RICK WAKEMAN & THE ENGLISH ROCK ENSEMBLE

A Gallery Of The Imagination MADFISH

Keyboard king cooks up a gently simmering buffet.

“Everywhere you go, candyfloss and ice cream,” sings Hayley Sanderson on A Day Spent On The Pier, a sweet tune on the new, decidedly ungrumpy Wakeman album. ‘Mussels in their shells, fish and chips in paper…’ We’re a long, long way from The Red Planet. Brighton and Clacton, to be precise, as Rick remembers childhood hols. If it’s the full-prog, extra-keyboards flavours of his 2020

Mars-inspired album you’re after, this eclectic, very pleasant set may not tickle your undercarriage. It’s generally softer, more melodic and romantic.

Yet it’s not lacking in diversity. The loose concept behind it – very loose – is that the tracks essay different styles just as there can be many different genres of art in a gallery. While there remains a discernible relaxed prog presence weaving in and out, with Moog solos and piano pieces, the overall feel is led by middleweight songs and by Sanderson’s strictly impressive vocals. She’s able to turn on a sixpence from Kate Bush to Maggie Reilly (if this was a Mike Oldfield album, it’d be Crises, not Incantations).

We’re welcomed into the foyer of the gallery by Hidden Depths, a likeable, chugging showcase for the band. The keyboard player is definitely the guy the spotlight picks out, but of course the solid framing of Lee Pomeroy (bass), Ash Soan (drums) and Dave Colquhoun (guitar) is reliably poised between robust and polite. The track almost feels like an excerpt from the score of a recently reappraised 80s neo-noir movie, where comparison is intended as a compliment. The Man In The Moon invites Sanderson to reset the mood to melancholy, with some Mark Knopfler-esque guitar flurries flickering in the wings, deferring when Wakeman breaks in with one of his characteristic surges. A Mirage In The Clouds is also prettily moody, though the rhythm bubbles with a touch more vigour. It’s cleverly restrained, and its mellow meanderings confirm that this is a record to be enjoyed on its own terms.

Wakeman’s solo piano interludes work well as palate cleansers, and if My Moonlight Dream perhaps leans into those similarities to some Oldfield albums rather too keenly, the incongruous Cuban Carnival comes as a curveball, justifying that “variety of genres” pitch. If it’s tentative at trying its Cuban tropes at first, it gets closer to the desired heat as it builds. And after The Dinner Party throws open the prog toolbox, The Visitation and The Eyes Of A Child kick back into the agreeable, snug climate the album has at heart. More Monet than Picasso, but a rich and creamy vanilla.

THIS IS A RECORD TO BE ENJOYED ON ITS OWN TERMS.