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

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Former Yes man Rick Wakeman's 1974 album to be re-released on 4-disc box set in May

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

  1. The Journey
  2. Recollection
  3. The Battle
  4. The Forest
  5. The Pearl And Dean Piano Concerto (Bonus)

Disc 2: Live In Boston 1974

  1. The Journey
  2. Recollection
  3. The Battle
  4. The Forest

Disc 3: Live In Buenos Aires 1993

  1. The Journey
  2. Recollection
  3. The Battle
  4. The Forest

Disc 4: DVD audio

  1. The Journey
  2. Recollection
  3. The Battle
  4. The Forest
  5. The Journey
  6. Recollection
  7. The Battle
  8. The Forest
Scott Munro
Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more for Louder. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, The Tragically Hip, Marillion and Rush.