WAKEMAN AS HE IS SPOKE

I first read about English as She Is Spoke many years ago in Stephen Pile's Book of Heroic Failures. Wikipedia has this to say about it:

English as She Is Spoke is the common name of a 19th century book written by Pedro Carolino and falsely additionally credited to José da Fonseca, which was intended as a Portuguese-English conversational guide or phrase book, but is regarded as a classic source of unintentional humour, as the given English translations are generally completely incoherent. Carolino added Fonseca's name to the book without the latter knowing about it. Fonseca had written a successful Portuguese-French phrase book, which Carolino adapted.

Now, I couldn't resist printing this translated version oif a Rick Wakeman review that I was sent recently. It is actually not a terribly good review, but the translation software has made such a marvellously peculiar job of the translation from German that it has its own literary beauty.

Any review that starts off "Rick Wakemans oeuvre is enormous", and continues, talking about the "Mostly white Tony Fernandez", deserves to be broadcast to a wider audience. The Queen's English has never been so poetic. Roll over Chaucer, Pinter, and Shakespeare, and tell this un-named reviewer the news.

http://www.ragazzi-music.de/rickwakeman12.html

Rick Wakeman And The New English Rock Ensemble, "In The Nick Of Time - Live in 2003" (Gonzo Multimedia 2012)

Rick Wakemans oeuvre is enormous.

Only albums under his own name - and among them there are several typical rock.With the New English Rock Ensemble, he shall, after another.In 2003 he was again to exit from its (then) growing up - band Yes, with his own band on a promotional tour for his album "Out There" on the go. Classic Wakeman, Yes-song parts and pieces are then landed on the current CD, which is just a snippet of the concert repertoire. Long played versions, apart from "White Rock", which is very short with 3:15, and "Dance of a Thousand Lights" (5:48), all the pieces in the track area Long (8:06 to 13:17) . Wakeman, Rock Band and Choir (partially) be heard. Stylistically, the band works between keyboard rock and melodic rock with influences from symphonic rock, hard rock and metal.

The theatrical acting singer Ashley Holt has tremendous voice with which he prevailed over the keys to heavy and bombastic, pompous-working band has what it works well to secure melodic vocal lines. The band makes it crash, sometimes a bit simplistic, as if the basic rhythm is permanently asleep on the bass drum and keyboard and jubilant strings can work hard as they want, the song can not come from the black hole.

Mostly white Tony Fernandez to avoid the kind.Keyboard fanatics will have their great joy, the trumpets and drums, the melody of bliss and the dramatic bombastic action is in full swing. And so is known to play non-stop in between and some lesser-known songs and song fragments from. Good to hear that Wakeman and the band the songs already voiced countless times. Of the original (studio) arrangements hardly anything is left, everything has developed and changed, yet everything is as usual. Celebrate thunder, lightning and magic classical epics lush symphonic as they can only come from the wakemanschen spring. 7 tracks on the CD, not on it even more fit. So light the material on the CD, so hard their content.Wants the voluptuous sound between lyrical ballads, virtuoso keys and melodic bliss bombastic hard rock so well crafted and technically he played brilliantly, has a lot of weight and brake force that can oppose the band like them. They will not fight it. At the highest momentum, these epics are just whipped up in the early seventies, when the workmen were on the instruments hungry teenagers.Today, it sounds as if the band is on it, but the trash is too small, the sound builds up to full size."Dance of a Thousand Lights" for example sounds like it came from a parallel universe, could not be understood here and played. Mordspompös, hard thick and sweet, languid works of Vivaldi and sticky which in itself is not unattractive thing. Instrumental surprises and exquisite radical rides are rare. And even when the band rocks and shoot at the best moment - so it's never quite alive. Good band, the New English Rock Ensemble, the helpless sweet a Wakeman-Songs and melted butter into the mountains, so much rage and plow the guys. Not least, sounds like Rick Wakemans placed buttons work and tired. The whole arrangement is a shot in the oven. In the concert will have its size, delivered on CD, the domestic investment, has the dull and tired concerto grosso. Despite all the good ingredients. rwcc.com