Journey to the Centre of the Earth is a live album and third overall by English keyboardist Rick Wakeman, released on 3 May 1974 by A&M Records. It was recorded in concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England on 18 January 1974, staged for the premiere of his symphonic rock adaptation of Jules Verne's 1864 science-fiction novel of the same name. It tells the story of Professor Lidinbrook, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans, who follow a passage to the Earth's centre originally discovered by Arne Saknussemm, an Icelandic alchemist. He performs with the London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Choir conducted by David Measham, and a group of former pub bandmates and session musicians which became his own rock band, the English Rock Ensemble. Actor David Hemmings narrates the story.

Wakeman had wanted to make the album as early as 1971, but shelved it until he had completed his first album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973), and had written some music for it. He was inspired by Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, which featured a narrator and the music depicting the action, and felt Verne's novel was ideal for a musical adaptation. After Measham and show producer Lou Reizner agreed to take part Wakeman finalised the music, lyrics, and narration intermittently in 1973, and enlisted Wil Malone and Danny Beckerman to produce the orchestra and choir arrangements. The high costs for a studio recording led to the decision to record the work live, and Wakeman mortgaged his home and sold possessions to help finance the production. The finished album was poorly received by A&M management in England who refused to sell it, but American co-owner Jerry Moss heard the record and ordered its release.

The album became a symbol of the excesses of progressive rock genre, but was praised for its strong melodies and orchestration. It was a commercial hit worldwide and established Wakeman as a prominent contemporary rock composer and virtuoso performer. It reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, the first A&M album to do so, and No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in the US, and was certified Gold in both countries and Australia, Canada, and Brazil. It was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award and a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. A world tour with an orchestra followed in 1974 and 1975, which proved costly and left Wakeman in considerable debt. In 1999, a sequel to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original was released entitled Return to the Centre of the Earth. After the original and uncut orchestral score was rediscovered, Wakeman re-recorded the album in 2012 with the 18 minutes of music that was cut due to time constraints.

Background Origins By January 1973, Wakeman had been the keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes for almost one-and-a-half years, and released his first solo album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, a concept album inspired by the six wives of King Henry VIII, for A&M Records, to which he was signed as a solo artist. The album was a commercial hit, reaching No. 7 in the UK and No. 30 in the US. Wakeman wanted his next album to tell a story, which he was inspired to do since his father took him to a concert performance of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev as a young boy, which features a narrator and an orchestra depicting the action. A fan of science-fiction, Wakeman had first read Jules Verne's 1864 novel Journey to the Centre of the Earth when he was twelve, and gained confidence by talking to people in pubs, where he found most had heard of Verne and the novel, but few knew the story. The book presented a wide range of possibilities for a musical adaptation which attracted Wakeman the most. He settled on the idea as early as November 1971, but shelved the project until he had finished recording The Six Wives of Henry VIII in October 1972, and had some music written and money to finance it.

Development progressed in December 1972 when Wakeman took part as a guest musician in the orchestral concerts of The Who's Tommy, which featured the London Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Choir conducted by David Measham, and music arranger Wil Malone. Wakeman told his idea for Journey to the show's producer, Lou Reizner, who put him in contact with Measham to discuss it further. By this time Wakeman had proceeded to read the book multiple times, and summarised the story in narration form. He wrote down sketches of the music at the piano "as fast as they appeared in my brain", which were used to produce a rough demo tape of the work using a Minimoog synthesiser, Mellotron, Rhodes piano, and clavinet. He played it for Measham who agreed to take part. Wakeman then announced the album to his manager Brian Lane (who also managed Yes), and expressed his wish to use the London Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Choir, a rock band, and narrator. The cost to record it in a studio was too high, so A&M agreed to record a live performance in concert. Wakeman used all his earnings from The Six Wives of Henry VIII, mortgaged his home, and sold several of his cars to help cover the production costs, which Melody Maker reported to be £20,000 at the time although Wakeman later said it was in fact double. On the day of the concert, Wakeman received a writ from Express Dairies as he had not paid his milk bill for two months.

Writing Wakeman worked on the music, lyrics, and narration intermittently throughout 1973 at his home in Buckinghamshire and in Devon, and wrote the music in order from beginning to end. It was his first attempt at song writing, which he found the most difficult parts of the score to write. He also lacked confidence as a lyricist and described his original set as "really bad", which prompted a rewrite.

Wakeman did not intend to fuse the orchestra and his band, but felt the correct use of both and a choir could add "phenomenal colour" to such a work. Malone and Danny Beckerman assisted with the orchestra and choir arrangements; Beckerman had also worked on the Tommy concerts and met Wakeman during an Australian tour with Yes. A typical session saw Malone devising chords and melody lines and Beckerman transcribing the parts onto a score, which took several hours. The project was a challenge for Malone, for it was his first attempt at writing for a symphony orchestra despite not being classically trained and was something "completely different" to what he had done before.

The original completed score ran for 55 minutes, but was reduced to 40 to fit the time constraints of a vinyl LP. The story is divided into four tracks with two on each side: "The Journey", "Recollection", "The Battle", and "The Forest". The finale of the latter includes an excerpt of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt suite. In the liner notes Wakeman thanked Grieg and acknowledged he "stole a few bars".

Performers

A&M considered a group of widely known musicians in Wakeman's band was crucial for the album's success, but Wakeman wanted it to be remembered for its music and not the performers. Instead he chose a group of musicians that he jammed with on Sunday evenings at the Valiant Trooper, a pub in Holmer Green in Buckinghamshire, which became a popular local attraction. "One Sunday evening I was playing keyboards with the lads when I thought, they could play Journey for me. I'm sure they could do the concert and do it well".

The band featured Ashley Holt of Warhorse on lead vocals, who had played in a dance band with Wakeman in late 1960s, and second lead vocalist Gary Pickford-Hopkins of Wild Turkey. Wakeman said a second lead vocalist was used to provide an extra interpretation of the lyrics, and Pickford-Hopkins was an "ideal contrast" to Holt's singing. Drummer Barney James was also of Warhorse, and bassist Roger Newell had played in the Valiant Trooper. After a group rehearsal convinced Wakeman they were capable he brought in session guitarist Mike Egan, who had also played on The Six Wives of Henry VIII. The decision greatly concerned Lane, who predicted a group of unknown musicians would be the "kiss of death" for the album, and Derek Green, the managing director of the British division at A&M, said it was "too frightening to contemplate", but nonetheless gave the green-light.

Actor and singer Richard Harris was Wakeman's first choice for the narrator, but he was unavailable. During a subsequent meeting at the Hemdale Company offices in London, actor and company co-founder David Hemmings walked in and offered to take part.

Plot

Set in 1863, German Professor Lidinbrook discovers an old parchment that detailed a journey to the centre of Earth undertaken by Arne Saknussemm, an Icelandic alchemist. The parchment, when decoded into Latin and translated by Lidinbrook's nephew Axel, reveals an entrance to the route in the extinct volcano of Snæfellsjökull in Iceland. The pair embark on their journey from Hamburg with their guide Hans.

Upon entering the volcano they pass a lava gallery and find themselves in an intersection of two paths. Lidinbrook chooses the eastern tunnel, but after three days the trio reach a dead end. They returned with just one day's supply of water, reaching the intersection weak and tired. After sleep, they continued their journey and Hans hears flowing water behind a wall of rock and attacks it with a pick axe, revealing a stream of boiling water that they let cool. They realise it is a flowing guide to the centre of the Earth and name the stream the Hansbach, in the guide's honour ("The Journey"). The three temporarily separate, and a lone Axel becomes increasingly frightened. Thinking of those left at home, he cries and runs through a tunnel blindly. He almost gives up, then hears Lidinbrook's voice in the distance; he calculates he is just four miles apart and sets off to reunite. At one point the ground beneath Axel collapses and he awakens on a seashore with Lidinbrook and Hans besides an ocean, which they name the Lindinbrook Sea ("Recollection").

The trio build a raft and set sail for a port they name after Axel's fiancée, Port Grauben. Five days into their sail, they witness a battle between an ichthyosaurus and a plesiosaurus. The ichthyosaurus wins, and the travellers are hit with a four-day storm and take shelter by some overhanging rocks. The storm had caused them to travel only some miles north of Port Grauben, so they set out on land to track Saknussem's original route once more. They cross a plain of bones and into a forest inhabited by giant mastodons led by a Proteus, a mythological human ("The Battle"). Stunned, the three flee the forest for the Lidinbrook Sea and enter a dark tunnel that plunged deep into rock which they blast through with dynamite. The explosion causes an earthquake, and they become trapped in an active volcano shaft which projects them to the Earth's surface at Mount Etna in Sicily ("The Forest").

Production Concerts

The concerts were announced in October 1973, and organised for 18 January 1974 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, during a break in Yes' tour to promote Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973). The band entered rehearsals in December 1973 at Farmyard Studios in Little Chalfont in Buckinghamshire, and joined the orchestra for six full rehearsals from 5 January 1974. The stress and worry surrounding the concerts took a toll on Wakeman's health; he had not slept for three days before the show, contracted a stomach ulcer, and required emergency dental surgery for a cracked tooth and nerve damage. Music reporter Tony Tyler attended one of the rehearsals: "I've never seen him look worse ... The famous hair resembled a can of yellow paint poured over his skull ... I watched him rehearse himself and his band into a coma." Final rehearsals began at 9 a.m. on the day of the concerts. Wakeman recalled that for the first time in his life, "I was nervous as hell. I suddenly realised I wasn't sharing the responsibility. It was all down to me."