Rating: 
Summary: CALL ME A PLONKER IF YOU LIKE BUT...
Review: ...I think this is a great DVD. All the tracks performed are great, and played perfectly, not neccesserily song perfectly though! The sound quality is good, not great and the director has, unlike many concert directors of the 70's, cleverly decided not to use lots of stupid bloody effects. Yeah so Wakemen and Co look like prats in thier 70's get up but hey, I'll live with it. You also get the CD of 'The Journey' which is handy. (if you haven't already bought the CD that is!) So all in this is well worth the asking price. Go on, buy it, you know you want to.
What do you mean NO.
Look, you buy it or I'll COME OVER THERE AND... CENSORED. Oh well!
Rating: 
Summary: Try another DVD
Review: Being a Wakeman fan from the ealy seventies, I was looking forward to a first DVD of him. What better choice than my fav track; "Journey to the Centre...".
Well, total disappointment. I haven't yet watched it right through. It certainly captures the 1975 ambience, and it is a glimpse into the past, but that cane chair the narrator sits in is so out of place. In fact, so is he! The ripple FX when changing camera is rather corny too, but I guess that is part of the 70's thing. I am about to purchase (The Buenos Aires one)a modern DVD with modern recording technology and hopefully see Rick in a way I expect.
Rating: 
Summary: This is it!!!!
Review: I got this one on laserdisc about a year ago as a japanese import. It was filmed in Australia during Rick's tour. Live with orchestra and choir. Full lenght Journey to the Center of the Earth plus some ome Six Wives (Catherine Parr, Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn) and some King Arthur's (Guinevere and Merlin the Magician).On the LD video and sound are good. If you weren't able to see it or want to relive it, this is it
Rating:
Summary: For Those of You That Have No Idea What's on This DVD
Review: I had to do some investigating to find out the history of this DVD. It was originally a Japanese DVD that was recently released in the UK. I'm including the one and only review off the UK Amazon site. The DVD includes the entire "Journey" album plus material from "Six Wives" and "Myths and Legends". "A wonderful trip to the Center of the Earth" 16 May, 2001 Reviewer: Giampaolo Galluzzi from Napoli, Italy This is the DVD edition of the concert filmed in Australia in 1975. I also had the VHS edition and it was great ! But now the DVD, with its audio and video remaster, reachs the top of Parnassus. Wonderful emotions flood and carry you to a paradisian dimension !!!. All is perfect; the Melbourne Philharmonic Orchestra and the Melbourne Chamber Choir, the rock band and the two vocalists create the right harmony for the magic and celestial keyboards played by the immortal Wizard. Buy the DVD and good trip to the Center of the Earth !!!
Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC DVD FOR WAKEMAN FANS
Review: I wasn't expecting much from this special DVD release (after reading some of the scathing reviews here) so when I received it in the post I put it in my DVD player squinting my eyes in anticipated disappointment. HOWEVER, I was WELL surprised and extremely happy that I bought this DVD. Sure it has a crappy blow-up dinosaur on stage; I'm sure that was just for a laugh anyway. Sure the audio is not 48 Khz 24 bit DVD audio quality, but you should remember that this RARE classic performance is from 1975, filmed for television and sounds good anyway. By the way the other reviews sounded I thought that the audio would be in-audible but it's not bad. Sure the video is not Digital quality; it's 1975 footage for goodness sake! Sometimes people are too unforgiving in light of the offering before them and just can't appreciate the fact that we have been presented not only with the opportunity to see Rick Wakeman in his Classic Best performance but also with the opportunity to view musical history in the making. Aside from the comparisons to modern technology then, this DVD stands up to viewing as a classic performance by Rick Wakeman featuring the entire "Journey To The Centre Of The Earth" album and a few extra songs from King Henry and King Arthur. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a piece of history that I missed and I felt that I was intimately there to re-live it live as it was intended. I thoroughly recommend this DVD for any true Rick Wakeman fan who wishes to be transported back to the raw 70's to experience or re-live the era that essentially was an experimental era from which much influence for later years originated.
Rating:
Summary: I was at that concert and lusted for a video copy for 26yrs
Review: I'm a fan of Wakeman and so I went to that Feb '75 concert at the Bowl and loved it. I still remember being stunned by hearing the new 'Merlin" number. By coincidence I had just started working for channel 7 a few months prior (as a technician) although I didn't work that night, I saw the concert. Afterwards I went back to the Outside Brodcast Van and chatted about the night's production.
Colour tv didn't start in Australia till March 1975 in Australia so the amount of colour gear was very limited. a lot was still in boxes or being installed. The entire video and audio mixing was done in the OB van using a CDL vision switcher and a neve audio mixer of possibly about 12 to 18 channels. There 'may' have been another optronics audio mixer being used near stage but I can't be sure. The cameras were our brand new Marconi Mk8s, probably 3 on the night. I think the Marconi van was initially only 3 cameras, they were very expensive. This was one of the very first OBs done by the new van and it was excitement plus. There would have been almost no post production on the vision because I don't think any colour editing suites were up and running then. Only a recording VTR(2in) in the videotape room at the main studios in Sth Melbourne fed by radio microwave link directly from the Bowl. No video recording was done in the van.
I'd tried to get a vhs copy for ages but never managed to get one. Remember that vhs didn't take off until about 1980. I worked at ch7 but still couldn't get a copy, I kept asking.
In 1995 I was at the Isle of Man bike races and Wakeman was signing books for his little book called Yes. I spoke to him about that Melbourne night and he was amazed to find out that I was there and all the way from Australia. He lives on the IOM.
Anway, he said he remembered that night in Melbourne and said that it was one of his best concerts and that he had a great time. It was nice of him to say that but I think he meant it. He did say that he's amazed that he survived it all through the alcohoic haze. He doesn't drink now. Rick Wakeman was a thoroughly nice person to talk to. Anyway, he put me onto his secretary who could get a vhs video for me. I never got around to following it up. When I found that this DVD was available, I ordered a copy immediately and have not regretted it at all. I'd like to think that I might have had a small part in making this DVD happen because of my questioning him, I can dream.
In the opening credits it was neat to see the crew who I used to work with back then such as gilbs and wally gator. I worked with ch7 from 1974 to 1985.
I hope this little bit of history has interested the reader of this review.
Rating:
Summary: A Piece of un-retouched History
Review: I'm just so glad this live recording was not revisited, resampled, retouched, digitised or anything else, as it is a little piece of musical history from an era we'll never see again. There is nothing to be ashamed of here - a faithful preservation of a unique musical event way back in Melbourne on a cool night on 4 Feb 1975 at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, an outdoor shell which spills into the Botanical Gardens and so can hold as many as want to come along, really. And they did - in the thousands. One forgets just how huge this event was and what a unique experience it became for those who went along and those who saw it on TV broadcast by the Seven Network (this DVD comes from the TV broadcast.) Of course you don't get 5.1 surround or even decent widescreen or picture quality. In 1975, Australia had only just got around to colour tv! Having accepted that I was in 1975 and not 2003, it was much easier to enjoy the performance, and I must say I am very glad I bought this DVD. You really do relive a piece of history, with all the cheesiness and corn of the 70s lovingly preserved, even down to the blow up dinosaurs, which have their moment and then sort of deflate behind the orchestra as the music leaves them behind (I wondered if they made a fart-type noise as they collapsed - also wonder how the orchestra kept a straight face!) It must be said that there are quite a few fluffs and mistimings from both the band and the orchestra throughout the evening - horns, strings, and choir seem to get tangled up and lose direction on more than one occasion and Rick's Mellotron goes horribly out of tune towards the end - but these are the ups and downs of a live recording (for the record, it was a cool and dry night, rare for Melbourne in February). These stumbles aside, it's a very enjoyable concert. The entire Journey is performed along with excerpts from Henry VIII and a couple of Arthur tracks such as Guinevere and Merlin. Rick improvises quite a lot of these, some well, some not so well - he seemed to be having the usual equipment problems and at times the band seemed to lose its way and you could almost feel the exhaustion of their tour catching up. Merlin felt a little flat to be honest, but the Catherines were spot on and lovely to listen to on the old analogues instead of that horrible Yanni-ish Kurzweil synth on the Legend DVD. The cameras do get annoying occasionally in that people walk in front of them and we get the usual irrelevant close ups of Rick's ears when we want to see his hands, but there are some lovely shots of Moog runs, and we do see a lot of the Hohner Clavy which Rick plays on with dazzling skill during the second part of Journey. We don't get the piano keys, unfortunately as they are hidden from the camera angle, but we get an excellent view of three cans of VB perched on top of the cabinet, a reminder of the good ol' days when Rick used to 'drink for Great Britain.' Some of the orchestra seem a bit bemused and one of the trumpet players in particular is seen gazing at the caped wonder in a kind of dazed disbelief. It's little touches like that which give this DVD a unique quality. Nothing is edited out, it's all there, warts and all, for you to pick over, reminisce and wonder how far we've all come since then - in 1975 you could get away with making racist remarks against Japanese choirs because nobody thought back then that they WERE racist. However, this was all part of the culture of the time and it's a good thing nobody decided to PC-it for modern audiences, but just show it as it was. I finished watching this with a kind of amazement and renewed appreciation for what Rick achieved at his age then - only 25 - not only to take on, alone, this kind of massive musical venture, but to pull it off as successfully as he did. Whatever it cost Rick in terms of money and health, nothing can take that away. Musically it is still very strong and even though it seems dated now, it is still one of the great achievements of 20th century popular music.
Rating:
Summary: I don't exactly understand this video
Review: I've always found Rick Wakeman a good showman and a good keyboardist, But I don't entirely understand the need for epics based on books like Journey to the Center of the Earth, King Arthur, etc. The music is very good though, but the singers used in this video are pretty shabby.....liked the Choir and Rick's playing, and is a good history piece. I think most of Rick's decent work came with YES.....Although Patrick Moraz was more jazzy, Rick had a more classical feel. It's not that bad really...
Rating:
Summary: I don't exactly understand this video
Review: I've always found Rick Wakeman a good showman and a good keyboardist, But I don't entirely understand the need for epics based on books like Journey to the Center of the Earth, King Arthur, etc. The music is very good though, but the singers used in this video are pretty shabby.....liked the Choir and Rick's playing, and is a good history piece. I think most of Rick's decent work came with YES.....Although Patrick Moraz was more jazzy, Rick had a more classical feel. It's not that bad really...
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: If you're a fan of Rick Wakeman and haven't had the chance to ever see him in concert, like me, then this is very enjoyable. The only thing I wish they would have done was to show more of the area from his hands to his face while he was playing (perhaps a side view). I was surprised at the Journey Forest Reprise, as I hadn't checked to see what was going to be performed, and was glad to see it performed differently. Add to my surprise the CD that was included in the package, what else could I have asked for?
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