

The package is set for release on May 6 via Universal Music and will include the original album with the bonus track The Pearl And Dean Piano Concerto, recorded at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in 1974.

In addition, the set will feature a live performance of the album recorded in Boston in 74, Live In Buenos Aires from 1993, and an audio DVD featuring a quad surround sound mix.

Wakeman says: “The wonderful thing about live recordings is they are a true time capsule of the music of the moment. Recording was fraught with problems and so when the finished album was finally mixed with no corrections, in spite of the mistakes there was so much energy, life and spine-tingling moments that would have been lost had we tried to ‘repair’ certain areas.

“Mastering was also at a pretty basic stage back in 1974 compared to now – and the new mastering that has been done is quite magnificent and is chalk and cheese compared to the original.”

The box set features an update of the original album artwork by Roger Dean. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth is available for pre-order.

Wakeman is collaborating on a project with Trevor Rabin and Jon Anderson, with the trio deciding to get together following the death of Yes bassist Chris Squire last year.

The keyboardist will headline this year’s inaugural TeamRock-sponsored Stone Free festival at London’s O2 on June 18-19.

Journey To The Centre Of The Earth box set contents

Disc 1: Original remastered album

The Journey
Recollection
The Battle
The Forest
The Pearl And Dean Piano Concerto (Bonus)

Disc 2: Live In Boston 1974

The Journey
Recollection
The Battle
The Forest

Disc 3: Live In Buenos Aires 1993

The Journey
Recollection
The Battle
The Forest

Disc 4: DVD audio

The Journey
Recollection
The Battle
The Forest
The Journey
Recollection
The Battle
The Forest

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