Chronicles Of Man
Chronicles of Manis inspired by the landscape of Rick Wakeman's adopted, er, tax haven, the Isle of Man. And it would be fair to assume that Man has more than enough cultural heritage--from Stone Age tombs to the shores where Viking invaders landed, from crumbling monasteries to Civil War strongholds--to keep the prodigious one in conceptual Steinway piano pieces until the Celts come home. Meanwhile,Chronicles of Man(the title--no nodding off at the back of the history class there--comes from the writings of 14th-century Manx Cistercian monks) has all the dexterous ornamentation and peaceable air of classic Wakeman, from the frivolous frills and trills of "Jester at Court" to the folksy gaiety of "Peasants' Dance." Imagine the fun we'd have if he ever moves to Cuba.--Kevin Maidment